22 Jul 2016. On Friday morning, His Holiness Aram I visited the Birds’ Nest compound in Byblos, accompanied by Very Rev Housig Mardirossian, Ecumenical Officer and Director of Communications, and Rev Bedros Manuelian, the director of the Audio Visual Department. The visit combined His Holiness’ annual visit to the school-orphanage and the First anniversary of…
21 July 2016. On Thursday morning, a high-level delegation representing the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) met with His Holiness Aram I at St Mary’s Monastery. After a presentation of the relief activities of CRS in the Middle East, the Catholicos thanked representatives for the CRS’ commitment to support the educational and medico-social programmes of the…
20 July 2016. On Wednesday morning, Catholicos Aram I received Emmanuel Bonne, the French Ambassador to Lebanon at his office at St Mary’s Monastery in Bikfaya. Ambassador Bonne was accompanied by the embassy’s political officer. During the two-hour meeting they discussed the Lebanese presidential election, issues related to security in Lebanon, the conflict in…
18 July 2016. On Saturday, the three-day conference under the spiritual guidance of His Holiness Aram I concluded its work in Antelias. Rev Bedros Manuelian opened the meeting at the “Cilicia Museum Hall.” He told the participants that the theme “Armenian Youth and Social Media” demonstrates the determination of the Catholicos to strengthen reciprocity between…
15 July 2016. His Holiness Aram I wrote a letter of condolence to President François Hollande following the violent lorry attack in Nice during the French National Day celebration. Deploring the act of violence perpetrated on a packed crowd celebrating the 14th of July, the Catholicos stated that violence is a global evil that transcends…
14 July 2016. On Thursday, the two-day Inter-Diocesan Youth Conference, organized jointly by the Youth and Audiovisual Departments of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, began at St Mary’s Monastery in Bikfaya. His Holiness Aram I welcomed the participants and said that the Catholicosate considers the youth as important contributors to Armenian communities everywhere, and urged…
14 July Antelias. His Holiness Aram I received the Finnish historian Svante Lundgren and the film producer Manvel Saribekian, two key persons involved in the making of the documentary film on the Armenian Genocide, at his office in St Mary’s Monastery. Mr Saribekian produced and Mr Lundgren narrates “Map of Salvation,” which dramatises the…
1 July 2016. On Friday evening His Holiness Aram I presided over the special celebration organized by the Association of Armenian University Alumni Association, to celebrate the graduates of 2015-2016 from Universities in Lebanon. The celebration was held at the hall of “Cilicia Museum” in the presence of Samuel Mkertician, Ambassador of Armenia, representatives of…
The historic Council of Orthodox Bishops, presided by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, was held 19-26 June 2016 at the Orthodox Academy in Crete. Since 787 AD, this was the first Council of Orthodox Bishops and the Oriental Orthodox Churches were invited as observers. Archbishop Gomitas Ohanian represented the Holy See of Cilicia. On the topic…
22 June 2016. On Sunday, the 21st anniversary of the election (21 June 1995) and consecration (1 July 1995) was celebrated at St Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Antelias. Rev Bessag Tepirdjian, on behalf of the recently ordained young priests, celebrated the Holy Liturgy and prayed for the Catholicos to continue his mission as the…
The Executive and Central Committees of the WCC met from 21-28 June 2016 in Trondheim (Norway), focusing their discussions on the WCC’s current theme of a “pilgrimage of justice and peace.” The Very Reverend Housig Mardirossian, Ecumenical Officer, and Ms Teny Pirri-Simonian, the Ecumenical Representative in Switzerland and Europe, represented the Catholicosate of Cilicia. …
On 22 June 2016, Maarten Pontal, a Dutch reporter who was on a fact- finding mission on behalf of the churches in the Netherlands, met with His Holiness Aram I. Speaking of the Christian presence in general, the Catholicos told the Maarten Pontal that Christians are native to the region. Historically, he said that although…
24 June 2016. On Friday, the Near East School of Theology in Beirut held a conference on the theme of “The Influence of Protestantism on Eastern Churches.” The participation included Lebanese and German theologians, historians, and representatives of the churches in the region. The representative of His Holiness Aram I, Rev Boghos Tinkjian, Vice…
