On October 2, the Church of the Most Holy Virgin Mary was opened and consecrated during a solemn ceremony held near the borderline Mekhakavan (Jebrayil) settlement of Artsakh.

According to Artsakhpress, the solemn ceremony of consecration of the church, which was built with funding from benefactor Grigor Movsisyan, was performed by spiritual leader of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, His Grace, Fr. Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan.

The duplicate cross of the Holy Cross, which was the guardian of the Armenian army of King Ashot Yerkat, was consecrated, after which the church was consecrated. During the Holy Mass following the consecration, the spiritual leader of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia expressed his congratulatory remarks to the attendees, attaching importance to this divine initiative of building the House of God in the liberated areas of the homeland of the Armenian nation. “By God’s wil, today we have a shrine, which is the first shrine built in the liberated and ancestral Mekhakavan settlement. We have a shrine that will reinforce our soldiers to stand more firmly during their military service because this is where the border of Christianity starts from, and this was affirmed by the construction of the Church of the Most Holy Virgin Mary,” Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan said.

At the end of the Holy Mass, the spiritual leader of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia read the condac of the Catholicos of All Armenians by which the church’s benefactor G. Movsisyan was granted the highest St. Nerses Shnorhali Order of Honor of the Armenian Church.

Among the attendees of the ceremony were Primate of the Aragatsotn Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan; commander of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh Vardan Balayan; sponsor of the church’s construction G. Movsisyan; representatives of the board of the Union of Volunteer Land Defenders, as well as high-ranking servicemen and guests.

Photos: http://www.armchaplain.org