New Book on 19th Century Armenian Composer Kristapor Kara-Murza

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19th century Armenian composer Kristapor Kara-Murza was an instructor at the Kevorkian Seminary in Holy Etchmiadzin and composed a setting of the Divine Liturgy.
19th century Armenian composer Kristapor Kara-Murza was an instructor at the Kevorkian Seminary in Holy Etchmiadzin and composed a setting of the Divine Liturgy.

Musicologist Mr. Krikor Pidejian will present his new book on the 19th-century Armenian composer Kristapor Kara-Murza on Thursday, February 19 at 7:30PM at St. Leon Armenian Church, 12-61 Saddle River Road, Fair Lawn, NJ.

Noted pianist Şahan Arzruni will also speak at the event.

The Zohrab Information Center is co-sponsoring the event with St. Leon Armenian Church (Fair Lawn, NJ), the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), the Armenian Network of America- Greater NY, the Esayan-Getronagan Alumni Association and the Tekeyan Cultural Association.

Kristapor Kara-Murza was arguably the first composer to introduce homophony or chordal music to Armenian music and the first to form mixed gender choirs that brought Armenian men and women together to sing as a group.

Kara-Murza also composed a setting of the Badarak, the Divine Liturgy.

Krikor Pidedjian and Şahan Arzrun will place the work of Kara-Murza in historical and social contexts and bring to life exchanges with personalities of the time, such as Khrimian Hayrig. They will share new discoveries, including a Divine Liturgy composed by Kara-Murza that was found by Krikor Pidedjian and Kara-Murza’s connection to the Armenian national anthem, Mer Hayrenik.

Krikor Pidedjian is a noted conductor, composer and author. He will speak in Armenian.Şahan Arzruni is an accomplished pianist, composer, writer, producer and recording artist. His presentation will be in English.

2015-02 PidejianFlyer-page-001Click here to download a flyer.

The book presentation is free and open to the public. A reception will follow. For more information call St. Leon Armenian Church at (201) 791-2862

Martyrs in the 20th Century. Martyrs in the 1st Century.

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2015 GanteghToday is the Feast of St. Voski and his Companions, a group of priests who were among the first Christians to be martyred on Armenian soil just decades after Christ. Followers of St. Thaddeus the Apostle, St. Voski and his priest-companions dared to bring the news of a new god—indeed, the only true God—to a people who were quite content to follow the pagan status quo.

Two thousand years later, 1.5 million native Armenian Christians would lay down their lives on their native land out of their deepest conviction that in that same True God, Jesus Christ, the end of this earthly life was merely the turning of the page of a divine and eternal book of life.

Today the Armenian Church in its native homeland and throughout the world pushes on, inspired by that same faith, to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to a world that so desperately looks for true peace, true meaning and true hope.

CLICK HERE to see the new and exciting missionary work inspired by St. Voski and His Companions.

An Anthropologist Considers St. Vartan: Faith, Nation and Memory. February 12 at St. Vartan Cathedral

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Christopher Sheklian, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Chicago, will be the featured speaker at the annual commemoration of St. Vartan and His Companions (Վարդանանց / Vartanants) on Thursday, February 12 in the Kavookjian Hall of the Armenian Diocese in New York.

The Zohrab Information Center is co-sponsoring the event with St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral, with the participation of the Mid-Atlantic Knights and Daughters of Vartan.

Competing Memories of Saint Vartan

Anthropologists study culture and since the adoption of Christianity, the Christian faith and the institutions of the Armenian Church have become part of the very fabric of Armenian culture. But if the Armenian Church is reduced merely to one element of Armenian culture among others, what is the place of faith, devotion, and liturgy? Nowhere, perhaps, is this conundrum most obvious than in competing memories over St. Vartan and the Battle of Avarayr. Was St. Vartan fighting for the existence of the Armenian nation? Or was he a consummate defender of the faith? Can we separate these two things? Moreover, the way we remember and commemorate St. Vartan speaks to the way we ourselves think about the connection between faith and nation. How we remember St. Vartan is not merely a historical matter. To fully grapple with the memory of St. Vartan is to take on the fundamental question of the Armenian nation: its relationship to its Christian faith in the salvation of Christ Jesus.

The Armenian Minority and Secularism in Turkey

Deacon Christopher Sheklian at the Armenian fortress of Hromkla in Turkey. He will lecture at the annual Saints Vartanants commemoration at the Armenian Diocese in New York.
Deacon Christopher Sheklian at the Armenian fortress of Hromkla in Turkey. He will lecture at the annual Saints Vartanants commemoration at the Armenian Diocese in New York.

An ordained deacon of the Armenian Church, Christopher Sheklian is currently completing his doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago entitled Theology and the Community: The Armenian Minority, Tradition, and Secularism in Turkey. His dissertation is based on two years of intensive research and fieldwork in Istanbul and Diyarbakir, Turkey within the Armenian Church and community. The first fruits of his research were recently published in a book chapter entitled, “Venerating the Saints, Remembering the City: Armenian Memorial Practices and Community Formation in Contemporary Istanbul.”

Deacon Shekian is a native of California, having been raised in St. Mary Armenian Church in Yettem, in the Central Valley. He spent the 2011-2012 academic year at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary studying Armenian theology and Armenian Christian culture. Several of his current scholarly projects stem from the instruction he received there.

Deacon Sheklian will speak during a commemorative banquet to which the public is invited. Donation for the dinner is $25 for adults and $10 for children 10 and under. Guests are also warmly encouraged to participate in the Divine Liturgy, which will be celebrated at 6:00PM.

For further information contact the Diocese at (212) 686-0710 or zohrabcenter@armeniandiocese.org or

Code Name “Haiko” Discovering the Last Unknown Participant in Talaat Pasha’s Liquidation. Lecture by Dr. Vartan Matiossian

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Grand Vizir Talaat Pasha was murdered on March 15, 1921 in Berlin by Soghomon Tehlirian as vengeance for his role in the Armenian Genocide.
Grand Vizir Talaat Pasha was assassinated on March 15, 1921 in Berlin by Soghomon Tehlirian as vengeance for his role in the Armenian Genocide.

The Zohrab Center inaugurates its Spring Armenian enrichment series on Thursday, February 5 with a real-life detective story by Dr. Vartan Matiossian.

In 1921 the mastermind of the Armenian Genocide, Talaat Pasha, was killed in a Berlin street by a young avenger, Soghomon Tehlirian. This was the final act of Operation Nemesis, planned and partially carried out between 1919 and 1922 to fulfill the justice to the Armenian people that many believed had been denied them by tribunals.

Soghomon Tehlirian was acquitted by a German court in the assassination of Talaat Pasha.
Soghomon Tehlirian was acquitted by a German court in the assassination of Talaat Pasha.

In his memoirs, published in Armenian in 1953, Tehlirian unveiled many of the details of his action. For security reasons, he identified his immediate on-the-ground collaborators with pseudonyms: Hazor, Vaza, and a certain Haiko. Three decades later, the identity of the first two were revealed or inferred but the third operative, “Haiko,” has remained unidentified.

While waiting for the day that archival material will yield more information about him, a lucky hunch and a painstaking examination of data from the Armenian press and secondary literature has allowed Dr. Vartan Matiossian to identify by name and to outline the life and activities of “Haiko.”

Dr. Vartan Matiossian has published extensively in the areas of Armenian history and literature.
Dr. Vartan Matiossian has published extensively in the areas of Armenian history and literature.

Dr. Vartan Matiossian was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and lived in Buenos Aires until 2000, when he moved to the United States. He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires and has a Ph.D. in history from the Academy of Sciences, Armenia, having studied the Armenian community in Argentina from its beginnings until 1950.

A frequent visitor to the Zohrab Center, Dr. Matiossian currently serves as Executive Director of the Armenian National Education Committee of the Armenian Prelacy in New York. He has published extensively in the areas of Armenian history and literature in Armenian, Spanish and English, including 5 books and countless scholarly articles, essays and book reviews. He has also translated 15 Armenian books into Spanish and English.

2015-02 Matiossian.001Dr. Matiossian’s presentation will take place in the Guild Hall of the Armenian Diocese, 630 2nd. Avenue, New York on Thursday, February 5 at 7PM. The event, which will be followed by a reception, is free of charge and all are welcome.

CLICK HERE to download a color flyer.

For further information, contact the Zohrab Center at zohrabcenter@armeniandiocese.org or (212) 686-0710.

Learn! Grow! Inspire! 2015 Spring Lecture Series

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ZZohrab.001The Zohrab Center presents a rich and varied program of lectures, book presentations, and other stimulating opportunities for enrichment and edification this Winter and Spring. Armenians and anyone interested in Armenian civilization, arts, letters, and faith will find many options to learn, to grow and to inspire others.

A new study on Armenian music, a guide to the Armenian Church’s Holy Week ceremonies, a photographic album of the old Armenian community of Bourj-Hammoud, a Genocide-era novel, and a new travelogue of historic western Armenia will all be showcased by their authors. In addition, noted scholars will hold forth on various facets of Armenian Studies, including Vartan Matossian, Helen Evans and Roberta Ervine. A movie night and other events are also planned.

The Zohrab Center is collaborating with several sister organizations and parishes to co-sponsor some events.

All events are open to the public and most are free of charge. Unless otherwise noted, all presentations take place at the Zohrab Center (Armenian Diocese, New York). Check back frequently for updates and additions. For further information contact ZIC at info@zohrabcenter.org or (212) 686-0710.

ZIC Schedule of Events Spring 2015

Thursday, February 5 (7PM)
“Code Name Haiko: Discovering the Last Unknown Participant in Talaat Pasha’s Liquidation” Dr. Vartan Matiossian, Armenian National Education Committee

Thursday, February 12
Commemoration of St. Vartan and His Companions. Divine Liturgy and Dinner followed by Lecture. Co-sponsored with St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral
“An Anthropologist Considers St. Vartan: Faith, Nation and Memory” Lecture by Christopher Sheklian, University of Chicago

Thursday, February 19 (7PM)
St. Leon Armenian Church, Fair Lawn, NJ
The Life and Work of 19th-Century Armenian Composer Kristapor Gara-Murza. Book Presentation by Krikor Pidejian with Şahan Arzruni.

Thursday, March 5 (7PM)
Co-sponsored with Eastern Diocese Department of Armenian Studies
Portraits of Survival: The Armenians of Bourj Hammoud. Book Presentation by Ariane Ateshian Delacampagne.

Thursday, March 12 (7PM)
A.G.B.U. Center, New York
Historic Armenia after 100 Years. Book Presentation by Matthew Karamian

Thursday, March 19 (7PM)
“A Guided Tour of Holy Week in the Armenian Church” Lecture and Book Presentation by Fr. Daniel Findikyan, Zohrab Information Center/St. Nersess Armenian Seminary

Wednesday, April 8 (7PM)
“Picking Up the Pieces: Three Bishops and Their Vision for the Armenian Church circa 1920” Lecture by Dr. Roberta Ervine, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary

Thursday, April 16 (7PM)
Co-sponsored with the Eastern Diocese Department of Armenian Studies
The Martyred Armenian Writers 1915-1922. Book presentation by Herand Markarian

Thursday, April 30 (7PM)
“Armenian Art: Voice of a People” Dr. Helen Evans, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tuesday, June 2 (7PM)
The Survivor. Book Presentation: Rosemary Hartounian Cohen.

Nowhere: A Story of Exile. ZIC Book Presentation November 13, 2014

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TurcotteNowhereAnna Astvatsaturian Turcotte lost her childhood to the ethnic cleansing in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1988.

Her life was swept away at the tender age of 10 when Muslim Azeris drove the Armenian community out of the country using terror and violence. Fleeing to Armenia, which was still reeling from the earthquake of 1988, she found herself an outsider; a nationless girl surviving in an unheated basement and facing discrimination again, this time by her own people.

Nowhere: A Story of Exile is a riveting story of organized terror, refugee life, and the desperate search for one’s home told through the diary entries of a young girl. Anna gives voice to a horrific tragedy little reported in the West, to the Armenian community of Azerbaijan and to the child victims of ethnic cleansing everywhere.

TurcottePhotoAnna Astvatsaturian Turcotte will speak of her experiences at the Zohrab Information Center on Thursday, November 13 at 7:00PM. Her presentation will be held in the Guild Hall of the Armenian Diocese, 630 2nd Avenue, New York. It is being co-sponsored by the Zohrab Center and the Armenian Network of America Greater NY Chapter.

Ms. Astvatsaturian Turcotte came to the United States as an Armenian refugee in 1992 and became a US citizen in 1997. She holds a law degree and was one of the first Americans to clerk for the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands after observing its creation at the United Nations. Anna is currently living in the United States and working in the financial industry. She is married and has two children.

“Anna’s diary, written from the wide-eyed perspective of an 11-year old girl, is nevertheless remarkably incisive and haunting in its portrayal of the cruelties inflicted on the Armenian people of Baku,” said V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan, Director of the Zohrab Center. He added, “Anna is the Armenian Anne Frank of our times.”

AnnaTurcotteFlyer.001The book presentation is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FLYER.

For further information contact the Zohrab Center at zohrabcenter@armeniandiocese.org or (212) 686-0710.

#NowhereExile

ZICVID. Prof. Maxwell Johnson Speaks on Martyrdom in the Early Churches and the Martyrs of the Armenian Genocide

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On Thursday, October 9, Prof. Maxwell Johnson of the University of Notre Dame spoke at the Zohrab Center about the phenomenon of Christian martyrdom in the early church in light of the anticipated canonization by the Armenian Church of the countless martyrs of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 who surrendered their lives for the name of Jesus Christ.

A Poetry Evening at ZIC. Thursday, October 23

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The Zohrab Information Center will host an evening of original poetry on Thursday, October 23 at 7:00PM.

Nancy Agabian
Nancy Agabian

Featured will be three American-Armenian poets: Nancy Agabian, Lola Koundakjian, and Alan Semerdjian. They have chosen to read works that have been inspired by the Zohrab Center’s rich book collection.

Award-winning author Nancy Agabian is a part-time faculty member of the NYU Gallatin School. She was a Fulbright scholar to Armenia in 2006-7.

Alan Semerdjian
Alan Semerdjian

Alan Semerdjian is a poet, teacher, musician and artist, whose acclaimed collection of poems, In the Architecture of Bone, explorees issues of Genocide and survival.

Lola Koundakjian
Lola Koundakjian

Making her second visit to the Zohrab Center to read her work, Lola Koundakjian is an internationally acclaimed and published poet whose work has been translated into Spanish and Ukrainian. She is curator of the online Armenian Poetry Project.

The Evening of Poetry will place at the Zohrab Center of the Armenian Diocese, 630 Second Avenue, New York.

2014-10 PoetryEvening.001CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FLYER.

All are welcome to attend. Suggested donation is $5. Students with ID will be admitted free. A reception and refreshments will follow.

For further information, contact us at zohrabcenter@armeniandiocese.org or (212) 686-0710. #ZICPoetry