Feast of the First Armenian Illuminators Celebrated in the Mother See
01.12.2018
On December 1, the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrated the Feast of the Apostles St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew.
Yet in 2015, according to the Pontifical Encyclical of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, the feast was proclaimed as Pilgrimage Day of the Holy Lance (Geghard). On that day, he Holy Lance (Geghard) was taken from the Mother See.
Under the presidency of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; a Divine Liturgy was offered in the St. John the Baptist and St. Vardan Chapel-baptistry. The Celebrant was Rev. Fr. Asoghik Karapetyan, Director of Museums and Archives of the Mother See.
The Divine Liturgy was attended by Bishops of the Mother See, Brotherhood of Mother See; spiritual servants and pilgrims from different Armenian dioceses.
During the Divine Liturgy, the ecclesiastical solemn procession, under the presidency of His Holiness, brought the Holy Lance (Geghard) to St. John the Baptist and St. Vardan Chapel-baptistry from the Old Residence. Blessing the attendees, His Holiness granted the faithful opportunity to kiss it and receive blessings from the miraculous Holy Lance.
In his sermon Fr. Asoghik spoke about the sacrament of the feast and noted the following: “Through Apostolic preaching the leaven of God’s Kingdom was originated in Armenia and its people, which miraculously raised the Armenian nation to the peak of moral ideals, making it New Covenant of a chosen and eternal nation.
Through the life-giving and life-saving vision, the Illuminator Apostles shaped the Armenian nation so that the luminous generations, made from the leaven of God’s Kingdom, crystallized our identity through their behavior, thoughts, creations and lifestyle, so that it remains unchangeable, indestructible and invincible at all times.
That's the vision that yesterday, today and until the end of the world, the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church is carrying out its as mission: martyred, but always the resurrected Church; persecuted, but forever the victorious Church; lost, but always the full Church. Therefore, in the Armenian reality there can be no other leaven, the Armenian Holy Church is the only one. No one and nothing can remove anymore the leaven of the true enlightenment, unity, strength, prosperity and immortality of the Armenians and Armenia.
This is our faith and our mission as Armenian spiritual servants and as Armenian people, the heir of God's Kingdom”.
Fr. Asoghik also spoke about the miraculous power of the Holy Lance. “The Holy Lance is the weapon of life that grants abundant blessings and prosperity to sincere, honest, faithful and hopeful persons who come to him. Indeed, in this case a miracle occurs and it satisfies all the needs of the soul and body.
But at the same time the Holy Lance is a flaming sword that destroys all evil: mental and physical, prominent and invisible.
In our days, we have also witnessed that miracle and destruction: through the divine power of the Holy Lance, the Armenian Church remained bright and unbroken in its order and mission and today's wicked opponents were morally and spiritually destroyed. And this is how it was in the past and it will be so in the future: blessed are those who will be able to understand and live”, stated the Celebrant.
At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, the Catholicos of All Armenians blessed the faithful with the “Protector” prayer.
The Holy Lance ‘Geghard’ will be kept in the Chapel-baptistry of the Mother See until the end of the Evening Service.
