Armenian Apostolic Church Catholicos Garegin II today, at the Saint Gayaneh Monastery in Etchmiadzin, presided at a commemoration on the 105th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

The Etchmiadzin Mother See reports that a Divine Liturgy was offered with the participation of the Congregation of the Mother See.

Holy relics of the victims of the Genocide were placed on the alter for worship.

The celebrant was the Director of the Sermon Center of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, His Holiness Archimandrite Garegin Hambardzumyan.

 During the sacred ceremony, the Holy Father in his sermon referred to the mystery of the day and its significance in the life of the Armenian people.

Archimandrite Hambardzumyan made the following remarks:

 Today, our entire Church, both in Armenia and in the Diaspora, the entire Armenian nation commemorates the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide who fell for their faith and homeland. From the fifth century onwards, the Holy Fathers of our Church, in their messages to the present-day Patriarch of All Armenians, in their words, call on each of us to unite, to be one, to unite as a nation. Why?

In general, genocide experts say that genocides begin with racial or other divisions. History has proved this. In other words, genocide begins with division. Therefore, dear ones, we must try to find common ground around which or, more precisely, around whom we should be able to unite? By conveying the message ‘Christ is risen from the dead’ and passing on the message to all of you, we think that he is definitely Christ. a person around whom our nation and all Christians can be united so that there will never be genocide in the history of mankind.

Indeed, in the midst of any adversities, our nation has been able to rely on Christ to overcome them. Our life today is a vivid evidence of that. The hymn of the day, dedicated to the holy martyrs, says: ‘They did not change the confidence of their faith with the soft pleasures of this fleeting life, and by falling into the ground like a grain of wheat, they gave a hundredfold fruit to one another’.

Yes, indeed, they chose Christ in the face of all worldly pleasures. Although they fell, they gave us the strength to be stronger today in our faith and devotion to our homeland.