His Holiness Aram I Meets the Youth in New York
16 May 2015. On Saturday afternoon His Holiness Aram I attended a seminar prepared by the youth movement of the Eastern Prelacy of the Catholicosate of Cilica at the St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in New York. He was met by Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Vicar Anoushavan Tanielian, priests and members of the Church Council.
Tamar Haroutyunian and Christine Santrian welcomed the Catholicos on behalf of the participants and made a presentation on the vocation of the Armenian Church throughout history and its new challenges. Bishop Anoushavan explained the process of sanctification and the preparation of the service for sanctification of the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide as a body. The last two topics covered the historical and political causes for the Genocide presented by Kenar Mesrobian and a family story of survival told by Naz Markarian.
His Holiness Aram I then addressed the youth. He first invited them to consider the relationship between their specific Armenian Christian identity and globalization. He then spoke of the commitment of the Catholicosate of Cilicia to the Armenian cause and the rightful demand for justice for the Ottoman atrocities. Speaking of the recent lawsuit presented to the Constitutional Court in Turkey asking for the return of the Centre of the Catholicosate in Sis, His Holiness explained that the purpose of his initiative was twofold: first to continue the legacy of his predecessors by presenting a new challenge for accountability by Turkey and second, setting a precedent for future suits demanding the return of other Church and community properties, as well individual initiatives.
