{"id":26950,"date":"2026-06-25T15:58:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/?p=26950"},"modified":"2026-06-25T16:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T12:02:23","slug":"the-armenian-catholics-of-moscow-celebrated-the-feast-of-the-relics-of-st-gregory-the-illuminator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/26950.html","title":{"rendered":"The Armenian Catholics of Moscow Celebrated the Feast of the Relics of St. Gregory the Illuminator"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Feast of the Discovery of the Relics of Saint Gregory the Illuminator is the main feast and the day of annual pilgrimage for the St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Catholic Parish of Moscow, as the parish is named in honor of the founding father of the Armenian faith.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This year as well, according to custom, the feast was celebrated on Sunday, June 21, at the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow with a solemn Holy Mass. The Mass was celebrated by the Pastor of the Armenian Catholics of Moscow and the Dean of the Armenian Catholic Communities of Russia, Most Rev. Fr. Petros Yesayan, and co-celebrated by Fr. Vasily Vaidai, pastor of the Greek Catholic Church community, and Fr. Antonio Serrano-Gotarredona, head of the Opus Dei movement in Moscow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Excerpts from the sermon of Most Rev. Fr. Petros Yesayan:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“The Discovery of the Relics… today this might not be fully understood by many, especially the youth. What is it about? The thing is, that after baptizing our people and finishing his service, Saint Gregory left the throne to his son and withdrew to the mountains, becoming a hermit to spend the last years of his life in peace and prayer. His son, Aristakes, ascended his throne because at that time bishops could be married. Furthermore, our people revered Saint Gregory so much that they absolutely insisted someone from his lineage lead them. And his son Aristakes succeeded him in the year 326, which means this year marks exactly 1,700 years. Saint Gregory fell asleep in the Lord in the mountains. Shortly after his death\u2014within a few days\u2014a shepherd found him. Afterwards, the relics were solemnly transferred to present-day Etchmiadzin, where they were kept until the 5th century.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, in the 5th century, the Emperor of Constantinople, Zeno, wished to transfer the relics to the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Only the Holy Right Hand\u2014the relic of the saint\u2019s right hand\u2014remained in Armenia. In the 7th century, the Cathedral of Zvartnots was specially built in honor of Saint Gregory, where his holy relics were venerated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the 8th century, turmoil began in the Roman Empire, and persecutions took place against Christian icons, images, and relics. Relics were being desecrated. And so, the Armenian nuns, to prevent the relics of Saint Gregory from being desecrated, transferred them to Naples. There they built a church dedicated to Saint Gregory the Illuminator, called ‘San Gregorio Armeno.’ To this day, it is one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the city, located on one of the main and most famous streets, which is named exactly that: ‘San Gregorio Armeno.’ It is right there that his relics and holy skull are kept.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2001, Pope Saint John Paul II gifted a portion of Saint Gregory\u2019s relics to the three Armenian hierarchical sees: the two Catholicoses of the Armenian Apostolic Church (Etchmiadzin and Cilicia) and the see of our Catholic Armenian Patriarch. These relics are now kept in the mother cathedrals of our sees.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And in 2016, the Archbishop-Metropolitan of Naples, Cardinal Sepe, also gifted us a particle of the relics of St. Gregory, and we brought it to Moscow. From that moment on, it has been among us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why is this so important? Because in ancient times, everyone sought to have the relics of famous, revered saints near them. Not everyone can go on a pilgrimage to Naples or, for example, Lebanon, but they wanted the physical presence of their most beloved saint to be with them. And now, our parish possesses this relic of such a great and invaluable saint.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Italy, there are at least three cities that have the honor of being under the patronage of Saint Gregory the Illuminator: Naples, Nard\u00f2, and Rome itself. A few years ago, I presided over a solemn procession in honor of Saint Gregory the Illuminator in one of those cities, and I was deeply moved by what I saw. I tell you, I have not seen such veneration even in Armenia. In that small Italian town, when the procession was moving with the silver Right Hand\u2014the blessing hand containing the relic of Saint Gregory\u2014it was truly an impressive sight. I was carrying that particle of the relics alongside the city’s bishops, priests, and all the clergy. On the streets, 15,000 people were rejoicing, singing in honor of Saint Gregory. They were carrying his silver bust, people were kneeling, asking for a blessing, and offering prayers. I was so moved by it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And look: in foreign lands, among Italians, those whose ancestors he preached the Gospel to and baptized, revere him so warmly. And his relic is always with us during the Holy Mass. In heaven, all the angels and all the saints rejoice and are present with us. But in a special way, our patron is with us today.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fr. Hovsep Galstyan<\/p>\n

Chancellery of the Armenian Catholic Ordinariate<\/p>\n

25 June, 2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discovery of the relics of the father of faith of the Armenian people is a part of celebration of the spiritual identity of the Armenian nation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,44,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diosecan-news","category-featured-en","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26950"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26954,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26950\/revisions\/26954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}