Jan. 6 marked the epiphany, or what some call Armenian Christmas, which celebrates Christ’s incarnation. It is the highlight of the Christmas season in the Armenian Church.

By Mary O’KEEFE

On Friday, Jan. 5 a celebration of the epiphany was held at Adventist Health Glendale. A Christmas tree stood 20 feet tall, gracing the entrance to the West Tower lobby. Staff and guests gathered to hear blessings from His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, primate of Western Diocese Armenian Church of North America, Deacon Arin Parsanian of St. Nersess, New York, Rev. Archpriest Fr. Manoug Markarian, pastor of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Glendale and Very Rev. Fr. Yeremia Abgaryan, Western Diocese.

Alice Issai, president of Adventist Health Glendale, said the ceremony is a tradition for the hospital. The hospital has a long history of faithful outreach that stretches from its Glendale base to across the world as many staff members travel to areas in need of medical professionals.

His Eminence Archbishop Derderian said this season is a time to celebrate the Divine love and wisdom.

“With what we have seen last year, through wars and suffering of people, we want to bring hope and joy into the lives of many,” he said.

He added this season’s theme is of gratitude.

The celebration included gifting of blessed Armenian sweet bread and holy water shared with patients and guests.

Glendale Memorial Hospital celebrated its Armenian Christmas with a Blessing of the Water ceremony on Jan. 4. The ceremony was conducted by prelate of the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America and clergy from Mary’s Armenian Church, including Very Rev. Fr. Zareh Sarkissian and Rev. Fr. Movses Shannakia, and Jill Welton, hospital president – Glendale Memorial Hospital-Dignity Health. Representatives from the City of Glendale were also in attendance.

For centuries Jan. 6 was the traditional Christmas celebration. It was changed to Dec. 25 to override a Roman pagan feast dedicated to the birth of the Sun, which was celebrated on Dec. 25.

“At the time Christians used to continue their observance of these pagan festivities. In order to undermine and subdue this pagan practice, the [Roman Catholic church] hierarchy designated December 25 as the official date of Christmas and January 6 as the feast of Epiphany. However, Armenia was not affected by this change for the simple fact that there were no such pagan practices in Armenia, on that date, and the fact that the Armenian Church was not a satellite of the Roman Church. Thus, remaining faithful to the traditions of their forefathers, Armenians have continued to celebrate Christmas on January 6 until today,” according armenianchurch.org.uk.