Feast of Holy Translators: Responsive reading

Vahe H. Apelian 

Today, after church service at the Armenian Church of the Martyrs in Worcester, MA, we had a social celebrating the Feast of Holy Translators. The month of October is designated Armenian Culture month.

The Feast of Holy Translators is observed on the second Saturday in October. The Holy Translators were a group of Armenian intellectuals headed by two towering churchmen, St Shak and St. Mesrob, who laid down the foundation of the Armenian literature in the fifth century A.D.

In 406, St. Mesrob invested the Armenian alphabet for the propagation of Christianity in Armenia, while Catholicos Sahak Barkev spearheaded the translation of the bible into Armenian. These ushered a new age of intellectual and spiritual enlightenment in Armenia. This year, the Feast of the Holy Translator will on Sunday, October 15.

Responsive reading is part of the Armenian Evangelical church service. It consists of the pastor or a leader reading a designated responsive reading from the hymnal to which the congregation responds, It always end with the last passage read in unison.

  This Sunday the responsive reading was not from the hymnal. It was distributed on a leaflet. According to the moderator Steven Papazian, it was sent to him by Rev. Vahan Tootikian.  It is as follows;

FEAST OF THE HOLY TRANSLATORS

(L = Leader; P = People; U = Unison)

L:    Almighty God, we thank you for the faithful service of our Holy Translators – St. Mesrob Mashdotz for inventing the Armenian Alphabet, St. Sahak Bartev for spearheading the translation of the Bible into Armenian Gospel and the spiritual enlighteners of the Armenian nation.

P:    We thank you for the faith of our fathers and for their cultural and Christian legacy.

 

L:     We thank you for all those who, following the example of the Holy Translators, have passed their torches of faith and culture from generation to generation, and have bequeathed to us our cultural and Christian values

P:    May we, by your grace, be equipped with new vision and skills, to learn from the past and build a better tomorrow.

 

L:  Grant that, acknowledging our debt of gratitude, we may dedicate ourselves to the preservation and perpetuation of the Armenian heritage.

P:    Grant that, endowed with your wisdom; we may be fulfillers and extenders of the best of our heritage.

 

L:     As beneficiaries of those who have gone before us, grant that those who come after us will be beneficiaries of our stewardship and dedication.

P:     Help us, O Lord, to realize that each generation must take its part in building a future for the generation to come that is worthy of its past.

 

U:    In grateful thank to You for our precious inheritance, O Lord, we dedicate ourselves to You, our nation, and humankind as we seek to advance Your Kingdom in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen