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AGBU Attends Dedication of St. Gregory the Illuminator at Vatican

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  • AGBU Attends Dedication of St. Gregory the Illuminator at Vatican

    AGBU Press Office
    55 East 59th Street
    New York, NY 10022-1112
    Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
    Fax: 212.319.6507
    Email: [email protected]
    Website: www.agbu.org

    PRESS RELEASE

    Monday, March 3, 2008

    AGBU Attends Dedication of St. Gregory the Illuminator Courtyard at the
    Vatican

    On Friday, February 22, 2008, AGBU joined with representatives from
    various Armenian churches and the local Roman Armenian community to
    witness His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI dedicate the north courtyard of
    the Vatican Basilica to St. Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia.

    Representing AGBU President Berge Setrakian was AGBU Europe board
    member, Krikor Istanboulli, who traveled from his home in Milan to
    attend the noon ceremony.

    Over 100 people attended the dedication, including His Beatitude Nerses
    Bedros XIX, Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholics, Rt. Rev.
    Bishop Norvan Zakarian of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Lyon, Very
    Rev. Fr. Aren Shahinian of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Milan, and a
    group of prelates of the Armenian Catholic Church and the Armenian
    Apostolic Church. Also in attendance were the following ambassadors of
    the Republic of Armenia: H.E. Rouben Shugarian of Italy, H.E. Edward
    Nalbandian of France, and H.E. Vahan Ter-Ghevondian of Lebanon.

    During the ceremony Pope Benedict XVI affirmed that St. Gregory the
    Illuminator "has made the Armenians, for more than seventeen centuries,
    a Christian people, and more, the first officially Christian people."

    "St. Gregory was called the Illuminator", he said, "precisely because in
    him the Lord's face is reflected in an extraordinary way."

    This honor is the latest gesture by the Vatican to honor the memory of
    the Armenian saint. In 2004, Pope John Paul II blessed the statue of St.
    Gregory the Illuminator, which is located by the courtyard that now
    bears the Armenian saint's name.

    "It was a memorable day and a very rare honor for the Roman Pope to
    honor one of the most sacred figures in the Armenian Church. The
    dedication of a place so close to the heart of the Roman Catholic Church
    is a great symbol of respect to Armenians everywhere," Istanboulli said.

    Established in 1906, AGBU (www.agbu.org) is the world's largest
    non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City with an
    annual budget of $36 million, AGBU preserves and promotes the Armenian
    identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian
    programs, annually touching the lives of some 400,000 Armenians on six
    continents.
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