Edmond Hovakimyan after the 44-day war


He had been demobilized months earlier when the 44-day war began. He went to Artsakh as a volunteer with his friends. On October 11, he lost his left arm in a drone strike in Jabrail. He was engaged in music for nine years. Clarinet, shwi, duduk, pku; these were not just musical instruments for Edmond, but, as he says, the greatest loves of his life. The hardest part has been adjusting to the thought of not playing forever. Today, Edmond is a famous showman. It has its own myth-he believes that the day will come when he will have a hand again. "When you see the kind of scientific and technological growth our planet records every day, you believe that after ten to fifteen or maybe twenty years it will be possible to get a hand again through surgery," he says.

New Year's puppet show for children from Artsakh of Gugark Diocese


Dozens of children and schoolchildren from Artsakh settled in Vanadzor city had the opportunity to watch the New Year's performance of the Vanadzor Puppet Theater in the hall of the St. Grigor Narekatsi Church of the Gugark Diocese.

 

The Ministry of ESCS did not even keep the standard it set: press conference at the Mother See


On December 26, a press conference was held in the Matenadaran of the Mother See dedicated to the problematic new textbook of the 7th grade on the subject of Armenian history. The speakers were the chairman of the Educational Committee of the Mother See, the Primate of the Shirak Diocese,  Archbishop Mikael Adjapahyan, Chancellor Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan and the director of the Christian Education Center, Proto-Archimandrite Zakaria Baghumyan.

Shahen Babayan after the 44-day war


We met the athlete Shahen Babayan during the days of the "Republican Sports Games of Disabled Sports 2023" in Tsaghkadzor.
On October 28, 2020 Shahen's life was barely saved from the injury he received from an anti-aircraft missile strike. Lost both legs. There was disappointment and despair, of course, but the urge to return to a full life was greater. Having prosthetics, today it is rare to sit in a wheelchair. He says that guys like me should stand firmly on the ground, give each other strength, so that the spirit of the defeated and broken will come out of all of us.

The Catholicos of All Armenians met the priests who completed the regular Priest Accelerated course


Another phase of the Accelerated course for priests was completed in the "Garegin I" educational center of the Mother See of Holt Etchmiadzin. As in the previous one, so in this gathering, the problems arising during the priest's pastoral service and the ways to overcome them were the focus of the discussion. About 500 priests are enrolled in the three-week training program. The Catholicos of All Armenians met the priests who completed the regular course.

Nationwide prayer for Artsakh in churches of Gugark diocese


The relic of St. Tovmas the Apostle was brought to St. Grigor Narekatsi Church of Vanadzor, and the relic of Virgin Varvara was brought to the Holy Mother of God Church.

Feast of St. Gevork the Warrior in St. Gevork Church in Noragavit


The reliquary of the Warrior was brought from the Mother See to the St. Gevorg Church in Noragavit. Every year on this feast, hundreds of pilgrims from different regions of Armenia come here to ask for the intercession of Saint Gevorg.

Relics of St. Gevork the Warrior will be taken to the churches in Garnahovit and Mughni


On the 30th of September, the Feast day of Saint Gevorg the Warrior, the faihtful will have the opportunity to communicate with the saint's relics taken out from the Mother See in the churches of Saint Gevorg in Mughni, Aragatsotn region and Garnahovit villages of Talin region.

The Holy Mother of God Church in the Diocese of Syunik was reconsecrated


Built in the 17th century in the Kurdish settlement of Syunik, the Holy Mother of God Church was restored and consecrated.

The meeting of spiritual leadership of the Armed Forces at the Monte Melkonyan Military Sports Academy


The senior Spiritual Servants presented the analyzes of the work performed by the chaplains serving the RA Armed Forces in the past three months. The spiritual Primate of the RA Chaplaincy of the Armed Forces, Rev. Fr. Archimandrite Movses Sargsyan, gave appropriate instructions to organize the work in the military units more effectively.

Patriarchal visit to the Armenian Philanthropic Academy of Calcutta


From June 27, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II was on a week-long visit to India and Thailand. As part of the visit, His Holiness visited one of the oldest Armenian educational institutions in the world, the Armenian Philanthropic Academy of Calcutta. 

"Our Saints", speeches dedicated to St. Grigor Narekatsi and St. Nerses the Graceful


Within the framework of the 850th anniversary of the death of Nerses the Graceful, on the initiative of the Grand Sacristan department of the Mother See and "Vache and Tamar Manukyan" library, speeches were made by Mariam Margaryan, professor of the State Administration Academy, doctor of political sciences, and choir director and musicologist, head of the musical ensembles of Karolyan University of Prague, Dn. Hayk Utujyan.