History of St Yeghiche Church
The Armenian Community of Great Britain has been blessed with the availability of three churches. The first is the Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Manchester, completed in 1870. The second is the Armenian Church of St. Sarkis, built in 1924. These two churches have served the religious, cultural, and national needs of the Armenian community in Great Britain, without imposing any financial burden on the community through the kind generosity of its benefactors. Both of the churches are governed by Trust law.
On the 28th of June 1965, the Armenians in London elected their first London Armenian Community and Church Council (ACCC). Its first task was to secure a church, which it did by leasing the church of All Saints in Finchley, which after being demolished acquired the Church of St. Peter’s, Cranley Gardens, consecrated by His Holiness Vasken I on 8th June 1975. For twenty years the community leased St. Peter’s Church for a nominal rental from the Church of England. By 1997/98, the church building, which was built in 1866–7 had aged considerably and needed extensive renovation, which the community could not afford.
The community is grateful to the Benefactors, Mr. & Mrs. Vatche and Tamar Manoukian, who purchased the church from the Church of England and renovated it to a splendid standard. It was renamed St. Yeghiche Armenian Church and was consecrated on 10th June 2001 by His Holiness Karekin II. The ACCC continued to provide church services at St. Yeghiche since its re-opening.
Mr. Manoukian has established a Trust to hold the freehold of the church building, and in accordance with his promise when he acquired the freehold, he made St Yeghiche available to ACCC for church services. The Manoukian Trust pays all the maintenance expenses of the church building, including heating, electricity, repairs, and cleaning costs. However, the ACCC remained responsible for the functioning of the church as a place of worship and all its associated expenses.
On November 3rd 2013, the ACCC devolved its responsibility of running the church to a newly established St. Yeghiche Armenian Church Parish.
The new St. Yeghiche Armenian Church Parish was established by members of the community, who registered as members of the Parish of St. Yeghiche Church, and the Parish Assembly thus was created. Having adopted the Parish Constitution in accordance with the canons of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church, the assembled members elected its first Parish Council, which is entrusted with the management of the church. The Parish is grateful to the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Charitable Trust for allowing the Parish free use of the church building and for continuing to pay full maintenance expenses of the church building.
On 18th November 2013, the St. Yeghiche parish council had its inaugural meeting, chaired by the primate, during which the Parish officers were elected.
The Parish Council, since its establishment, started pursuing a number of objectives such as initiation of FAQs, preparation of weekly Sunday bulletins and monthly Shoghk Church newsletters, and various prayer books, establishing the Ladies’ Guild, as well as a Facebook account, website and YouTube, for routine communications with the parish members and community.
In March 2018, His Grace Bishop Hovakim Manukyan appointed Rev. Fr. Nshan Alaverdyan to serve at St. Yeghiche Armenian Church as its Pastor in Charge after the former was appointed to the United Kingdom Diocese by HH Karekin II on 14th February 2018.
Over the past years, the Parish Council has been actively involved in meetings and discussions, with the Primate and other Parishes, in drafting the diocesan Bylaws for the UK and the Republic of Ireland. A draft ratified by the St. Yeghiche Armenian Church Parish Assembly at their 4th February 2018 AGM was submitted by the Primate to Etchmiadzin for approval.
St. Yeghiche Armenian Church Parish continues to serve its members and community with all its religious requirements. St. Yeghiche Armenian Church and its staff are here to serve the UK Armenian Community. We are keen to welcome everyone to our church and increase the attendance and membership of our Parish.
Our Patron Saint – St. Yeghiche (415-475 A.D.)
Nightingale, voice of the night, little soul of the roses,
Ghevond Alishan (The Nightingale of Avarayr)
Friend of all mournful hearts that with sorrow are sighing!
Sing, little nightingale, sing me a song from that hillock,
Sing with my soul of Armenia’s heroes undying!
St. Yeghiche was one of the youngest disciples of Sts. Mesrop Mashtots and Sahag Bartev. He is known for his many achievements that have enriched the cultural treasury of the Armenian Nation.
After a short period of study in Armenia, Yeghiche was sent to Alexandria in around 435 for the enhancement of his education. As a student, he was already singled out for his profound knowledge of both the early Hellenistic culture and the teachings of the fathers of the Church.
Upon his return to Armenia, St. Yeghiche became the personal scribe of General Vardan Mamikonian. Together with Vardan and his soldiers, Yeghiche was involved in the famous battle of Avarayr in AD 451. He soon composed a book titled ‘A History of Vardan and the Armenian War’ in which he beautifully narrated the courage of the Armenian warriors and their determination to preserve their Christian Armenian identity. Inspired by this, St. Yeghiche wrote his famous phrase, “Death not understood is death; death understood is immortality”, which soon became a motto for many soldiers of the land of Armenia. He was named ‘the Nightingale of Avarayr’ by a prominent 19th-century poet and historian, Ghevond Alishan, who dedicated an entire poem to St. Yeghiche and the other holy martyrs of Avarayr.
After the invention of the Armenian alphabet by St. Mesrop Mashtots, when all the tools were provided for the creation of Armenian literature, the holy translators of the 5th century started translating the Bible and the works of the fathers of the Church. Based on these translations, many of the disciples of Mesrop Mashtots and Sahag Bartev wrote their own works, thus laying the foundation of the unique Armenian literature.
When the war with the Persians was over, St. Yeghiche embarked on a profound study of the Holy Scripture and as a result of his studies, he composed commentaries on Genesis, Joshua, Judges, etc. He also produced some other outstanding works of both pastoral and doctrinal nature, such as ‘On the Feast of the Baptism of Christ’, ‘On the Feast of Transfiguration’, ‘On the Lord’s Prayer’, ‘On Judgment and the Second Coming’, ‘On Remembering the Dead’, etc. These works were translated into English to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of St Yeghiche Armenian Church’s consecration.
The oldest extant manuscript containing St. Yeghiche’s ‘History of Vardan’ is dated to the 12th century. The two best editions of this work were published first, in 1826 in Venice by the Mechitarist fathers, and the second, in 1957 in Yerevan by Y. Ter-Minasian.
Being acquainted with the works of the early authors of the church and using their works as a base for his own research St. Yeghiche elevated the studies of the Bible and Christian tradition in Armenian to a whole new level. In his commentaries as well as pastoral works St. Yeghiche has shown his extremely high intellect and the in-depth knowledge of the main theological traditions of the time. Alongside Armenian, many other languages, e.g. Greek, Syriac, Persian etc., were taught in the schools established by St. Yeghiche.
Every year the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church commemorates St. Yeghiche together with the other Holy Translators of the Church. His feast falls on the Saturday preceding the fifth Sunday of the Holy Cross.
V. Rev. Fr. Garegin Hambardzumyan