Feast of Saint Gayane and Her Companions Celebrated in the Armenian Church
18.06.2019
On June 18, the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church commemorated the sacred feast dedicated to the memory of St. Gayane and her companion nuns.
The ecclesiastical procession, accompanied by numerous pilgrims and the drum band of the AGBU Armenian Church Youth Centers, walked to the Monastery of Saint Gayane. The solemn procession was led by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; who blessed the crowds along the procession. In front of the St. Gregory the Illuminator arch, His Holiness conveyed the Holy Relic to His Grace Bishop Hovnan Hakobyan, Grant Sacristan of the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin.
The procession was met in front of the St. Gayane Monastery by the clergy and His Grace Bishop Artak Tigranyan, Dean of the Monasteries of the Mother See.
On the occasion of the feast, a Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Rev. Fr. Ghevond Saghatelyan, Dean of the Harichavank Trbanchyan Seminary.
Rev. Fr. Derenik Sahakyan, Spiritual servant of the Armenian Diocese of Egypt, delivered a sermon about the significance and mystery of the feast and noted in part: “This festive Divine Liturgy of Saint Gayane and Her Companions has not only a sacrament of Liturgy but also a sacred mystery. The Saints differ from the menkind by the simplest and at the same time desirable sacrament, that they found Christ and did not lose Him. The great mystery of today's feast is that the saint virgins did not lose Christ in the process of suffering and inhumane tortures.
Dear faithful, today, on the eve of the feast, we have to ask ourselves one question- do we have Christ, did we find Him? And when we look at our past and look at it with all our attention, shall we see that we have lost Christ many times?
Perhaps there is a sense of doubt in the loss of Christ. When we say losing Christ Judah and Judah-like- persons immediately appear before our eyes, then the prodigal son and those who are abominable, as people who have strayed from Christ, deviated from the true paths of Christ- those who do not attend church and the blasphemers of God. But we will be mistaken if we can clearly imagine those who have lost Christ. We can lose Christ not only in the above-mentioned moments , when we are walking and wandering, but at the time of prayer, in the Church, in good deeds, at the time of our concern for the glory of our Church”.
For not losing Christ, Father Derenik urged the faithful to be more cautious and careful and become stronger in spiritual life.
After the Divine Liturgy, the faithful had an opportunity to kiss and be blessed by the relics of the nun. The service was offered by His Grace Bishop Artak Tigranyan.
The Divine Liturgy was attended by the Brotherhood of the Mother See, arrived to the Mother See from all over the world.
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