With the blessings of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, the Brotherhood of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin met from June 5 through June 11. This year’s meeting convened on the 1720th anniversary of the founding of Holy Etchmiadzin under the theme “Etchmiadzin as Mission.”
Traditionally this convocation, attended by some 70 vartabeds and monks, meets every two years at the Mother See. However, due to the pandemic and the 2020 Artsakh war, the Brotherhood had not met after its last meeting in 2019. Representatives of the Cilician Catholicate in Antelias, and the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Constantinople, were also in attendance.
The Brotherhood Convocation always takes place the week known as “Ararat Shapat” or Ararat Week, during which significant events leading to Armenia’s conversion to Christianity, all having taken place on the Ararat Plain, are commemorated. These include the feasts of Sts. Hripsime, Gayane, Holy Shoghagat, St. Gregory the Illuminator’s Deliverance from the Pit, and the feast of the founding of Holy Etchmidazin. The members of the Brotherhood took part in processions of relics and liturgies throughout the week, at the various shrines related to the event being observed.
Since a meeting of the Supreme Spiritual Council was taking place concurrently, members of the Brotherhood had the opportunity to spend time with visiting dignitaries such as His Beatitude Patriarch Sahak II Mashalian of Constantinople, and Pontifical Legate of Western Europe Archbishop Khajag Barsamian.
The Brotherhood heard lectures delivered by expert members on various topics, including “The Armenian Church’s Evangelistic and Educational Mission in the Modern World,” “Observations Towards a Social Doctrine of the Armenian Church,” and “The Armenian Church on Ecumenical Platforms.”
Members also offered prayers at Yerevan’s Dzidzernagapert Genocide Monument, as well as Yerablur Military Cemetery, where those killed in the Artsakh wars of the 1990s and 2020 are interred with honor.
Thanks to a generous gift from the community of the Eastern Diocese’s St. John Church (Southfield, MI), its Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR), and the Western Diocese, members of the Brotherhood were able to distribute funds to 200 underprivileged families, as well as to families that lost a loved one in the war, during a two-day missionary excursion in the dioceses of Tavush and Gegharkunik.
In his message to the Brotherhood, His Holiness stated: “You, too, are Holy Etchmiadzin; its mission is your service, in the fatherland and in different locales of the world.” He exhorted the clergy to remain steadfast in their calling, that their success in ministry is what keeps the Armenian Church strong. He mentioned various areas of concern, including challenges to the church’s authority, diminishing its spiritual and national role in society; the threatened removal of Armenian Church History curriculum from schools in Armenia; as well as a host of challenges in the wake of the Artsakhian War. His Holiness encouraged the fathers to seek out modern methods to communicate the message of the gospel and the faith of the Armenian Church.
After the conclusion of the Convocation, brotherhood members entered the Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, currently undergoing a major renovation, and recited their oath of allegiance to the Mother See and the Catholicos of All Armenians, and offered the closing prayer before the main altar.
As members of the monastic brotherhood, Fr. Aren Jebejian, Fr. Mamigon Kiledjian, and Fr. Simeon Odabashian of the Eastern Diocese were in attendance throughout the proceedings, with Fr. Jebejian serving on the organizing committee for the 2023 Brotherhood Convocation.