Armenian Apostolic Holy Church The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

On May 28, the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church celebrated the Feast of Pentecost, which also coincided with the First Republic Day. The Brotherhood of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, with the blessings of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; participated in the sacred Divine Liturgy at the Saint Gayane Monastery. The Celebrant was His Eminence Archbishop Michael Ajapahyan, Primate of the Diocese of Shirak.

Speaking in his sermon about the Sacrament of Pentecost, the Celebrant specifically mentioned: "If during the construction of the Tower of Babel, speaking in tongues became an occasion and reason for the separation of people, then during the Pentecost the Apostles spoke in different languages in order to unite the whole universe under the true knowledge of God and the call of the Lord.

The building of the tower of Babel was overturned by an expression of divine love and human union and solidarity, because the Pentecost did not just happen to show the greatness of God, what miracles God can do, but it happened to lead us to unity, love and solidarity. Even today, the message is heard to take an example from the Apostles, to share the graces we have with the world, to share with each other, to share with our near and far ones, in other words, to serve that grace and not to dominate it”.

Then Archbishop Michael, referring to the First Republic Day, emphasized that the existence of the state and its protection is also a gift from God. In this regard, the Celebrant stated in part: “When we examine our history and reach up to 1918, we see that it seems we had no chance to create statehood, but statehood was given to us from above, given to us thanks to the zealous attitude of the Church. We received that statehood as a gift from God. And what did we need- to distribute that grace to all the children of the Armenian people, to unite with that grace and to live with it. Not to dominate that grace, not to exploit it and not to subordinate it to our own desires, narrow and commercial goals, but to serve that grace of statehood."

At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, on the occasion of the First Republic Day, a Republican Prayer was also offered in the Saint Gayane Monastery. The service was presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. The clergymen and the attending faithful raised a prayer to God for the steadfastness, construction and peaceful and prosperous life of the Republic of Armenia.