AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: press@agbu.org
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Monday, March 3, 2008

AGBU Attends Dedication of St. Gregory the Illuminator Courtyard at the
Vatican

On Friday, February 22, 2008, AGBU joined with representatives from
various Armenian churches and the local Roman Armenian community to
witness His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI dedicate the north courtyard of
the Vatican Basilica to St. Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia.

Representing AGBU President Berge Setrakian was AGBU Europe board
member, Krikor Istanboulli, who traveled from his home in Milan to
attend the noon ceremony.

Over 100 people attended the dedication, including His Beatitude Nerses
Bedros XIX, Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholics, Rt. Rev.
Bishop Norvan Zakarian of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Lyon, Very
Rev. Fr. Aren Shahinian of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Milan, and a
group of prelates of the Armenian Catholic Church and the Armenian
Apostolic Church. Also in attendance were the following ambassadors of
the Republic of Armenia: H.E. Rouben Shugarian of Italy, H.E. Edward
Nalbandian of France, and H.E. Vahan Ter-Ghevondian of Lebanon.

During the ceremony Pope Benedict XVI affirmed that St. Gregory the
Illuminator "has made the Armenians, for more than seventeen centuries,
a Christian people, and more, the first officially Christian people."

"St. Gregory was called the Illuminator", he said, "precisely because in
him the Lord’s face is reflected in an extraordinary way."

This honor is the latest gesture by the Vatican to honor the memory of
the Armenian saint. In 2004, Pope John Paul II blessed the statue of St.
Gregory the Illuminator, which is located by the courtyard that now
bears the Armenian saint’s name.

"It was a memorable day and a very rare honor for the Roman Pope to
honor one of the most sacred figures in the Armenian Church. The
dedication of a place so close to the heart of the Roman Catholic Church
is a great symbol of respect to Armenians everywhere," Istanboulli said.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City with an
annual budget of $36 million, AGBU preserves and promotes the Armenian
identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian
programs, annually touching the lives of some 400,000 Armenians on six
continents.