Armenian Liturgy[edit]

The Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian Catholic Church have at

present a single liturgical structure, called the Armenian Rite, with a single
anaphora (the Athanasius-Anaphora)[24] for the liturgy: Holy Patarag or in
Western Armenian Holy Badarak, meaning 'sacrifice'. This is in distinction
from the other liturgies of the Oriental Orthodox Churches (Coptic, West
Syrian, Ethiopic) which have retained multiple anaphora.
This means that the text of the Patarag can be contained in a single, unified
liturgical book, the Պատարագամատոյց (Pataragamatooyts, Western
Armenian Badarakamadooyts, meaning 'the offering of sacrifice'). This book
contains all of the prayers for the Patarag assigned to the bishop (if
celebrating as a bishop), the celebrating priest, the deacon(s), and the people,
the last typically led by a choir with accompaniment.
Before the end of the 10th century there were also other liturgical forms, such
as the Anaphora of St. Basil, the Anaphora of St. Gregory the Illuminator and
others in use.[25][26][27][28][29][30]
The elements of the Armenian eucharistic liturgy reflect the rich set of
influences on Armenian culture. The roots of the liturgy lie in the West Syrian
and Byzantine forms, with the influence of the Roman Catholic Mass, the
latter having arrived likely during the period of the Fourth Crusade or shortly
thereafter.
Among the distinctive practices of the Armenian Patarag is the tradition that
on the Sundays of the fast before Easter (the Great Fast) the curtain which
hangs down in front of the elevated altar area (Armenian խորան khoran) is
never opened – even for the reading of the Gospel, certain movable parts of
the liturgy are omitted, the parts of the liturgy sung by the choir are said or
chanted simply without adornment, there is no general confession, and there
is no distribution of Communion to the faithful. This practice of fasting from the
Communion bread in preparation for Easter may reflect an ancient custom of
the church in Jerusalem. A special prayer of repentance is sung by the clergy
on the morning of Palm Sunday (Armenian: Ծաղկազարդ tsaghkazard,
Western Armenian dzaghgazard), after which the curtain is opened for the first
time since the last Sunday before the Great Fast.
One element which almost certainly derives from the influence of Western
liturgy is the reading of a last Gospel at the conclusion of the Patarag.
However, the celebration of a short memorial service for one or more
departed persons (Հոգեհանգիստ hogehangist, Western
Armenian hokehankist, meaning 'rest of the spirit') is quite prevalent in
parishes and replaces the reading of the last Gospel.