Armenian citizens to have four days off

YEREVAN, July 4. / ARKA /. Residents of Armenia will have four non-working days from July 5 to July 8 in connection of state and church holidays. The extended weekend will begin with the Constitution Day, marked on July 5. Armenia's Constitution was adopted through a referendum in 1995.  It was amended in 2005. Some changes transferred part of the powers vested in the president to other state agencies and enhanced also the role of the unicameral National Assembly.

July 7 is celebrated is one of the five great feasts of the Armenian Apostolic Church - the Transfiguration of the Lord. 

According to the tradition, St. Gregory the Illuminator ruled that the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord be marked on the first day of the Armenian calendar, which was August 11. That day was celebrated as a pagan holiday, and some of its elements slipped into  the celebration of the  Transfiguration of Our Lord. For example, on this day people pour water on each other, release doves, etc., but the Church gave this custom a Christian interpretation as a remembrance of the Flood and Noah's Dove. 

In the VI century head of the Church, Catholicos Movses II (574-604) included the feast of the Transfiguration on Easter cycle, and ruled that it be marked on the seventh Sunday after Pentecost. Thus, the holiday is marked from June 28 to August 1.

According to a government's decision, the days when the Church remembers the deceased are also days off. They usually follow each of the five great feasts of the Armenian Apostolic Church - Holy Christmas and Epiphany, Holy Resurrection, Transfiguration of Our Lord, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and  Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord.

This year, the Dead Remembrance Day comes after the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Monday, July 8. Instead, July 13, which is Saturday, will be a working day. -0-