Understanding the Badarak

Vahe H. Apelian

Recently I read the following book, having ordered it from Eastern Armenian Prelacy bookstore in New York City: “Frequently Asked QUESTIONS  on the Badarak. The Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church.” The book is authored by Michael Daniel Findikyan, as noted on the cover page. The book was printed in 2013 by St. Vartan Press of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern).

I always felt that I do not know Badarak well enough to understand the substance and the pageantry on the alter during the divine liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. That is why I ordered a copy of the book.

Regarding my Armenian Divine Liturgy education, I would like to tell the following. I met Archbishop Terterian  of blessed memory for the first and only time on April 2004 in my parent’s house in Reseda, CA. He was in Los Angeles at the invitation of the Kessab Educational Association (K.E.A), to officiate the inauguration of the late Catholicos Karekin I Sarkissian Library in the K.E.A Center in Reseda, CA, as well, a short walking distance from my late parent's house. In conversation with him, I told him that in hindsight, I fault the Church for not having clergy accompanying us to mass when we were students in the Cilician Catholicosate affiliated Armenian school in Beirut, and explain to us the Badarak, even though our teachers of religion were the young monks  who later became prominent in their own right. 

I hoped that this book will help me fill the void and it did. It consisted of seven chapters, as follows:

Preface

Chapter I: Questions of History: How the Badarak came to be. (page 5)

Chapter II: Questions of Theology: What Does the Badarak Mean? (page 11)

Chapter III: Questions of Faith: The Badarak & Me (page 17)

Chapter IV: Questions About Rituals, Traditions & Practices (page 21)

Chapter V: Questions About Sacret Objects, Vessels & Symbols (page 45)

Chapter VI: Questions About Liturgical Reform & Other Christian Churches (page 51)

Chapter VII: How Can I Learn More About the Badarak? (page 61)

Index (page 67)

I indicated the page numbers purposely to shed light on the brevity of the reading. In 65 pages many questions are asked and answered to help the reader better understand the Armenian Apostolic Divine Liturgy, the Badarak.

The reader may have guessed by now that the author is the Primate of the Eastern Diocese, Father Daniel Findikyan, who made history when in 2018 he was elected as the Diocesan Primate as the first Armenian Church Primate to have been born and raised in the United States. Apparently he chose to forgo his clerical title as the author of the book to send a message that the book is for the everyday laity to have a better understanding of the Badarak and is not meant to be a theological treatment of the Badarak.

On a personal note, I would like to reflect on the spiritual brotherhood of the Archbishop Ardavazt Terterian and the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin I Sarkissian. Both hailed from Kessab and left together as young teenagers and came to Beirut and enrolled in the Catholicosate of Cilicia seminary. Both embraced celibate priesthood upon completion of their studies. Both elevated to the ranks at the same time and were ordained to their ranks together. Catholicos Karekin I Sargissian had an outgoing personality and was gregarious who would travel the world and assume administrative positions in different  parts of the world and eventually would occupy the Catholicosate Seat in Etchmiadzin and enter his eternal rest there.

Archbishop Ardavazt Terterian, on the other hand, was a homebody, rarely leaving the confines of the Catholicosate. He is remembered as an exemplary clergyman, a faithful and humble servant who devotedly served the Holy See of Cilicia for over sixty years. He served as Dean of the Seminary, Catholicossal General Vicar, and Locum Tenens. He was “a scholar and distinguished educator who  instructed and prepared countless Brotherhood members and community servants at the Seminary of the Holy See of Cilicia. “

The late Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian remembered that he comforted Catholicos Karekin I Sarkissian on his death bed by letting him know that Archbishop Ardavazt is regularly calling and inquiring about him.

In 2014, in order to honor the memory of his spiritual brother who was known for his love of book, Archbishop Ardavazt Terterian undertook that rare travel from Beirut to Los Angeles to officiate the naming of the library in the Kessab Educational Association center in memory of his spiritual brother Catholicos Karekin I Sarkissian.