1) How It Looks

Our third hymn “Marmeen Deroonagan-Body of the Lord” signals the major transition of the Badarak from the liturgy of God’s word to the liturgy of the Eucharist. In the last hymn we said that the Divine Liturgy has two processions (like parades) that make it like a two act play.  The Word of God, the Gospel, has already come to the altar.  Now God is about to come himself, via the chalice of bread and wine-graced to be His precious body and blood.  “Marmeen Deroonagan” is the transition to the second act of Badarak where God himself is revealed.  We have two visual cues for this transition: the priest removes his slippers as Moses did when encountering God on Holy ground, and removes his crown, as all heads bow to Christ the King. After the hymn, and an angelic solo song by the choir, the deacon or priest processes the veiled chalice to the altar. Click the video above and watch for these cues in “Marmeen Deroonagan” during Badarak at St. Sahag Mesrob Church in RI.

2) How It Sounds

1. Press the “Show Audio Player” button above and press play to listen to the entire hymn sung beautifully and faithfully.
2. Play again from time to time as you learn, learn and practice the words and music below. Now you can sing along here and at church!

3) The Words & Music

1. Press “Save PDF” button above to download the hymn.  First Scroll to bottom of hymn for the English translation to read & pray the words of hymn…Know what you are singing and who you are singing for!
2. Next, read aloud the Armenian transliteration of the hymn. Repeat aloud two more times.

4) Word Art

The word art below takes all the words of the hymn in Armenian, English and transliteration and weaves them into a beautiful picture.  The more often a word is used the larger the word appears.  What are the top 3 or 4 most important words in this hymn?  How does the hymn get us ready for what is about to be brought to the altar?

5) Practice & Games

1. Practice the Armenian vocabulary using the quizlet flashcards below.
2. Now choose other review games and tests by scrolling “Choose a Study Mode” on the bottom right. Quiz yourself in “learn”mode or see how fast you can match terms with “scatter” or “spaceship” games.

6) Bringing Worship To Life

Think these hymns are too hard to learn? Think that outside of a few Armenians on Sunday they have no importance?  Sub-deacon Michael Sabounjian, while a junior at Boston College, taught his non-Armenian bell choir to sing and play “Marmeen Deroonagan” during their annual ArtsFest concert.  They have performed in various places and he continues to receive accolades for their performances of ancient Armenian spiritual music!  Where can you share what you have learned of our beautiful worship?