“One Day in the Diocese” – The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin Launches a New Pastoral – Preaching Initiative
On 8 June, 2012, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin unveiled a new initiative: "One Day in the Diocese" a one-day pastoral-preaching program. The program was launched in the Armavir Diocese and will continue one time each month, until every Diocese in Armenia has been visited.
The aim of the program is for a core group of clergy, on one day each month, to travel to the cities, towns and villages in a different Diocese, with a focus on:
• Conveying the light of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the children of our nation,
• Creating opportunities to establish personal contact and discussions with clergyman.
Members of the Brotherhood of the Mother See along with clergymen from Dioceses in the Diaspora and from the Araratian Pontifical Diocese and the Dioceses of Ararat, Aragatsotn and Kotayk participated in this initial visit to the Armavir Diocese.
At 09:00 a.m., led by His Holiness Karekin II, nearly 120 clergymen traveled from the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to the village of Mrgashat, in the Armavir region. Following a joint prayer and the formal opening of the program, each of the clergymen departed for a rural community that has been assigned to him, where he served in the community for the day.
In all, more than 70 rural communities of the regions of Armavir, Etchmiadzin and Baghramian were visited. Special attention was given to the remote villages where there are no churches, and clergy visits are infrequent. The clergymen held meetings with the faithful, visited families of deceased soldiers, visited people with physical disabilities who may not be able to travel from their homes, offered home blessing services, and paid visits to educational and cultural institutions, hospitals, and community programs.
At the conclusion of the day, the clergymen returned to Holy Etchmiadzin to participate in evening worship in the Mother Cathedral.
