St Garabed Armenian Apostolic Church--Baton Rouge, Louisiana - Orthodox Churches on Waymarking.com

A modern building for an ancient denomination, St Garabed's Church is the home to the Mission Parish of the Armenian Apostolic (Oriental Orthodox) community of Louisiana.

There are only 200 Armenians in all of Louisiana, many in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, but now more in the Baton Rouge area. Th parish community was formed nearly 30 years ago, but has only recently had a physical home. St Garabeds is a remodeled modern rectangular brick building, to which certain traditional Armenian church architectural touches have been added. Note, for example, that the building has a steep gabled roof, like the ark of Noah, which is traditional in parts of Armenia where there is heavy snowfall in winter. This building also exhibits arches around the doors, and support buttresses along the walls, which appears in traditional church architecture in parts of Armenia where buildings must be built to withstand powerful earthquakes. Fortunately Louisiana has neither earthquakes nor heavy snowfall, but perhaps these architectural touches help withstand hurricane force rains and winds!

Note also the prominent Armenian Orthodox cross on top of the church. Armenian crosses traditionally have winged corners, to represent the Light of Christ emanating out from the center, and also do not usually depict Jesus on the cross, as there is an emphasis on the resurrection which lifted Jesus from the cross, rather than the crucifixion itself.

The interior of the church features a small sanctuary connected to a fellowship hall, where the parish was privleged to host a visit from the Patriarch of Echmiadzin on his recent tour of the US.

Type of Orthodox Church: Oriental Type of Building: Church Status of Building: Actively in use for worship Date of organization: 01/01/1977 Associated Icons, Reliefs, art, etc.: Note the unique cross, arches and buttresses. Also note the golden lettering on the main arch, written in the unique Armenian alphabet Diocese: Eastern Diocese, Armenian Apostolic Church of the United States Archdiocese: Holy Echmiadzin Address: St Garabed's Armenian Apostolic Church 6208 Florida Ave. Baton Rouge, LA USA 70806 Relevant Website: [Web Link] Date of building construction: Not listed

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