By Knarik Meneshian
On Sunday afternoon, June 9, 2013, the Chicago chapter of
the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society presented a program on
a segment of Armenian Church history at the Armenian All Saints Church and
Community Center’s Shahnazarian Hall in Glenview, Ill. After welcoming words by
the chapter’s chairman, Haroutiun Mikaelian, Ani Vartanian introduced the
participants in the program, followed by the presentation of crosses from the
Eastern Prelacy to the female members of the choir who had served the church in
that capacity for 25 years. Lusine Torian recited the poem “The Armenian
Church” by Vahan Tekeyan, followed by Lousin K. Tokmakjian’s piano rendition of
“Nor Dzaghig,” a sharagan (or psalm). Following the day’s event, refreshments
were served.
Armenian nun-deacons, New Julfa (Fr. A. Oghlukian photo)
The speaker of the day, Knarik O. Meneshian, presented a
lecture and slideshow titled “The Armenian Deaconess and Her Forgotten Role in
the Armenian Apostolic Church.” After Meneshian thanked the Chicago Chapter of
the Hamazkayin Educational and Cultural Society for inviting her to present her
lecture, and greeted the guests, she began her talk with the following
introductory remarks:
“Since childhood, I’ve always had a reverence and love
for the Armenian Church. I joined the choir when I was a teenager. The Armenian
All Saints Apostolic Church, as some of you will recall, was on Lemoyn Street
in Chicago at the time. One day, Der Hayr Maronian, the parish priest then,
handed me a scroll and told me to go home and study it and be prepared to read
it the following week. It was a long scroll, and beautifully handwritten in
Armenian. The following week during church service, I was motioned to ascend
the altar where I unrolled the scroll and read from the Book of Daniel (Danieli
Girk). I’ve never forgotten the serene feeling that came over me in church that
day as I read to the congregation.
“Before starting my presentation, I would like to recount
a scene from a historical novel I read several years ago on the American
Indians. The scene began with an entire village walking—again in search of
better hunting grounds. The village elder followed behind the group carrying a
tattered bundle on his back. Once in a great while, he slipped something into
his bundle, but he never removed anything from it. The people often wondered
what it was that he carried in the bag and guarded so carefully. One day,
someone asked, ‘Oh, Elder, what is in your bundle? It looks so heavy and seems
such a burden to carry.’ The village elder paused and then beckoned everyone to
sit down. As they sat around him, the elder gently placed the bundle on the
ground and reverently kneeled before it and said, ‘This bag, my people,
contains our history. Without it, we would not know who we are; what we are.’
“Now, let’s glimpse into our own history, a segment of
our history nearly forgotten: the women deacons of the Armenian Apostolic
Church.
Kalfayan Sisterhood with Patriarch Galustian (R. R.
Ervine photo)
“After Armenia accepted Christianity as the state
religion in 301 AD, magnificent things began to take place in the country.
Churches were built, some over the ruins of pagan temples. Tatev Vank, for
example, was built atop a pagan ruin and Holy Etchmiadzin over a Zoroastrian
temple. The alphabet was invented. The Bible was translated into Armenian. The
arts, education, and literature flourished. Books such as The History of
Vartanank by Yeghishe, The History of Armenia by Khorenatsi, and later, The
Book of Prayers by Narekatsi, were written.
“Susan, a woman scribe, copied Yeghishe’s and
Khorenatsi’s books, and the scribe Goharine copied Narekatsi’s book. Sharagans
were written, some by women, notably Sahagadoukht, a poetess and composer who
wrote some of the sharagans for the Armenian Church and taught men while seated
behind a canopy. It is believed that some of the ancient pagan tunes were used
to sing the psalms.
“Women deacons, an ordained ministry, have served the
Armenian Church for centuries. In the Haykazian Dictionary, based on evidence
from the 5th-century Armenian translations, the word deaconess is defined as a
‘female worshipper or virgin servant active in the church and superior or head
of a nunnery.’ Other pertinent references to women deacons in the Armenian
Church are included in the ‘Mashdots Matenadarn collection of manuscripts from
the period between the fall of the Cilician kingdom (1375) and the end of the
16th century, which contain the ordination rite for women deacons.’
“The diaconate is one of the major orders in the Armenian
Church. The word deacon means to serve ‘with humility’ and to assist. The
Armenian deaconesses historically have been called sargavak or deacon. They
were also referred to as deaconess sister or deaconess nun. The other major
orders of the church are bishop and priest. The deaconesses, like the bishops
and monks, are celibate. Their convents are usually described as anabad,
meaning, in this case, not a ‘desert’ as the word implies, but rather ‘an
isolated location where monastics live away from populated areas.’ Anabads
differ from monasteries in their totally secluded life style. In convents and monasteries,
Armenian women have served as nuns, scribes, subdeacons, deacons, and
archdeacons (‘first among equals’), as a result not only giving of themselves,
but enriching and contributing much to our nation and church. In the 17th
century, for example, the scribe and deaconess known as Hustianeh had written
‘a devotional collection of prayers and lives of the fathers, and a manuscript
titled Book of Hours, dated 1653.’
Dn. Hripsime, Istanbul 1998 (R. R. Ervine photo)
“The following illustrates the length of time it took a
candidate, ‘after years of serious spiritual and religious preparation,’ to
become an ordained deaconess: The Deacon Hripsime Sasunian, born in Damascus,
Syria, in 1928, entered the Kalfayan Sisterhood Convent in Istanbul, Turkey, at
the age of 25. At age 38, she was ordained sub-deacon, and at age 54, deacon.
“To appreciate more fully the role of the deaconess in
the church, Father Abel Oghlukian’s book, The Deaconess In The Armenian Church,
refers to Fr. Hagop Tashian’s book Vardapetutiun Arakelots… (Teachings of the
Apostles…), Vienna, 1896, and Kanonagirk Hayots (Book of Canons) edited by V.
Hakobyan, Yerevan, 1964, in which a most striking thought is expressed:
If the bishop represents God the Father and the priest
Christ, then the deaconess, by her calling, symbolizes the presence of the Holy
Spirit, in consequence of which one should accord her fitting respect.
“The history of the deaconess in the Armenian Apostolic
Church can be broken down into two periods: the medieval period beginning in
the 9th century, and the modern period beginning in the 17th century to the
present, though before the 9th century vague reference is made to them
‘beginning in the 4th century.’ In Prof. Roberta R. Ervine’s published paper
titled, ‘The Armenian Church’s Women Deacons,’ which includes a number of
fascinating photos of deaconesses, she lists the names of 23 of the Church’s
women deacons who have been recorded, along with their ordinations, various
activities, and contributions to the church.
“Over the centuries, in some instances, the mission of
the Armenian deaconesses was educating, caring for orphans and the elderly,
assisting the indigent, comforting the bereaved, and addressing women’s issues.
They served in convents and cathedrals, and the general population.
“Though there were those who approved of women in the
diaconate, some of the church fathers, such as the clergyman Boghos Taronatsi
and Nerses Lambronatsi (1153-1198), whose great uncle was Nerses Shnorhali, did
not. Instead, they wanted to close it to them. Interestingly, when Lambronatsi
was around ‘37 years old in 1190, his mother Sahandukht and two sisters Susana
and Dalita entered the Lambronatsi convent as founding members of that
congregation.’
Dn. Hripsime Tahiriants (H.F.B. Lynch photo)
“Mkhitar Gosh (l130-1213), however, who was a priest,
public figure, scholar, thinker, and writer, ‘defended the practice of
ordaining women to the diaconate,’ Ervine writes, and she adds that in his law
book titled, On Clerical Orders and the Royal Family, Gosh described women
deacons and their specific usefulness in the following words:
There are also women ordained as deacons, called
deaconesses for the sake of preaching to women and reading the Gospel. This
makes it unnecessary for a man to enter the convent or for a nun to leave it.
When priests perform baptism on mature women, the
deaconesses approach the font to wash the women with the water of atonement
behind the curtain.
Their vestments are exactly like those of nuns or
sisters, except that on their forehead they have a cross; their stole hangs
from over the right shoulder.
Do not consider this new and unprecedented as we learn it
from the tradition of the holy apostles: For Paul says, ‘I entrust to you our
sister Phoebe, who is a deacon of the church.’
“Smbat Sparabet (Constable), who lived in the 13th
century, was the brother of King Hetoum and an important figure in Cilicia. He
was a diplomat, judge, military officer, translator (especially of legal
codes), and a writer. In his Lawbook he, like Gosh, also mentions women
deacons, but ‘places them under the authority of priests, rather than of male
deacons.’
“In his book, The History of the Province of Syunik, the
historian and bishop of Syunik, Stepanos Orbelian (1260-1304), also wrote about
women deacons. He, like Mkhitar Gosh and Smbat Sparabet, also approved of women
deacons and believed that it was a laudable institution. In her paper, Ervine
explains that Orbelian placed the deaconess in the role of preacher and Gospel
reader, and denoted her status of office as a stole (oorar) on the right side.
(Later, the women deacons would wear the stole on the left side, like the male
deacons.) She includes this passage from Orbelian’s book on Syunik:
The woman deacon served on the altar, as did her male
counterpart, and the bishop did not limit her liturgical service to convent
churches only, but she did stand apart from the male deacons for avoidance of
any perceived impropriety. She also did not touch the sacred Elements.
“In the 17th century, a great reform movement, begun by
Movses Tatevatsi, took place in Etchmiadzin. When Tatevatsi became Catholicos
in 1629, he ‘sparked a spiritual and cultural revival not only in the Armenian
homeland, but also in communities as far away as Jerusalem.’ He was a great
believer in the education of women and encouraged them; as a result, the number
of women deacons in the church increased.
“Among the progressive and inspiring changes Tatevatsi
made, even before his election to Catholicos, was the building of a convent
next to St. Hovhannes Church in Nor Julfa (New Julfa) in 1623. The convent
complex, which included a church for monastic women, was called Nor Julfaee
Soorp Kadareenyan Anabad (St. Catherine’s Convent of New Julfa) after a
4th-century martyr named Saint Catherine.
“Deaconesses Uruksana, Taguhi, and Hripsime were the
founding members of St. Catherine’s Convent, which existed for three and
one-quarter centuries. St. Catherine’s Convent ran two schools and an
orphanage, and oversaw a factory. In its early years, the convent had many
Sisters. Throughout the convent’s history, some of the monastic women were
ordained as deaconesses, while others ‘were content with receiving minor
clerical orders.’
“By 1839, the number of women at the convent had
decreased to 16. The last abbess of St. Catherine’s was Yeghsabet Israelian,
whose brother was elected Patriarch Giuregh I in Jerusalem in 1944. Eventually,
the number of monastic women at the convent decreased even further and in 1954
the doors of St. Catherine’s were closed.
“Around this period, approximately a thousand miles north
of New Julfa, in the city of Shusi in Artsakh, there was a small convent whose
members never grew beyond five. In the village of Avedaranots, southeast of
Shusi, there was another convent. In the northern part of Artsakh, in the
Mardagerd region, there was once a monastery for monastic women in the village
of Goosabad known as Goosanats Anabad (Convent of the Virgins). Upon the ruins
of the monastery a church was built.
“The women’s monastic community of Koosanats Sourp
Stepanos Vank (Convent of St. Stepanos Monestary) was established in Tiflis,
Georgia in 1725. The mission at St. Stepanos was the training of women deacons.
As at St. Catherine’s, the Sisters at St. Stepanos were ordained deaconesses.
‘In 1933, the community comprised 18 members, 12 of whom were ordained
deacons.’
“The abaouhi (abbess) of the convent was always an
achdeaconess. She wore a ring on her finger and two crosses that hung down her
chest. St. Stepanos’ last abbess, Deaconess Hripsime Tahiriants, who was a
woman of authority and influence, came from a prominent family. During a trip
to Jerusalem, she served on the altar of the Cathedral of Saints James in
Jerusalem. The deaconesses of St. Stepanos were noted for their musical
abilities, and as a result, they were frequently asked to perform at functions,
including funerals. These engagements helped support their religious community.
When women entered convents, they brought funds with them to help support
themselves. If, however, someone came from an indigent family, then the abbess
provided for her needs. Upon the death of a deaconess, whatever money remained
after funeral expenses was kept by the convent. If, however, upon the monastic
woman’s death, she had not yet attained the rank of deaconess, after funeral
expenses, half of the money she brought with her to the convent was returned to
the family.
“It is interesting to note that Holy Etchmiadzin’s finely
carved wooden doors are a gift from Deaconess Tahiriants. The inscription on
the doors read: Heeshadak Avak- Sarkavakoohi Hripsime Aghek Tahiriants, 1889
(In Memory of Archdeaconess Hripsime Aghek Tahiriants).
“In 1892, Deaconess Tahiriants traveled to Etchmiadzin
for the consecration of Khrimian Hayrig as Catholicos, and there she presented
him with a gold and silver embroidered likeness of the Cathedral of
Etchmiadzin. It was on this occasion that she had given H.F.B. Lynch, the
author of Armenia: Travels and Studies, her photo, which the author used in his
book, and is on the cover of Fr. Oghlukian’s book and in Ervine’s paper.
St. Stepanos’s women’s community ceased to exist before
1939, but Nicolas Zernov, a Russian clergyman and writer on church affairs,
wrote in 1939 how impressed he had been when present at the Eucharist in the
St. Stepanos Armenian Church in Tiflis ‘where a woman deacon fully vested
brought forward the chalice for the communion of the people.’
“According to internet sources, in 1988, the Georgian
government took ownership of the 14th-century church. Between 1990 and 1991,
all Armenian inscriptions were either removed or destroyed, and burial vaults
where the Armenian deaconesses were laid to rest were destroyed. Goosanats
Sourp Stepanos Vank is now a Georgian church.
“The Kalfayan Sisterhood of Istanbul, whose ‘stated
mission was the care and education of orphans,’ was established in 1866.
Patriarch Mesrop Naroyan ordained the sisterhood’s first member, Aghavni
Keoseian, as deacon in 1932. Patriarch Shnork Galustian ordained the last,
Hripsime Sasunian, in 1982.
“Ervine writes of Sasunian: ‘In 1986, Deacon Hripsime
Sasunian visited the Western Diocese of America, where she served the liturgy
in a different parish of the Diocese on each Sunday of her visit. She had
functioned as head of the Kalfayan Orphanage, served the Patriarchate as an
accountant, in addition to serving the Sunday liturgy in various parishes in
the capital. Patriarch Galustian used, on the occasion of the ordination of
Deacon Hripsime Sasunian, the canon for a male deacon.’
“Deaconess Sasunian was invited to Lebanon in 1990 by His
Holiness Catholicos Karekin I to found a new Sisterhood. Named the Sisterhood
of the Followers of St. Gayane, it was established next to the Bird’s Nest
Orphanage in Byblos, Lebanon. As a result, the monastic veil was awarded to the
Sisterhood’s first candidate, Knarik Gaypakyan, in the Cathedral at Antelias on
June 2, 1991. ‘At the present time, three women deacons serve the Bird’s Nest
Orphanage…under the jurisdiction of the Catholicosate of the Great House of
Cilicia.’ (Note: In a press release from the Armenian Prelacy of Aderbadagan,
Iran, it was announced that on Mon., June 24, 2013, the Very Reverend Der
Grigor Chiftjian, Prelate of Aderbadagan, attended a meeting regarding church
matters at the Catholicosate in Antelias. He also visited the Bird’s Nest
Orphanage and met with Sisters Knarik Gaypakian, Shnorhig Boyadjian, and Gayane
Badakian to discuss how to attract more women to the Sisterhood.)
“Besides the places mentioned, women’s religious communities
also existed in Astrakhan, Russia, Bursa, Turkey, and Jazlowiec, Poland. In
Astrakhan, two deaconesses, sisters Hrpsime and Anna Mnatsaganyan, served the
community. They each gifted a diaconal stole to the Cathedral of Etchmiadzin,
with the inscriptions ‘Deaconess nun at the Cathedral of Soorp Asdvatsadzeen,
Astrakhan, 1837,’ followed by their names. In the 1800’s, in Turkey’s Bursa
region, Deaconess Nazeni Geoziumian ran a school for girls, along with her
religious duties. In Jazlowiec (pronounced Yaswovietch), Hripsime Spendowski
was ordained deaconess. She was the daughter of Stepan Spendowski, an Armenian
who had immigrated to Jazlowiec in 1648. The town had a sizeable Armenian
population, and the Armenian Prelacy was established there in 1250. Because of
Spendowski’s heroism and distinguished military service fighting the Tatars and
Turks, who had invaded the town, the King of Poland honored him with the rank
of nobility, and bestowed upon him the title of ‘mayor for life’ of Jazlowiez.
“In 1984, Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian, Primate of the
Western Diocese, ordained Seta Simonian Atamian acolyte at the holy altar of
St. Andrew Armenian Church, in Cupertino, Calif. In 2002, Archbishop Gisak
Mouradian, Primate of Argentina, ordained Maria Ozkul to the diaconate.
“Currently, there is a small number of nuns serving the
Armenian Apostolic Church in Armenia. Established in the early part of the 21st
century, their order is known as the Sourp Hripsimyants Order. They reside in
the vanadoon (monastery) at Sourp Hripsime Church in Etchmiadzin, one of the
‘oldest historical monuments of Armenian architecture and the second church
built by St. Gregory the Illuminator during the first quarter of the 4th
century, and rebuilt in 618.’
I conclude my presentation with a quote by Bishop Karekin
Servantzdiantz who was a student of Khrimian Hayrig, a patriot, preacher,
writer, and compiler of Armenian stories—fables, anecdotes, and folk-tales:
Patriotism is a measureless and sublime virtue, and the
real root of genuine goodness. It is a kind of virtue that prepares a man to
become the most eager defender of the land, water, and traditions of the
fatherland.
“The women deacons of the Armenian Apostolic Church, who
through the centuries have reverently and humbly served our church and nation,
are shining examples of the most eager defenders of the land, water, and
traditions of the Fatherland.”
Sources
Ervine, Roberta R. “The Armenian Church’s Women Deacons.”
St. Nerses Theological Review (New Rochelle) 12 (2007).
Oghlukian, Fr. Abel. The Deaconess In The Armenian Church
– A Brief Survey. New Rochelle, NY: St. Nerses Armenian Seminary, 1994.
Barnett, James Monroe. The Diaconate – A Full And Equal
Order. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1995.
Karapetyan, Bakour. Haryour Darvah Yerkkhosootyun (A
Hundred Year’s Dialogue). Yerevan, Armenia, 1990.
Lynch, H.F.B. Armenia – Travels and Studies,V 1. New
York: The Armenian Prelacy, 1990.
Gulbekian, Yedvard. “Women In The Armenian Church.” Hye
Sharzhoom (Fresno, CA) (April 1982).
Meneshian, Knarik O. “The Sisters At The Church of St.
Hripsime.” The Armenian Weekly (July 10, 2004).
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of
America. “Year Of The Armenian Woman 2010, Pontifical Message of His Holiness
Aram I, Catholicos Of The Great House of Cilicia.” New York, 2009.
Karras, Valerie. “Women In The Eastern Church – Past,
Present, and Future.” The St. Nina Quarterly, A Journal Exploring the Ministry
of Women in the Eastern Orthodox Church, vol.1, no. 1, (Cambridge, MA), 1997.
Der-Ghazarian, Sub-Dn. Lazarus. “On The Order of
Deaconesses In The Armenian and Catholic Church – A Concise Overview.” Online
article, Dec. 25, 2008.
Synek, Eva M. “Christian Priesthood East and West:
Towards A Convergence?” MaryMartha Journal, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1996. (Note: The
report, which discusses the deaconesses of the Armenian Apostolic Church, was
presented at the XII International Congress of the Society for the Law of the
Eastern Churches, Brookline, Boston, MA, 1995. [Report is Online])
Boyajian, Dikran H., ed. & comp. The Pillars Of The
Armenian Church, Watertown, MA: Baikar Press, 1962.
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