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Արևմտահայերեն
РусскийCanonization ceremony of Armenian Genocide martyrs to be aired in Greece
The main ceremony of commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Greece will be on April 19 in Syntagma Square of Athens. An event will be held on that very day, on the initiative of the Armenian community and the Greek state. The representatives of the Greek parliament, government, Ambassadors accredited to Greece, as well as cultural and public figures will attend the event.
In a conversation with “Armenpress”, the Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of Greece Kerob Ekizyan stated that it is considered that the Greek political figures will make speeches at the event.
“People in Greece will follow the satellite broadcasting of the ceremony of canonization of the Armenian Genocide martyrs, which will be held at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. This way the GreekArmenians and Greece will participate in the canonization ceremony,” Ekizyan concluded.
The Armenian Apostolic Church will be canonizing the victims of the Armenian Genocide on April 23, 2015. This is the first time in 400 years, the Church will resume the rite of canonization.
There is no special number for Canonization, because it is not clear how many genocide victims were followers of the Apostolic Church; it will be a collective ritual.
The canonization will be an unprecedented event since the last saint that was proclaimed and is remembered is St. Movses Tatevatsi, who was canonized in the 18th century.
There are four conditions for Canonization, they are martyrdom for the faith and the fatherland, pious life – pious behavior of an individual or a collective, existence of miracles alive or dead, and preaching the faith, spreading the belief. The Armenian Church does not bestow sanctification, it merely recognizes the saints or the sanctity of those people.
The ritual of canonization will be held at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and will probably start at 16:00 and end at 19:15, which will symbolize the year 1915. At the end, the bells of all Armenian churches of the world will ring, after which there will be a moment of silence and the Lord’s Prayer.
