The Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Cilicia (2)

The “liturgical language is Classical Armenian (Grabar), which differs decidedly from the eastern and western modern Armenian dialects. The vernacular is not used in the celebration of the Divine [Liturgy],” the Diocese of the Armenian Church of the United Kingdom and Ireland explains.

General Aspects

Britannica notes: “The Liturgy of St. Gregory the Illuminator, used by both Apostolic and Catholic Armenians, is patterned after the Antiochene Liturgy of St. James and the Byzantine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.” But “Churches of the Armenian rite, unlike Byzantine churches, are generally devoid of icons and, in place of an iconostasis (screen), have a curtain that conceals the priest and the altar during parts of the liturgy.”

The Armenian liturgy “The Armenian Liturgy often preserves ancient structures and usages long since supplanted in other rites,” the Diocese of the Armenian Catholic Church for the United Kingdom and Ireland explains. “Scholars are increasingly turning to the Armenian Liturgy as an important witness for the historical reconstruction of early liturgical structures and practices.”

Special Aspects 

The same source continues: “The Armenian Liturgy is celebrated with a form and ceremonial which partakes in a measure both of the Roman and Byzantine rites. The curtains are used instead of the altar-rail or iconostasis of those rites, and the vestments are also peculiar. The Armenian Church uses unleavened bread, in the form of a wafer or small thin round cake, for consecration, [...]

“The wine used must be solely the fermented juice of the best grapes obtainable. In the Armenian Churches Communion is given to the people under both species, the Host being dipped in the chalice before delivering it to the communicant,” a practice called intinction.

“During Lent the altar remains entirely hidden by the great curtains [Editor’s note: as was done in the Latin Church in the past], and during all the Sundays in Lent, except Palm Sunday, Mass is celebrated behind the drawn curtains.”

Liturgical Vestments

“The Armenian vestments for Liturgy are peculiar and splendid,” as the same Armenian Catholic Diocese website explains. “The deacon wears merely an alb, and a stole [...] The sub-deacons and lower clergy wear simply the alb.” However, the “priest wears a crown, which is called the Saghavard or helmet. The Armenian bishops wear a mitre almost identical in shape with the Latin mitre. The mitre has been introduced in the Armenian Church in the twelfth century.”

As for the celebrant, “ is first vested with the shapik or alb, which is usually narrower than the Latin form, [...] He then puts on each of his arms the bazpans or cuffs; then the ourar or stole, which is in one piece; then the goti or girdle, then the vakas or amice, which is a large embroidered stiff collar with a shoulder covering to it; and finally the shourchar, or chasuble.” The vestments are embroidered by hand, with various colors. The liturgical color is not used in the Armenian liturgy.

“If the celebrant is Patriarch or Catholicos, he also wears gonker or epigonation [a rhombus-shaped cloth covered in the same material as the vestments, hanging from the belt by a cord on the right side, at knee-height]. The bishops carry a staff shaped like the Latin [...]

“Originally no organs are used in the Armenian church, but the elaborate vocal music of the Eastern style, sung by choir and people, is accompanied by two metallic instruments, [...] both of which are used during various parts of the Liturgy. The organ was introduced in the Armenian Church in 1923.”

The Armenian liturgy is divided in three parts:

1- Prayers and ceremonies preparing the elements of the Sacrifice
2- The Mass of the Catechumens
3- The Mass of the Faithful.

Throughout the liturgy, two types of blessing are used: Blessing with the Holy Cross, and Blessing with the Consecrated Sacred Species (after the Elevation). These hold a special significance in the ceremony, inviting the faithful to bless themselves with the Sign of the Holy Cross.

A special atmosphere of prayer and participation is created during the ceremony by the use of incense and the “keshotz” [“a fan with small bells”].