The Knights of Vartan is an Armenian fraternal service organization established by twelve visionary men to encourage its members to assume leadership roles in cultural, educational, religious, and charitable organizations and activities on the local, national and international level for the betterment of the Armenian nation worldwide. Click on Knights of Vartan for more details.
The Daughters of Vartan is an organization of women whose principles are based on Christian morality and good conduct. Its members are committed to contribute toward the intellectual development of Armenian women, cultivate nobility of character, perpetuate their cultural heritage, preserve the Armenian language, safeguard the sanctity of the Armenian home and nurture and promote ethnic values. Click on Daughters of Vartan for more details.
A New Horizon
As our Annual Convocation approaches, we should all be looking forward with great anticipation of promising and exciting new programs, missions and campaigns. Excitement is the catalyst for growth...numerical as well as intellectual. The nucleus of the intense energy that activates all of this is Leadership. Strangely, many Armenian organizations load the responsibility of “leadership” onto one person or one committee...believing this to be the solution to the general disinterest of a given membership. What folly! Leadership is a collective reality. There can be but one general...who is completely helpless without his ranks of officers. It is collective leadership that amplifies the power of an army, organization, mission or faith.
This year, as most of you know by now, Vartanantz comes on Thursday, March 3, rather than in February as usual. The church calendar, by which the date of Vartanantz is set, revolves around Easter which is calculated on the basis of the lunar calendar and not the solar calendar. As a result, church holidays seem to move around in what to us seems an unpredictable fashion.
Vartanantz is an important church holiday as well as a secular, or national, holiday unique to the Armenian Church and the Armenian people. That is why we make such a fuss over it. The church commemorates Vartanantz, and the Knights of Vartan are also required to commemorate Vartanantz, because it has a meaning central to our national existence.