On July 7-10, with the blessing of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, the Christian Education Center of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, in association with World Vision Armenia, held an inter-diocese conference for teachers of Sunday schools in Tsakhkadzor with nearly 130 teachers from all Dioceses of the Armenian Holy Apostolic Church.

The solemn opening ceremony began with a blessing by Prelate of the Kotayk Diocese, His Eminence, Archbishop Arakel Karamyan, who attached importance to the need of Sunday schools in church life. The archbishop’s blessing was followed by welcoming remarks by Director of the Christian Education Center, Archimandrite Vardan Navasardyan; Director of World Vision Jirair Edilyan and Vice-President of the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, MP Karine Poghosyan. Head of the Department for General Education at the RA Ministry of Education and Science, Mrs. Narine Hovhannisyan transmitted the welcoming remarks of the RA Minister of Education and Science.

Mr. Roman Harutyunyan delivered a lecture on “Problems with the Protection of Children’s Rights in Armenia”, after which representative of the Christian Education Center Ani Hunanyan delivered a speech on the activities of the CEC at Sunday schools.

The participating holy fathers read parts of the Bible, the guest speakers talked about spiritual topics, speakers gave speeches devoted to the doctrine and traditions of the Armenian Church, and the participants of the conference conducted methodical trainings through teamwork. The conference was marked by the presentation of and discussion on the methodical manual prepared as part of the curriculum and textbooks of Sunday schools.

The teachers participated in meetings at the monastic complex of Kecharis and organized an event on the occasion of Translators’ Day.

During the solemn closing ceremony, all the participants expressed their gratitude to the Supreme Patriarch for implementation of this helpful program.

Christian Education Center of the

Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin