LI 101 Introduction to Liturgy
The essence of liturgy and its place in the life of the Church. Approaches to the study of liturgy. Survey of the Armenian liturgical tradition: the Divine Liturgy, sacraments, liturgical cycles, liturgical books, and the liturgical year. Prerequisite for all other liturgy courses.
LI 201 The Divine Liturgy
The history of the development of the Divine Liturgy and its theology with special emphasis on the Armenian Divine Liturgy. Biblical foundations. Structure of the Divine Liturgy. Structure and theology of the Eucharistic Prayer. Proto-anaphoras, Armenian and other anaphoras. Patristic commentaries. Contemporary pastoral issues.
LI 203 Sacraments
A survey of the sacraments of the Armenian Church including blessings and other ceremonies: their structure, historical development, theology, and place in the life of the Church. Baptism and Chrismation, Marriage, Ordination, Penance, Burial, Blessing of a Church, of Home, etc.
LI 211 Scripture Readings of the Liturgical Year I
A team-taught course which will examine the connection between the Sunday Bible readings appointed in the Armenian Lectionary (Jashots’) and the feasts of the liturgical year. The focus of this fall-semester course will be on the feasts of the Cross, Advent and Theophany (Christmas). Attentive reading and exegesis will combine with the study of the origin, structure, and theology of these festal periods. In this way the student will come to understand the Bible in its liturgical context. This course and its sequel (LI 212) are a component of the Seminary’s Master of Arts in Armenian Christian Studies, and are open to all interested.
LI 212 Scripture Readings of the Liturgical Year II
A spring-semester sequel to the preceding team-taught course (LI 211), with its focus on the Great Period of Pascha, including the Lenten Period, the feasts of the Holy Week culminating with Easter, and the Period of the Fifty Days to Pentecost.
LI 303 The Liturgy of the Hours
The history of the development of the Daily Office, its meaning and place in the life of the Church, with special reference to the Armenian tradition. Biblical antecedents. Cathedral and Monastic models. The structure of the Armenian daily offices. Patristic commentaries. Contemporary pastoral issues.
LI 404 The Liturgical Year
The origins and development of the church year with special reference to the Armenian ecclesiastical calendar and its distinctive features. Cosmic cycles, calendrics, and the Christian concept of time. Paschal and Nativity cycles. Fasts and Feasts. The sanctoral.
LI 410 Liturgies of the Eastern Churches
A survey of the liturgical traditions of the non-Byzantine eastern churches with emphasis on the origin of the Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian Orthodox (Jacobite), Asyro-Chaldean, and Maronite Churches and their history as it relates to the distinctive features of the eucharistic liturgy, Daily Office, ecclesiastical calendar, and liturgical ethos of each. Emphasis on the interrelationship between the traditions and mutual influences in the history of the development of the rites.
LI 450 Seminar in Armenian Liturgical Commentaries
A seminar on the Armenian patristic commentaries on the Divine Liturgy, Daily Office, and Lectionary. Exegesis and mystagogy. The problem of meaning in liturgy. Readings from Grigoris Arsharuni, Hovhannes Odznets’i, Step’anos Siwnets’i, Khosrov Andzewats’i, Movses Erznkats’i, Nerses Lambronats’i.
LI 451 Directed Reading in Armenian Liturgy
Focused reading and research in a liturgical area. May be repeated once, but may not be considered as substitute for more than one core-requirement course.
LI 480 Independent Study in Armenian Liturgy
Independent and advanced study dealing with a problem in the field of Armenian liturgy, for students who have completed basic courses in the area. May be repeated once.