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: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
The feast of the Assumption of the Theotokos
"OUR YOUTH ARE OUR PRESENT AND FUTURE, WE SHOULD LISTEN TO THEM"
Said His Holiness Aram I in his sermon
Sunday 16 August was the Feast of the Assumption of the Theotokos. This
Feast is also pilgrimage to the Monastery of St. Mary in Bikfaya (Lebanon).
Pilgrims started arriving at the Monastery on Thursday 13th to pray, assist
the Vigil and share in the Eucharist during the Divine Liturgy.
In his sermon, His Holiness Aram I said: "On this day of the Feast of the
Assumption of the Theotokos, I pray to her to intercede with her Son on
behalf of our youth. We declared 2009 Year of Youth to remind ourselves that
youth are both our present and future, and therefore, we should listen and
respond to them. Today, our youth are facing many problems. We should enable
them to discover the spiritual foundations of our church, the ethical values
arising from the teaching of our church, and the cultural traditions shaped
by our Armenian roots. Therefore, the Year for Youth is an invitation to all
of us to pray and request from the Theotokos to intercede with her Son for
our youth."
After the Holy Eucharist, the Catholicos blessed the grapes. According to
ancient Armenian tradition people eat grapes only after they are blessed
during the Divine Liturgy of the Feast of Assumption.
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View the photos here:
c/Photos/Photos394.htm
http://www.ArmenianOrthodox Church.org/v04/doc/Photos/Photos395.htm
http://www .ArmenianOrthodoxChurch.org/v04/doc/Photos/Photos3 96.htm
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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.