PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: cathcil@cathcil.org
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

GOOD FRIDAY IN ANTELIAS

Good Friday, a holy day for Christianity, was observed in the Saint
Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Antelias, with the participation of
hundreds of faithful including the youth. The service was presided over by
His Holiness Aram I. The Pontiff and the members of the Cilician Brotherhood
performed the burial ceremony kneeling down before Jesus Christ’s symbolic
Holy Tomb.

In his Pontifical address the Catholicos underlined the strength of Jesus
Christ’s empty Tomb and the spirit of resurrection and immortality bursting
from it. His Holiness described the Cross of Jesus Christ "as the meeting
place of life and the death. The death was concurred by the life and the
Cross became a symbol of life restored by Jesus Christ". His Holiness
emphasized the sacredness of life "which was given through the Cross to
humanity. We must preserve the sacredness of it. Therefore, His Holiness
said, the Cross of Jesus is not a symbol of death".

His Holiness then blessed the faithful with the relic from the original
Cross of our Lord. Following the tradition, faithful passed from beneath the
empty Tomb, taking with them its flowers and hopes of resurrection and
immortality.

##
View the photos here:

*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.