Theological Treasures of the Armenian Church

The Armenian Church is rich in its music and literature. St. Nersess Armenian Seminary is proud to begin offering some of the Church's unique liturgical services, hymns and writings. Check back often for updates.

Armenian Hymns (Sharagans)

The Armenian Church’s Book of Hymns, called the Sharagnots or simply Sharagan, contains well over one thousand hymns that are sung during the liturgical services of the Armenian Church. The theology of the Armenian Church is perhaps most exquisitely expressed in her hymns. Most of the sharagans were composed by the great saints of the Armenian Church, while some of them are very early translations of anonymous sacred songs that go back to ancient Christian times.

The first printed edition of the Sharagnots was published by Voskan Yerevantsi in Amsterdam in 1646. This is twenty years before the first printed edition of the Armenian Bible.

The faculty of St. Nersess Armenian Seminary has undertaken to translate the entire Sharagnots into English. This will be accomplished piecemeal as time and resources permit, with new installments to be uploaded to this page periodically. Those reproducing these translations for any reason, in print or electronically, are asked to credit the translator and St. Nersess Armenian Seminary.

Translations are based on the Jerusalem 1914 edition of the Tsaynkagh Sharagan.

Liturgical Resources

• Sacred Music Lab
• Interactive Badarak
• Armenian Hymnal
• Liturgical Services