Feast of Saint Hripsime and Her Companions Celebrated in Mother See
17.06.2019
On June 17, the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church commemorated the sacred feast of St. Hripsime and her companions. This sacred day is also the pilgrimage Day for the Monastery of St. Hripsime, when with the blessings of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; the relic of the Holy Right Hand is taken to Monastery of St. Hripsime from the Mother See.
An ecclesiastical procession, led by the drum band of the “Hratch and Susan Toufayan” Youtch Center, walked to the Monastery of St. Hripsime. His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, blessed the faithful with the relic of Holy Right Hand, then in front of the St. Gregory the Illuminator arch, His Holiness transferred the Holy Relic to His Grace Bishop Hovnan Hakobyan, Grand Sacristan of Mother See.
The procession was met in front the St. Hripsime Monastery by His Grace Bishop Artak Tigranyan, Dean of the Monasteries of the Mother See; spiritual servants of the monastery and numerous faithful from different communities.
On the occasion of the feast, a Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Rev. Fr. Khoren Arakelyan, Vicar of the Armenian Diocese of Greece.
During the Divine Liturgy, Father Khoren reflected on the life and history of martyrdom of the St. Hripsime and her companion nuns, and loyalty and devotion displayed towards Christ and the Christian faith.
“But what's inside us, what's on the table? Is it the same as the desire to be like the St. Hripsime virgins? Dear faithful, there are many ways of perfection in our lives: someone will say- prayer, one will say- repentance, the other will say- love, the other- brotherhood, humility, meekness and other various things. All these are means. The perfection is to be like God.
How can that be, unless we have love in our midst. How can it be, if during the Divine Liturgy we beat our breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner, let me deserve the Holy Communion, but we do not pray for our neighbor and for each other.
This is the testimony of St. Hripsime. This is the sacrament of today, stated Fr. Geghard.
He also added that from the testimony of the saints, the faithful also learn the two important messages of Christ- thou shalt love the Lord thy God and love thy friend, thanks to which a Christian can achieve perfection.
At the conclusion the Celebrant urged the faithful to prayerfully ask for the intercession of St. Hripsime for our native country and Armenian families, in order to overcome all the difficulties of life and continue to create and live in peace.
At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, His Grace Bishop Artak Tigranyan presided over the blessing of the faithful and blessing of the four corners of the world (Andastan) service.
