Feast of the Ascension Celebrated in the Mother See
May 2015
“The Mount of Olives is the place of our Armenian faith, where heaven and earth meet”
On May 14, the Armenian Church celebrated the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. The day also commemorates the return of the Catholicosate of All Armenians in the year 1441, to the administrative headquarters and spiritual center of the worldwide Armenian Church – the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
On this occasion, Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Mother Cathedral. The celebrant of the Divine Liturgy was His Grace Bishop Hovnan Hakobyan, Grand Sacristan of Mother See. At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, Bishop Hovnan reflected on the sanctity of the day.
In his remarks, the celebrant Bishop referred to the historical reality of the transferrance of the Pontifical See from Cilicia to Etchmiadzin, stating in part: “The Pontifical Mother See, which had wandered for many years, finally returned to the Mother See in 1441. Our Pontiffs, by the cruel dictates of history, were compelled to move the Pontifical See to different places. End the end, it was justly returned to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. As the poet testifies, “The Mount of Olives is the place of our Armenian faith, where heaven and earth meet and the stones of this Church have secret roads rising to the sky”.
In his remarks, Bishop Hovnan also prayed that the See and center of the Armenian Faith remain steadfastly in place and that the Lord grant the Armenian Pontiff a long life.
Following the Divine Liturgy, at front of the Holy Altar of Descent, under the presidency of His Eminence Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan, the pontifical prayer was offered, for the strength and vibrancy of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the long-reign and successful enthronement of the Catholicos of All Armenians.
