On the 25th of March, 2025, the Feast of Annunciation, the Holy Mass was celebrated at the Cathedral Church of Holy Martyrs of Gyumri, by Rev. Fr. Nerses Galstyan, the Deacon of the Armenian Catholic communities of Armenia. In his sermon Fr. Nerses invited the faithful to pay attention to the motherhood of Virgin Mary. The motherhood is the main point of this feast, said Fr. Nerses. He suggested a reflection on the dialogue between Mary and Gabriel.

“When Gabriel announces the Good News to Mary, she is afraid. We see, that Mary, as a teenage girl, does not yet fully realize the grandeur of these good tidings, but is able to trust God and says: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word!”.

In the motherhood of Mary, the grandeur of an Armenian woman can also be found. “Every Armenian woman and mother ought to ask herself, whether she is walking the way, that Mary walked, whether she resembles Mary”, asked Fr. Nerses and continued:

“We are amazed with the hardships, through which Holy Mother passed facing the passion of her Son, what kind of heart she possessed. She had a loving heart, which was called to a great mission. And we see, that Mary erased the first sin with her obedience and modesty, the first sin, because of which death entered the world. Mary is truly called the Second Eve by the Church Fathers, because she represents a new modus of a woman, of a mother, who is totally ready to fulfil the Lord’s plan for the sake of the redemption of the humanity”.

Fr. Hovsep Galstyan
Secretariat of the Ordinariate
25 March, 2025