Author Anush Arakelyan

Father Sarkis Sargsyan introduced the pilgrims to the meaning and importance of the Feast of the Ascension. The Feast of the Ascension is the day of the Tsaghkevank vow. Pilgrims arrive at the monastery with hope, faith, and prayer to ask for the intercession of the Christian virgin. Believers collect the water flowing from the walls drop by drop to heal the sick.

 

The exhibition titled “Holy Etchmiadzin”, “Knight of Holy Etchmiadzin”, “Daughter of Holy Etchmiadzin” will be presented at the Museum of the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin. The exhibition “Armenian Temples through the Eyes of Hovhannes Asatryan” will open at 16:30 at the Ruben Sevak Museum. An educational program is also planned for pre-registered participants - a miniature puzzle-assembling competition. Readings of Western Armenian literature and musical performances are also planned at the Sevak Museum at 21:00.

 

The leader of the Shirak diocese, Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan, already participates in Sunday services, receives communion, but does not have the right to celebrate Mass and preach. In the previous session, the appeals court rejected the lawyers' petition, leaving the house arrest in force. Lawyer Yerem Sargsyan stated that the entire criminal proceedings are illegal. According to him, criminal prosecution and criminal proceedings could not be initiated against the Archbishop, since it is based on information received from an unlawful source.

 

On May 9, on the occasion of the Victory and Peace Day, Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, accompanied by the confreres of the Mother See, visited the Victory Park Memorial Complex, laid flowers at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier and paid tribute to the eternal memory of those who died in the Great Patriotic War and the Artsakh heroic battle. The clergy, led by His Holiness the Patriarch, prayed for the repose of their souls.

 

On the feast of the Apparition of the Holy Cross, the sacred relic of Christ’s Cross is being moved from the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to the Holy Cross Church in Aparan. The relic was brought from the village of Aparan in the Mokk province of Greater Armenia to the Holy Cross Church in Akhtamar, and then found its resting place in the treasury of the Mother See. The relic is usually kept in the church until the evening, giving everyone the opportunity to commune with the power emanating from the relic.

 

The Church of the Holy Resurrection was consecrated 26 years ago by His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians. It is one of the first churches founded after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The foundation was carried out by His Holiness Karekin I, Catholicos of blessed memory, in 1996. At that time, he called the sanctuary Holy Resurrection, referring to the newly created statehood, independence and spiritual rebirth.

 

Vergine Gevorgyan, the nephew of Jemal's avenger Artashes Gevorgyan, donated the personal belongings, documents, and photographs of the Gevorgyans to the Genocide Museum, but nothing of Artashes Gevorgyan's belongings has survived. In the 1930s, he was accused of robbing a collective farm and sentenced to three years in prison. In 1928, he wrote a letter to the Chairman of the Cheka and the State Department of the Armenian SSR, confessing to the murder of Jemal. Later, he was accused of preparing a terrorist act against Lavrenty Beria. Artashes Gevorgyan was shot on the night of August 14-15, 1937. The place of his death and the location of his grave are still unknown.

 

In the reading room of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, the scientist presented the materials she wrote down and recorded between 1955 and 2025, which concerned the forced conversion of Western Armenians to Turkish in the Ottoman Empire and Turkish-speaking folklore. Armenian-letter Turkish literature was the means of communication for more than half a million Turkish-speaking and non-Armenian Armenians who were forcibly Islamized. The works of world classics and famous authors of the time were translated into that language.

 

On April 5, the Feast of the Holy Resurrection of Jesus Christ united Armenians around the world. The Catholicos of All Armenians celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Mother Cathedral.

Celebrations were held in all Armenian churches. The Easter message of the Armenian Patriarch was read in all churches of dioceses around the world. The Patriarchal speech is a guide for Armenians living thousands of miles away from their homeland, as well as a call to use personal abilities for the national interest.