From October 8 to 9, the Romanian city of Constanta hosted several religious and cultural events dedicated to the 118^th anniversary of the local St. Mary Church. The event were organized by the parish of the St. Mary Church of Constanta led by pastor, Fr. Priest Oshakan Khachatryan and the Constanta chapter of the Union of Armenians of Romania led by Liviu Merdinyan.

As reported the Armenian Diocese of Romania to Hayern Aysor, the festivities were launched with Armine Khachatryan’s concert at the grand hall of the Queen Mary Art School on October 8 at 18:30. With the accompaniment of renowned pianist Silvia Zigmeanu, Khachatryan performed Armenian classical songs, arias from operas and the works of world famous classical music composers, including Komitas, Tigran Chukhajyan, Robert Petrosyan, Grigor Hakhinyan, Geghuni Chtchyan, Mozart, Handel, Rossini, Puccini, Verdi and others.

Among the attendees were Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Romania, Fr. Bishop Tatev Hakobyan, several guests and representatives of the Armenian communities of Constanta and several other cities of Romania, including Bucharest, Pitest and Tulca. On October 9 at 10:30, Fr. Bishop Tatev Hakobyan served a Holy Mass at the St. Mary Church of Constanta. After the Holy Mass, a lamb was sacrificed in the spacious and improved garden of the Church, and the pieces of the lamb were distributed to the faithful.

On October 9 at 13:30, the Prestige Hall of Ibis Hotel Complex hosted the presentation of the book “Sermons” by Fr. Priest Oshakan Khachatryan. Among the attendees were His Eminence, Fr. Bishop Tatev Hakobyan; President of the Union of Armenians of Romania Varujan Vosganian, as well as guests and representatives of the local Armenian community. The event included short lectures by Arshaluys Sargsyan Gureu, who is one of the editors of the book, as well as the author, who confessed that it was the idea of the diocesan leader to publish his sermons in a book and that he had taken the diocesan leader’s advice and published the sermons given from the altar of the St. Mary Church of Constanta over the past couple of years. The book is in Armenian and Romanian and is designed for Armenian-speaking and Romanian-speaking readers. The purpose of the book of sermons is to help make the words of God and the truths in the Bible accessible to the public at large, contributing to further advancement of Christians and reinforcement of faith. The book was released by Ararat Publishing House of the Union of Armenians of Romania with the support and under the sponsorship of Fr. Bishop Tatev Hakobyan.

After the presentation, all the guests and attendees had a chance to talk and share their impressions around a table. The day ended with the blessing and kind wishes of the diocesan leader, His Eminence, Fr. Bishop Tatev Hakobyan.