Armenian catholics

[Guest]

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.