Primate's Easter Greeting and Message - Happy Easter

DIOCESE OF THE ARMENIAN CHURCH OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND Very Reverend Dr. Vahan Hovhanessian, Primate and Pontifical Legate

“Today is our Easter thanks to the sacrifice

of Christ!” Armenian Sharagan (hymn)

Beloved Armenians of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland

Behold the period of penance, repentance, and spiritual renewal of Great Lent has reached it culmination. The bells of the mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin has once again resounded echoing from the Holy Land the happy news of the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Eve of Holy Easter brings with it, together with the glimmers of the light of the candles, rays of hope of healing the afflictions rooted in this world as a consequence of sin, of the renewal of life and of the joy of eternity. The empty tomb of Christ is not only the historical evidence of the resurrection of Jesus. It is also the everlasting testimony of the hope of our own eternity, and of the truth of our reunion with our loved ones who have fallen asleep in faith in the Lord. The apostle Paul confirms the importance of the resurrection of Christ to each individual Christian when he says, “In Christ all will be made alive. Christ, the first-fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him” (1 Cor 15:23).

Easter, is the celebration of our victorious liberation from the deceptions of sin, armed with the shield of the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Only those who with repentance denounce sinful deeds, cleanse their wounds of hatred, and rid themselves of the poison of corruption as well as those who have filled themselves with the love of the gospel, are worthy of that shield and its saving consequences. Only through this does the light of the resurrection of our Christ stamp its permanent divine seal on our lifestyle, social interactions, feelings, thoughts, and deeds.

The Feast of the Holy Resurrection today is even more meaningful to our people. Our martyrs of the Genocide of 24th April, 1915, have already conquered the enemy thanks to the Armenian Easter! Through us, the martyrs have embraced eternity, confident in the message of the resurrection. Their martyrdom, armed with their faith in the resurrection of Christ was, as our historians say, a known-death which immortalized us as a nation. Just as the crucifixion of Jesus brought forth fruits of new life and eternity, likewise the “crucifixion” of our martyrs gave birth to a newly birthed nation in whose blood, faith, language, culture and future are immortalized the life and dreams of every Armenian martyr.

This year, especially, dear fellow Armenians, Easter coincides with the commemoration of the horrible Genocide of 1915. Each one of us has the responsibility to confirm in his or her own life the spiritual and cultural values of the martyrs. The principals and values for which one and a half million Armenians were martyred must remain alive in our own life. If the enemy wanted to stop us from speaking Armenian by cutting tongues, let us do everything we can to resurrect our beautiful Armenian language, safeguarding and developing it in our daily life. If the Ottomans wanted to drive our fathers and mothers away from our ancestral faith and from the Armenian Church by burning church buildings and dragging and killing clergy, let resurrection become for us the understanding of our ancestral faith and its transmission to the future generations. The relics of the martyrs will joyfully rest in the eternal chambers when, looking down from heaven, they see Armenian boys and girls learning the faith of their forefathers and participating in the source of their own spiritual birth, the Armenian Church. If the Ottoman brutal battalions wanted to annihilate the Armenian nation by planting divisions and meaningless disagreements in the souls of our sons and daughters, our unity as a nation must become the political “creed” of our new generation.

On the feast of the victory of life, of hope and of love, let us raise our prayers to the Almighty God that He may bless our people in Armenia and in the Armenian diaspora, strengthening and protecting our fatherland, Armenia, with its Catholicosate, government and our people. May the Lord keep the spirit of peace, prosperity, love, reconciliation, unity and success alive in our hearts sealed by the hope of the gospel. So that, standing firm on the cornerstone of our faith we may join the author of the sharagan greeting one another saying, “We have been renewed from the oldness of the sin, saying „Christ is risen from the dead.” And cleansed by, and armed with, the warmth of faith, hope and love, let us respond to each other saying, “Blessed is the resurrection of Christ.”

With blessings and prayerful wishes,

Very Revd Dr. Vahan Hovhanessian, Primate

Armenian Church of the UK and Ireland Primate’s Office London, UK

The Armenian Vicarage • Iverna Gardens • Kensington • London W8 6TP Tel: 020 7937 0152 • Fax: 020 7937 9049

It is with regret that we were unable to publish the Armenian translation of the above Easter greeting from the Primate.