Religion

An extraordinary General Assembly of the Brotherhood was convened at the St. James Monastery (Srbots Hakobyants Vank) at the initiative of His Beatitude Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, to discuss the developments surrounding the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the Catholicos of All Armenians

The bells of the Surb Yot Verk (Holy Seven Wounds) Primate’s See Church in Gyumri did not ring this morning; this is the first such instance in 200 years.

The clergy of the Shirak Diocese issued a statement on December 6, noting that during the Divine Liturgy scheduled for Sunday, they will mention the names of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, and the Primate of the Diocese, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan published a video on Facebook announcing that he will attend the “Holy and Immortal Divine Liturgy” at the Holy Mother of God (Surb Yot Verk) Church in Gyumri on Sunday, December 7.

The examination of the petition for the arrest of Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, began on December 5 at the Avan residence of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction

During a meeting with journalists on December 1, Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, clarified that he does not currently intend to cease his service in the Armenian Apostolic Church

Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan, Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, commented two days later on his meeting with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan

Today, the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the feast of Saints Thaddeus and Bartholomew the Apostles, which in 2015 was also proclaimed the Day of Pilgrimage to the Holy Spear of Geghard by a pontifical encyclical of the Catholicos of All Armenians