The Armenian Church’s liturgy has a wealth of feasts and related traditions. The feasts are classified into five groups and cycled around the date of Easter.

− Dominical feasts are directly connected with the life and ministry of Jesus Christ: Theophany, Naming, Pre­sentation of the Lord, Palm Sun­day, Easter, Ascension, Pen­tecost, and Trans­figuration.

− Feasts of St. Mary are associated with the saintly life of the Mother of God: Annunciation, Birth of Mary from Joachim and Anna, Presentation at the Temple, Concep­tion of Mary, Assumption, Disco­very of her waist band, and Discovery of her receptacle.

− Devotional feasts are generally related to the Holy Cross and the church: Discovery of the Cross, Apparition of the Cross, Exal­tation of the Cross, Cross of Varag, New Sunday, World Church, Cathedral of St. Etch­miadzin, Shoghagat, and Ark of the Covenant.

− Great feasts are dedicated to those persons who have played a pivotal role in promoting the Christian faith: St. Stephen the Protomartyr, Apostles St. James, St. John, St. Peter, and St. Paul.

− Saints’ feasts are the greatest in number. Some of them are commemorated also by the Catholic and all other Orthodox churches.

Some of the feasts are celebrated each year on a fixed month and day, for example, Theophany on the 6th of January, Naming on the 13th of January, the Presentation of the Lord on the 14th of February, Annunciation on the 7th of April. Some feasts are movable: those de­pending on the lunar cycle, Easter (between the 22nd of March and the 25th of April), and those that must be celebrated on Sunday: the Assump­tion (on the Sunday of the 12th-18th of August), the Exaltation of the Cross (on the Sunday nearest to September 14th), and the Commencement of Advent (on the Sunday nearest to November 18th). The five greatest feasts, which are called the Tabernacle (taławar), are: Theophany, Easter, Trans­figu­ration, Assumption, and Exaltation of the Cross. These feasts are preceded by a week-long period of absti­nence. The Mon­days following these feasts are observed as com­memoration days of the faithful de­parted (mer˙eloc‘).

Following the tradition of the early church, the Armenian Church celebrates Christmas on the 6th of January. In this celebration, the birth of Christ and His bap­tism by John the Baptist are joined together and this feast is called Theophany (Astuaca­yaytnut‘iwn), meaning the revelation of God. Theoph­any was celebrated on the 6th of January until the 4th Century. There were two compelling reasons for moving Nativity to 25 December: 1) In the West, Christians were still ob­serving some popular pagan feasts, in­cluding the celebration of the “Birth of the Uncon­querable Sun” on the 25th of De­cem­ber. By changing the date of the Nativity, church fathers wanted to replace the pagan feast with the true sun of hu­manity, Jesus Christ. 2) In the East, it was difficult to celebrate the Nativity of Christ in Bethle­hem and the Baptism in the River Jordan on the same day, and, therefore, the two celebra­tions were separated. Because it faced neither of these problems, the Ar­menian Church re­mained faithful to the ancient tradition. On the day of Theophany, at the end of the Holy Mass, the cross is dipped in a bowl full of water, recalling Christ’s immersion in the Jordan River and the holy muron is poured into the water as the symbol of the de­scending of the Holy Spirit. Then members of the congre­gation are given the blessed water to drink, thereby par­ticipating in the baptism of Christ.

Some of the feasts have replaced pagan feasts by adding a Christian symbolism; for example, the festival of roses (vardavar˙) was replaced by the Transfiguration; by blessing the grapes after the Holy Mass, the Church joined the pagan custom of bles­sing the harvest to the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

Sundays are dedicated to the Resurrec­tion and to other dominical feasts. Wed­nesdays and Fridays are reserved for the office of penitence. The feasts of saints occur generally on the four remaining days of the week. The commemoration of saints has a special place in the spirituality of the Ar­menian Church; 130 days are reserved for saints. Generally each saint is celebrated alone, but sometimes they are celebrated jointly. The Armenian Church’s synaxary includes more than 200 saints declared by the uni­versal church before the Council of Chal­cedon, and more than 100 Armenian saints. The Armenian Church also has a day for “all saints, old and new, known and unknown.” The last canonized Armenian saint was St. Krikor Datevatsi (15th C.). For the first time in almost five centuries, the two Catholicoi, Karekin II and Aram I, together initiated a process of canoni­zation by con­vening a council of bishops, with the par­ticipation of the bishops of the two Catho­licosates (September 2013 and November 2014). The council of bishops decided to canonize the martyrs of the Armenian Ge­nocide collec­tively. Led by the two catholi­coi, the canonization took place in St. Etchmiadzin on the 23rd of April 2015, on the occasion of the centennial of the Armenian Ge­nocide. The one-and-a-half mil­lion martyred Ar­menian saints are to be com­memorated each year on the 24th of April, the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

Fasting and abstinence are important expressions of spirituality. Fasting implies abstaining from foods con­taining meat, fats, milk, and eggs; while abstinence means eating no food at all. They refer to a quality of life undergirded by spiritual and moral values. The Armenian Church has 160 days of fasting: every day in Great Lent, every day following the week of Pen­tecost, all Wed­nesdays and Fridays through­out the year, except during the Fifty Days (yinunk‘) fol­lowing Easter, the week before Theopha­ny, the week of Catechu­mens preceding the feast of St. Sarkis, the week before Easter, i.e., Holy Week, the week before Transfigu­ration, the week of the Dis­covery of the Relic of St. Gregory the Illumi­nator, the week before the Assump­tion, the week before the Exaltation of the Cross, the week of Advent, and the weeks of the start of spring, sum­mer, autumn, and winter.

Within the context of fasting, the Great Lent (mec pahk‘) has a special place. It pre­cedes Palm Sunday and is extended over 40 days. The Sundays of the Great Lent are named as follows: Sunday of Expulsion, Sunday of the Prodigal Son, Sunday of Unjust Steward, Sunday of Unjust Judge, Sunday of Second Coming. During this period, the Church calls the faithful, in addition to fasting or abstaining from foods, to deepen their faith through confession, repentance, and medi­tation. For this purpose the veil of the church conceals the altar, only some of the candles are lit, the daily prayers of sunrise, peace, and rest hours are per­formed, and spiritual renewal becomes the focal point of prayers, sermons, and biblical read­ings.

Pilgrimages organized on the occasion of the feasts of saints and parish churches are an integral part of spirituality. Each feast has its liturgical and popular traditions and practices. Other expressions of spirituality are gifts of incense and liturgical articles, dona­tions to the church, huma­nitarian actions, and acts of devotion.

The Armenian Church has rules for sit­ting, standing, and bowing during the liturgy. The cong­regation stands when the Gospel is read, prayer is said, and the Trisagion is sung, and also at certain points during the Holy Mass. As to crossing and bowing, people make the sign of the cross when the Lord’s Prayer and doxology are said at the end of a psalm, hymn, or collect; people bow in the middle of a prayer when the priest or the deacon says “let us bow down to God.” During the recitation of the creed, the song “Glory on high,” and the Lord’s Prayer, the faithful clasp their hands, which symbol­izes the unity of the church and upward elevation of our soul in proclaiming our faith.