LIVONIA CHURCH HOSTS SERVICE RECALLING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS
18:01, 21 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
Leaders of Metro Detroit’s four Armenian churches and those from
other faiths are uniting in Livonia Friday for a special Ecumenical
Service to honor and remember the victims of the Armenian Genocide,
hometownlife.com reports.
The worship service will be held at 7:30 at St. Mary’s Antiochian
Orthodox Basilica, itself home to a large contingent of oppressed
people with Middle Eastern roots. Friday, April 24, is Martyrs Day,
the day annually that honors the 1.5-million Armenians killed by
the Ottoman government in the first mass ethnic cleansing of the
20th century.
“This is an unprecedented event at a critical time in the Armenian
Genocide movement,” said Manouk Derovakimian, co-chairman of the
Armenian Churches of Greater Detroit Genocide Committee, the group
responsible for the service. “One-point-five-million Armenians didn’t
have the chance to live a normal life in this world, and we cannot
forget them.”
The committee represents St. John Armenian Apostolic Church in
Southfield, St. Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church in Dearborn, St.
Vartan Armenian Catholic Church in Detroit, and Armenian Congregational
Church in Southfield. The evening’s principal homilist will be the Most
Reverend Allen Vigneron, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Detroit.
Attendees will also be mesmerized by an outdoor digital art display on
the church’s buildings and bell tower. Projections of iconic Armenian
churches and religious symbols telling the story of the genocide and
the Armenian nation’s rich religious influence will be produced by
well-known Detroit-area photojournalist Michelle Andonian and visual
artist Gabriel Hall of New D Media Arts.