The Auxiliaries of Mayr Yegeghetsi
St. Illuminator’s Sunday and Armenian Schools
The education of Armenian children has been at the center of Mayr Yegeghetsi’s ministry since before there was a Mayr Yegeghetsi. Among the initial acts of the generation who began to hold services in New York as the St. Illuminator’s congregation in the first decade of the Twentieth Century, before St. Illuminator’s was formally incorporated in 1915, was to organize an Armenian school. The Mayr Varjaran or Mother School, was founded in 1909. By January 1913, the school had 60 pupils. Thus, Mayr Yegeghetsi‘s most ancient tradition has been to preserve and defend the Armenian language and culture through the educating embrace of the Armenian school.
In addition to operating Mayr Varjaran, Mayr Yegeghetsi supported other Armenian schools in New York City, including the Levonian Varjaran, the Aharonian Varjaran in Washington Heights and the Aramian School in the Bronx. These schools educated thousands of first-and second-generation Armenian-Americans in the Armenian language and culture.
A rare photograph of St. Illuminator’s Armenian School taken in 1918. The pastor at the time was Rev. Fr. Azaria Boyajian, originally from Sepastia.
Mayr Varjaran at the Armenian Center in Woodside, 2008. Pictured in the back row are Tamar Lakissian, Mary Merdkhanian-Yaralian, Gayane Hakobyan, Zmroukht Markarian, Deacon Sarkis Apelian, principal Christine Reiglehoff, and Steven Henock.
Vartges and Armenouhi Aharonian with the Armenian School graduating class of 1942. The Aharonian Varjaran which served the New York community for many years was affiliated with Mayr Yegeghetsi. Both teachers came from illustrious families, Vartges being the son of Avedis Aharonian, the famous writer and national figure, and Armenouhi being the sister of Armen Tigranian of Anoush fame.
Mayr Varjaran during the tenure of Rev. Fr. Nishan Papazian in the 1930s. The teacher is Zabel Arisdakesian. Note the founding date of 1909.
“Why do I go to Armenian school?”
“Why must I remain Armenian?”
In addition to offering her Sunday and Armenian schools, Mayr Yegeghetsi has for more than a decade co-sponsored a popular Bible study program with the Department of Christian Education at the Armenian Prelacy, conducted by Archdeacon Shant Kazanjian. In addition to serving on Mayr Yegeghesi’s Altar for 35 years, Archdeacon Shant also serves as the Prelacy’s director of Christian Education.
Pictured are the participants in a day-long seminar on the Scriptural origins of the Soorp Badarak, March 2019.
The Armenian School, Christmas 2024.
Until 1977, St. Illuminator’s Armenian school operated at various times under the roof of the Cathedral as a weekend school, a three-day school, or a day school. In September 1977, under the auspices and leadership of Rev. Fr. Moushegh Der Kaloustian, Mayr Yegeghetsi launched the St. Illuminator’s Armenian Day School at the erstwhile Armenian Center in Woodside, Queens. Despite financial hardships, the school operated there successfully until the sale of the center forced its closure in 2012. The school reopened at Mayr Yegeghetsi as a Saturday school and holds its sessions today on Sundays.
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
— Proverbs 22:6
St. Illuminator’s founded its Sunday School in 1940 during the pastorship of Rev. Fr. Stepanos Garabedian. Still a new concept for the Armenian Church then, the Sunday School program enjoyed further development in 1955 under the spiritual guidance of Rev. Fr. Arsen Simoniantz and became an established feature of Mayr Yegeghetsi’s educational ministry. Throughout its history, St. Illuminator’s Sunday School has prepared the rising youth of our Church by teaching them the fundamentals of the Christian faith and the Armenian Christian tradition. Since its founding, the school has welcomed pupils ranging in age from five to sixteen years and instructed them in topics such as prayer, Armenian Church history and traditions, the sharagans, the Soorp Badarak, and the saints. Pupils of the school regularly attend Soorp Badarak and throughout the years, some have served on the Altar in the minor orders or sung in the Choir.
Today, Mayr Yegeghetsi continues its tradition of inculcating Armenian Christian and cultural values in the Armenian children of her community under the devoted tutelage and care of Louise Kanian, who teaches Sunday School, Maria Ebrimian, who teaches Armenian School, and teaching assistant Rita Tomassian.
Mayr Yegeghetsi looks forward to further developing and expanding participation in her Sunday and Armenian Schools and invites parents to enroll their children.