PRELATE ACCOMPANIES CATHOLICOS IN CANADIAN PONTIFICAL VISIT

With Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate, as celebrant, Catholicos Aram I presided over Divine Liturgy at Bon Pasteur Church in Laval, Quebec, on Saturday, June 3. It was one of the highlights of His Holiness’ pontifical visit to Canada, in the first days of which Archbishop Anoushavan accompanied him.    

The Prelate was also present for the religious ceremony in honor of His Holiness at St. Hagop Cathedral in Montreal on Thursday, June 1, entering the church as the “Hrashapar” hymn was sung.    

The following day Archbishop Anoushavan accompanied His Holiness in his visits to Aram and Berdjouhi Markarian kindergarten, Sarafian primary school and Pasdermadjian high school. He also visited the offices of Horizon newspaper.   

Clergy from the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Maronite, and Greek Orthodox churches attended the Divine Liturgy on Saturday at Bon Pasteur Church, as well as past and current pastors of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Laval and Montreal, the Armenian Ambassador to Canada, and other community dignitaries.    

During the ceremony, Rev. Fr. Hagop Yacoubian welcomed the guests and invited the priests of the other denomination to offer their words of welcome, following which Archbishop Papken, Prelate of Canada, invited the Catholicos to deliver his message.   

“We are one in Christ,” His Holiness said, quoting from a song that is sung during ecumenical meetings.     

“We must embrace the sense of unity through the ecumenical movement,” he said. “Today we live in a globalized world with no walls separating us.”    

After His Holiness concluded his remarks, the clergy walked up to the altar for an ecumenical prayer celebrated by the Catholicos.   

Archbishop Anoushavan also attended the reception in honor of His Holiness at Montreal’s Plaza Volare on Sunday, June 4. On this occasion, the Catholicos bestowed medals on members who have served the Armenian community of Canada with distinction.