ST. GREGORY PARISH COMMEMORATES FEAST OF THE CROSS

On Sunday, September 14, the Parish of St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church of Merrimack Valley in North Andover, Massachusetts, celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Khachverats) with the traditional procession. This feast, the last of the five Tabernacle Feasts observed by the Armenian Church in the liturgical year, is deeply cherished. Its origins trace back to a ceremony led by the Apostle James, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who elevated the Holy Cross while chanting the hymn “Khachee oh Krisdos Yergeer Bakanemk” (“To Your Cross We Bow”), thereby affirming the Cross as the symbol of salvation and the object of profound veneration.