Easter Eve Divine Liturgy in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
On the evening of Saturday, April 19, Divine Liturgy was celebrated on Easter Eve in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians presided, and His Eminence Archbishop Arsen Berberian was the celebrant.
The joyous news of the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ was proclaimed from the Altar of the Mother Cathedral:
CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD!
BLESSED IS THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
As Great Lent and Holy Week came to an end, the Cathedral was overflowing with faithful who had come to pray, worship and receive Holy Communion. The Armenian Church traditionally celebrates evening Divine Liturgies only twice per year - on the evenings prior to Jesus Christ's Nativity and Theophany (birth and baptism), and His Glorious Resurrection (Easter). Following the conclusion of the Liturgy, the assembled faithful took lit candles home, symbolizing the Light that Christ brought into the world.
At the end of the evening, the Pontifical Procession exited the Cathedral and walked toward the Residence of the Catholicos. Inside, the members of the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin and the students from the Gevorkian Theological Seminary conducted the traditional Blessing of the Home Service. His Holiness blessed the bread, water and salt of the Veharan and congratulated the assembled bishops, priests, deacons and seminarians on the Holy Resurrection of Christ. The Catholicos prayed that the Resurrected Christ bless, keep and protect the Armenian Church, her clergymen and her faithful, both in Armenia and dispersed throughout the world.
