Armenian Apostolic Holy Church The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

On May 13, the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church celebrated the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. This day also commemorates the return of the Catholicosate of All Armenians from Sis to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in 1441.

On the occasion of the feast, the Brotherhood of the Mother See participated in the Divine Liturgy in the St. Gayane Monastery. The Celebrant was His Grace Bishop Serovbe Isakhanyan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Germany.

In his sermon Bishop Serovbe reflected on the sacrament of the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, stating in part: “Today, the Armenian Church celebrates the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, His return to his Heavenly Father. Thus, Jesus who brought heaven to earth with His mysterious birth, now, with His wonderful ascension, raises the earth to heaven. Jesus returns to where He was born - to God. The Son of God came to us as a human being, to be humanly close to us. … Even though Jesus is not visible to our eyes today, we cannot touch Him, He does not walk with us with His body, He is where we - his followers are, He is with us till “the end of the world””.

Bishop Serovbe affirmed that the faithful meet with Jesus Christ through the Divine Liturgy, through the Holy Communion; and the Church is the attic for us, where we gather to meet with the Lord and the Savior; through mysterious presence of the Lord, heaven and earth meet each other in the Church.

““Heaven” is, where God lives. God lives where there is love and peace, where the will of God is fulfilled, where the breath of God is breathed”, emphasized Father Serovbe.

Celebrant Father reminded the faithful in attendance that today is also the remembrance day of the return of the Catholicosate of All Armenians from Sis to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin; proving that Eastern Archimandrites were right when they decided to return the Spiritual Center of the Armenian Church - the Armenian Catholicosate, to its God-blessed cradle - the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

“Holy Etchmiadzin is the cradle (մսուր) given to us by God, the Sacred place, where we gather to seek Jesus Christ, to hear His Divine voice and follow Him. And when I say Holy Etchmiadzin, I mean not only the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, which rises at the foot of eternal Ararat; where the Only Begotten Son of God - Jesus Christ, descended; but the whole Armenian Church all over the world, in the Holy Altars of which Jesus descends from heaven in the form of relic and red wine, as a life-giving Body and Blood - "Etch Miadzin" - the Only Begotten descended. And we are all called to make Holy Etchmiadzin, the eternal gift of the Lord to our nation, our spiritual Homeland, which, in the words of the poet, “is the birthplace of our soul and has a secret path to heaven”, stated Bishop Serovbe, affirming that every day, the Holy Etchmiadzin calls us also through this Divine Liturgy; to seek, to find that path and hear the calling voice of the Lord on that path, to accept that “He is the Lord”, and to follow Him”.

At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, under the presidency of His Grace Bishop Moushegh Babayan, Grand Sacristan of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, a Special Prayer Service was offered, during which the clergy and the faithful prayed to God for the steadfastness and eternal vibrancy of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the Patriarchy of All Armenians.