Feast of the Ascension in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
25.05.2017
On May 25, the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church celebrated the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This day also commemorates the return of the Catholicosate of All Armenians from Sis to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in 1441.
Under the presidency of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; the feast is also designated as the Pilgrimage Day of Holy Etchmiadzin.
On this occasion primates of the Armenian Dioceses and numerous pilgrims travelled to the Mother See.
Divine Liturgy was offered in the Mother Cathedral. The Celebrant was His Grace Bishop Vasken Mirzakhanyan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Georgia.
Bishop Vasken offered his sermon on the sanctity of the day, and noted that the Feast of the Ascension is a double feast for the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, both the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ and the return of the Catholicosate of All Armenians from Sis to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin is celebrated.
He stated in part: “Forty days after the Resurrection of Christ, He gathered His disciples and returned to Jerusalem, walked the same path he walked before the Crucifixion, walked through the garden of Gethsemane and went to the Mount of Olives, where He would give the last commandments to His disciples. Then he ascended into heaven. … Jesus stayed on earth for forty days- stayed because it was necessary to confirm the reality of His resurrection to the apostles, to once again prepare the apostles, to confront what was expected of them.
God became human to reconcile man with God, he died, was buried, and resurrected through a living Divinity. The Lord ascended into heaven, but He left the message that he is coming to judge the living and the dead, so that the righteous have eternal life and the guilty have eternal punishment”.
The Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Georgia reflected on the national celebrations for the Feast of the Ascension, highlighting the preservation and message of that beautiful tradition in the national life.
Remembering the history of the return of the Catholicosate of All Armenians from Sis to the Mother See, the Bishop particularly noted: “This is a nationwide feast for our people, because I share the opinion that the Pontifical See - the spiritual center of the Armenian Church, reestablished in Vagharsgapat, Eastern Armenia, and we managed to maintain this historical small part of Eastern Armenia, on which our independent statehood was formed in 1918, due to Holy Etchmiadzin and its devoted Brotherhood”.
At the conclusion, Bishop Vasken congratulated the Catholicos of All Armenians on the occasion ot the Feast of the Ascension and reaffirmed the love and loyalty of the Brotherhood of the Mother See to the Armenian Pontiff and the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. The Bishop wished His Holiness good health and longevity, to shepherd the Armenian nation both in Armenia and the Diaspora.
At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, under the presidency of His Holiness Karekin II, a Special Prayer Service was offered for the vibrancy of the Mother See.
The service was also attended by Mr. Rouben Vardanyan, Supreme Spiritual Council member and benefactor of the Armenian Church; Ms. Marguerite Barankitse, inaugural 2016 Aurora Prize Laureate of the Aurora Prize Humanitarian Award; one of the six 2017 Aurora Prize nominees Dr. Tom Catena, from the Sudan; and as well as a pilgrimage group of 32 teachers and students and faculty of the Liturgical Studies and Sacramental Theology at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna and faculty of Study of Eastern Christianity.
