On Friday May 2 and Saturday May 3, 2025, the Eastern Prelacy conducted its biennial Deacon’s Seminar, hosted this year by the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church of Worcester, MA and pastor V. Rev Fr. Ardag Arabian. The seminar was attended by 9 priests and almost 40 deacons, along with some sub-deacons and acolytes from various parishes. This event was overseen by H.E. Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian, which provided an opportunity for those involved not only to learn about how to better carry out their mission as the servants of the church, but to meet with their colleagues from different communities, reinforce bonds of old friendship and make new ones as well.
The seminar began Friday Evening with prayer in the form of a Vesper service, followed by a delicious dinner made with the loving hands of the members of the Holy Trinity parish. Together with Srpazan and our clergy brethren, everyone gathered enjoyed not only their meal but singing traditional Armenian songs to celebrate our gathering.
The seminar kicked off with two sessions in practical liturgics, the first led by V. Rev Fr. Vatche Balekjian, the new pastor of Sts Vartanantz Parish of Ridgefield, NJ, and the second led by Rev. Fr. Stephan Baljian, pastor of St. Gregory Armenian Church of Merrimack Valley, MA. Those present learned from Hayr Vatche and Der Stephan how to properly conduct certain aspects of the deacon’s role during liturgy, such as during the Veraperoom (procession of the chalice around the altar before its consecration by the priest), the gospel reading, the kiss of peace, the censing during the singing of Soorp Soorp and Hayr Mer, along with the ability to compare notes with our deacon colleagues from numerous other communities, in order to work towards greater uniformity amongst the parishes in our prelacy by serving during our sacred liturgy.
In addition to these sessions, we had numerous talks and lectures by our clergy to educate and enlighten our minds and spirits. Rev. Fr. Hrant Kevorkian, the pastor of St. Sarkis Church of Dearborn, MI, gave the opening remarks, reminding us of the calling of the first deacons in the Acts of the Apostles, and the crucial role they had in not only helping out the Apostles with the day to day needs of Christ’s Body, but the work they did in spreading the gospel as well, citing the sample of Philip in Acts 8, one of the original 7 deacons who evangelized and baptized the Ethiopian eunuch, the man who per Ethiopian tradition brought Christ’s message back to their nation and essentially founded their church.
Archpriest Rev. Fr. Antranig Baljian, pastor emeritus of St Stephen’s Church of Watertown, MA, gave a fascinating lecture about various people throughout the Church’s history, who despite being “only” deacons, built up the church in ways we will feel today. Such examples included St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Egypt, who stood up against heresy in the early 4th century, and was the hero of the Council of Nicea, the First Ecumenical Council which drafted the Nicene Creed (Havadamk) which we sing every Sunday. Der Antranig also discussed historical evidence present throughout the centuries, both within the Armenian Church and other ancient apostolic church communions, for the role of deaconesses in the Church, and modern examples within the Armenian church seen within the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople and in Teheran, Iran.
Our own pastor, Rev. Fr. Kapriel Nazarian, gave the closing session about the role and image of the deacon in the church’s life. Going through the New Testament, Der Hayr demonstrated the origins of the deacon in Acts, and how this role was well established in the early church. Going through the New Testament Epistles, Der Hayr went through the qualifications for those called to be deacons, such as the list laid out in 1 Timothy, and its similarities to the qualifications for those called to be priests/elders and bishops/overseers, also laid out in the same letter. Der Hayr reminded us that our role as deacons does not end Sunday afternoon when Badarak ends, but through our daily conduct we are to be Jesus’ ambassadors in all our encounters and interactions with others.
Overall, the Deacon’s Seminar gave us an opportunity to come together and appreciate how our role as deacons and sub-deacons, is being carried out in the parishes throughout our Prelacy, to learn from and grow with each other, and to remind us to take the joy of worshipping God on Sundays with us, into every other day of the week.
