CATHOLICOS BESTOWS ARCHPRIEST TITLE ON FR. BEDROS SHETILIAN

On Sunday, December 8, His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate, participated in the Divine Liturgy at St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in Springfield, Massachusetts. Before delivering his sermon, the Prelate read the encyclical of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I through which the Catholicos bestowed the title and honor of Archpriest upon Rev. Fr. Bedros Shetilian in recognition of his twenty years of service within the Eastern Prelacy.  

The Prelate praised Father Bedros for his devoted service at the St. Illuminator Cathedral, New York; the Holy Cross Church in Troy, New York, and St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in Springfield, expressing his wish that Fr. Bedros continues his altruistic service for the glory of God. Drawing from the day’s Gospel reading, which spoke of a participant in a banquet blessing the one who would be worthy to dine with Christ in the Kingdom of God, he explained that as Christians, we are pilgrims striving to be found worthy of God’s presence, a vision realized through commitment and perseverance strengthened by the Holy Spirit. He then invited the faithful to live together with this awareness, so that we may be deemed worthy of the eternal blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven.