Relics of St. John the Baptist Taken to the Holy Shoghakat Monastery
20.06.2019
On 20 May, the Armenian Apostolic Church commemorated the sacred feast of St. John the Baptist and St. Atanagine the Bishop, which coincides with the pilgrimage day of the Holy Shoghakat Monastery.
In the morning, an ecclesiastical procession, accompanied by numerous pilgrims, carried the cross-reliquary of St. John the Baptist. The cross-reliquary was carried by Rev. Fr. Oshakan Kyulkyulyan, Spiritual serva nt of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America.
The procession was met in front of the Holy Shoghakat Monastery by the clergy and His Grace Bishop Artak Tigranyan, Dean of the Monasteries of the Mother See.
On the occasion of the feast, a Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Rev. Fr. Hakob Sahakyan, Spiritual Dean of the Akhaltsikhe and Borjomi region of the Armenian Diocese of Georgia.
Rev. Fr. Poghos Vardanyan, Vicar of St. Petersburg and Northwestern Russia of the Armenian Diocese of Russia and New Nakhichevan delivered a sermon about the significance and mystery of the feast: “We, as Christians, are well aware and have learned the price that Christ paid his blood upon the cross to give us salvation. And through that price both our souls and our bodies are enlightened and illuminated. Our nation is well aware of the blood shed by the Hripsimean and Gayanean Nouns, as well as the sufferings of St. Gregory the Illuminator in Khor Virap and has appreciated the light and faith from the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and lived through it forever”.
At the conclusion of Divine Liturgy, the faithful were blessed with the sacred cross-reliquary of St. John the Baptist and the blessing of the four corners of the world (Andastan) service was held.
