Seminary to Sponsor Deacons’ Training November 1-3

Deacons’ Training “Double” Workshop
St. Nersess Seminary, with the blessing of His Eminence Abp. Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese, will hold a Deacons’ Training “Double Workshop” on the weekend of November 1-3, 2013 at St. Stepanos Armenian Church, Elberon, New Jersey. The workshop is intended for deacons and altar servers serving parishes in the greater New York/New Jersey region. 

The “double” workshop will feature two simultaneous programs, for beginner and advanced altar servers respectively. The first program will teach participants how to use the poorvar (censer) and the censing patterns for the Divine Liturgy. The second program will train participants in the rituals, music and deacons’ role in the Armenian Church’s Blessing of Water ceremony, which takes place on Christmas Day.

“By the end of the program, those in the poorvar class will be able to offer incense during the Badarak competently and confidently,” said V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan, Professor of Liturgical Studies at St. Nersess and long-time Director of the Seminary’s Deacons’ Training Program. Rev. Fr. Daniel Karadjian, Pastor of St. Stepanos Armenian Church, will serve as co-director.

The program is open to young men age 14 or older. Students will be housed under adult supervision at the Ocean Court Motel by-the-Sea in Long Branch, New Jersey, near St. Stepanos Church. All meals, instruction and activities will take place at the church. The fee for the program, triple-occupancy room, home-cooked meals and materials in $100. Interested young men should inquire with their Pastors or Parish Councils for available scholarships.