Repose of Souls Service Conducted
On Sunday, March 9, following the celebration of Divine Liturgy, a Repose of Souls Service (Hokehankist) was conducted in memory of His Beatitude Archbishop Shnork Kaloustian, Patriarch of Constantinople, on the 90th Anniversary of his birth. His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians presided.
This first Sunday of Great Lent is the Sunday of the Expulsion, commemorating the ejection of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The celebrant of the Divine Liturgy was Rev. Fr. Gnel Soghomonian from the Brotherhood of the Mother See. The sermon was delivered by His Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia and New Zealand.
His Beatitude Archbishop Shnork Kaloustian, one of the most distinguished clergymen of the Armenian Church of the 20th century, served as Patriarch of Constantinople from 1961 through 1990. His Beatitude was a scholarly and admired churchman, a prolific writer and best remembered for his work of rebuilding and renovating Armenian churches in Istanbul and Western Anatolia. He entered his eternal rest on the Sunday of the Expulsion, March 7, 1990, while visiting the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin as a guest of His Holiness Vazken I, of blessed memory. He was 76 years old.
