Armenian catholics

15-Feb-2001 -- EWTN Vatican Update

ARMENIAN LITURGY IN ST. PETER'S BASILICA

VATICAN, Feb. 15, 01 (CWNews.com) -- On Sunday, February 18, Pope
John Paul II will preside at the celebration of the Armenian- rite
liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica. Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX of
Cilicia, the head of the Armenian Catholic Church, will be the
principal celebrant.

The retired Patriarch Pierre Kasparian XVIII will also participate in
the ceremony and 13 Armenian Catholic bishops will concelebrate.
These bishops represent the Armenian Catholics of the diaspora,from
Iraq, Israel, Egypt, Syria, the United States, Latin America, and
France. To prepare the Vatican basilica for the Armenian liturgy, an
iconostasis will be erected in front of the altar.

Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX specifically requested this celebration
of the Armenian liturgy in St. Peter's when he came to Rome in
December 1999 shortly after his election as the head of the Armenian
Catholic Church, to ask for full ecclesial communion with the Holy
See. The February date of the celebration was chosen for its dual
significance; it marks the feast of St. Vartan, an Armenian martyr;
and it also anticipates the 1700th anniversary of the arrival of St.
Gregory the Illuminator in Armenia. It was through the evangelizing
efforts of St. Gregory that Armenia became the first country
officially to adopt Christianity as its religion. The Armenian
Catholic Church traces her origins back to the 18th century, and
today serves about 350,000 faithful, most of them located in Syria
and Lebanon.

The much larger Armenian Apostolic Church-- which is not in full
communion with Rome, although ecumenical ties are particularly
close-- claims 3.5 million followers, primarily in Armenia itself and
in nearby Russian and Georgia.

During the Sunday celebration, Pope John Paul will present the
Armenian Patriarch will a relic of St. Gregory, the patron of
Armenia. This relic will be brought back to the patriarchal see in
Lebanon. The Pope had previously given another relic of St. Gregory
to Patriarch Karekin II of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The Pope will also publish an apostolic letter to Armenian
Christians, written in their native tongue. Patriarch Nerses Bedros,
who also requested that letter, says that it will serve as "an
encouragement to renew the Christian faith in Armenia." He said that
the prospect of a papal visit to Armenia, which is under active
discussion in Rome, would be "a precious occasion" to build closer
ties between the Armenian Catholic and Armenian Apostolic churches.

The Patriarch also remarked that a papal trip to Armenia would
furnish the Pope with an occasion to mention the horror of the
genocide suffered by Armenians in 1915. Last November 10 he and
Patriarch Karekin issued a joint declaration in which they mentioned
the legacy of that mass killing.