On 11 September, 2016, in Armenian Catholic Cathedral Church of Holy Martyrs in Gyumri, the Holy Mass of the Feast of Holy Cross was celebrated by Raphael Archbishop Minassian, on the request of Fr. Grigor Mkrtchyan-the priest of Gyumri parish.

His Exc. Raphael Archbishop Minassian, in his homily reflected on the mystery of the Cross and asked those present to think about how they live out the mystery of the Lord’s Cross and bring to life His commandments. Here is a passage from his homily:

”Dear guests and brothers,

The Holy Church once again gathered us here to celebrate the Cross of our Lord Christ. Seeing the Cross we remember the Crucified and what we have read and learnt in the word of the Holy Gospel. God gave His Only Begotten Son to the world to save it, but how violently they hang God’s begotten Son, Christ, upon the cross. He gave His life on the Cross in order to wash us in his blood, to clean, to adopt and revive us in the family of God. All this was done so that we could have eternal life, where there is neither pain, nor difficulty, but only happiness and joy.

We, as Christian place our conscience before such sacrifice, in order to see the answer of our sacrifice and devotion. We must do an examination of conscience to see how much we correspond to that sacrifice. You may tell me that “we come to the Church, we believe and pray”, it is true and I heartily congratulate you! It is good to believe, to pray and come to the Church, but it’s not enough. You must think: when I come out of this Church how long  do I continue to live in unity with Christ, how do I witness the Only Sacrifice given with such a high price for our salvation, how much do I live and witness that I believe and that I am truly a Christian, rather than forget about everything because of daily difficulties?

Christ, the One, who could save the world with one word, chose the Cross, and each of us has his or her own Cross, let us not complain that our Cross is greater or heavier than we expect”.

At the end of The Holy Mass His Exc. Raphael Archbishop Minassian consecrated a new bell, which will be installed in the belfry of Armenian Catholic Cathedral Church of Holy Martyrs. It is a gift from the devoted faithful and is made in Kamensky factory, Russia, with special technology typical to the craft of the russian bell making industry and is known throughout the world. After the consecration ceremony, Fr. Grigor Mkrtchyan said:

”I want to invite here Mr. Grisha Hoveyan, who had his great investment in purchasing of this bell, and I would like to thank not only him, but also Hamazasp Petrosyan, from Ghazanchi and now residing in Russia, as he also contributed to this work. This bell, weighing 86kg, was bought from the Russian factory and sent to our Church. There is an image of our Church of Holy Martyrs on this bell. Thank You!”

Translated by Narineh Galoyan