The Feast of the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ or the Easter Feast is one of the five major feasts of the Armenian Church. The main origin of the feast is the following.
The king
of Egypt didn’t
agree to allow the
Hebrews to travel into the
desert to offer sacrifices
to Lord the God, and the
last punishment of
God on the king
of Egypt that should
force the king to let the
Hebrews out of the country
was the death of every
first-bom son and every first-bom of
all cattle in Egypt. In
order to save the Hebrews from
that punishment the lord spoke to Moses
and by means of Moses
ordered the Herbrews
to kill a lamb and taking some of some of the blood
and put it on
the doorposts and above
the doors of the houses. On the night
when He would go through the land of
Egypt to kill every
first-bom male, both human
and animal, He would see
the blood on the doors
and would not
let the Angel of Death
enter the house. He
would pass over
and wouldn’t harm the
Hebrews when punishing
the Egyptians. Finally,
after that punishment, the king allowed the Hebrews
to leave the country,
and the Hebrews left Egypt. So, mankind
obtained life thanks to the Blood
of Christ, the Lamb of
god , in order reach
the Christians’ blessed land-the
Kingdom of Heaven.
The
Mystery of Easter
is the mystery of
Jesus Christ, His
Salutary Holy Blood
shed for mankind and
His Rising from the dead for
mankind. The Son of god should
incamate, be subjected to
tortures, be crucified, buried
and the third day
raise from death (Ps
15:9-11, 29:4, 40:11-13,
117:16-17, Ho 6:2-3).
Following the
crucifixion and death of Jesus
Christ body was
taken off the
cross and placed into the
tomb and the entrance to the
tomb was closed
by a large stone and the
soldiers were ordered
to control the entrance to the
tomb. After three days
the three women, who had
followed Jesus from
Galilee, Mary Magdalene,
Mary, the mother of James and
Joseph, and the
wife of Zebedee brought
spices and perfumes
to anoint the
body of Jesus. They found
the stone rolled
away from the
entrance to the tomb, so they
went in but they
didn’t the body
of the Lord. They
stood there puzzled about
this, when suddenly
two angels dressed
in white appeared
and said to them. Why
are you looking among
the dead for one
who is alive? He
is not here, he
has been raised.
The women returned from
the tomb and told
all these things to the
eleven disciples and the rest. According to
Peter more than 500 people saw Christ
who had risen
from the dead.
So, this is the evangelical tiding
of the fact of Easter or Holy
Resurrection.
Resurrection of Christ
became the basis
of the Christian doctrine
and faith. If
that is true, it means
that Christ has
been raised from
death, then we have
nothing to preach and you
have nothing to believe.
Christ rose from the
dead, by means
of His Death He destroyed
Death and granted
etemal life. I am the Resurrection
and I am the Life. Whoever
believes in me will live,
even though he
dies: and whoever
lives and believes
in me will never die.
Christ died
for the salvation of mankind
any by His
blood took away the sin the world,
so that we should inherit etemal
life.
On the day
of the Easter feast people
dye eggs red as
a symbol of fruitful life ,
salvation and joy. St. Gregory
of Datev considers
the egg to
be the symbol of the
world, the shell of
which is the sky, the membrane
is the air,
the white is the
water and the yolk is the earth.
Dyeing eggs red
symbolizes the salvation of the world
by means of Blood
of Christ.
The Armenian Church
celebrates the Easter
Feast on the first
Sunday following the
full moon of the
veal equinox, with 35
days move ability, during
the period from March 21 April26.
The Armenian Church
traditionally celebrates evening
Divine Liturgy on the
evening prior to Jesus Christ's Glorious
Resurrection (Easter). Following
the conclusion of the
Liturgy, the assembled faithful
take lit candles
home, symbolizing the Light that
Christ brought into
the world. The
Liturgy celebrated on the
eve is the start of the
festive ceremonies. On
Sunday, the day of
the feast, a
morning service is
conducted the Andastan
Service is performed wherein
the four comers
of the world are
blessed, afterwards the
Divine Liturgy is celebrated. That
day the faithful
welcome each other
occasion of the
Glorious Resurrection of
Christ conveying the great tiding:
Christ is Risen from the
dead and receive the answer. Blessed is
the Resurrection of Christ.
Fifty-day period
beginning from the Easter
Feast the Holy feast
of the glorious Resurrection of Our
Lord Jesus Christ-and lasting till Pentecost
in the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church
is called Hinounk
or Hainan’s period is dedicated
to the mystery of Resurrection
of the Lord, and that is why
it is Dominical period.
The name Hinounk
comes from the word
hisuonk (fifty). The first forty day the period
are dedicated to the
appearing of Rosen Christ . For
forty days after
his death he appeared
to them many times
in ways that proved beyond
that he was alive. They
saw him, and he
talked with them about the Kingdom
of God( Ac 1:3) .
The last ten
days of the Hinants period are dedicated
to the ascension of Christ.
Hianats period
is concluded with the Feast of
Ascension. According to the
Church laws there are
no fasting days during
all fifty days of Hinants period,
which means that all people
can eat everything during
that period.
This material has been courteously provided by the press service of the Ararat Patriarchal Diocese at www.qahana.am
This material has been courteously provided by the press service of the Ararat Patriarchal Diocese at www.qahana.am
