His Holiness Karekin II Departs for Official Visit to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
04.06.2004
On June 2, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, departed for Finland upon the invitation of Most Reverend Dr. Jukka Paarma, Archbishop of Turku, for an ecumenical visit to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. The official delegation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, headed by the Archbishop Paarma, had previously visited the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in August 2002.
During the five-day trip, His Holiness is scheduled to visit to the Finnish Bible Society, the Department of Orthodoxy and Eastern European Studies, and will deliver lectures at the Departments of Theology of the Universities of Helsinki and Joensuu. Also planned are meetings with His Beatitude Archbishop Leo of Karelia and All Finland of the Finnish Orthodox Church; Mr. Matti Taneli Vanhanen, the Prime Minister of Finland; and other high-ranking state officials.
His Holiness will deliver sermons in the Orthodox Cathedral of Uspenksi on Friday, June 4, and on Sunday, June 6 in the Finnish Mother Cathedral of Turku. In the course of the visit, His Holiness will meet with the local Armenian community as well.
His Holiness is accompanied by His Eminence Archbishop Mesrob Krikorian, Pontifical Legate for Central Europe; His Grace Bishop Yeznik Petrosian, Director of Inter-Church Relations for the Mother See; His Grace Bishop Yezras Nersissian, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of New Nakhijevan and Russia; and Rev. Fr. Mesrop Parsamian, Staff-bearer of His Holiness.
His Holiness is scheduled to return to the Mother See on June 7.
