Ecumenical prayer for the Armenian martyrs

On Thursday 23 April, an ecumenical service was held at the Basilica of San Bartolomeo all’Isola to mark the anniversary of the Medz Yegern, the ‘Great Evil’ that befell the Armenian people in 1915, and of the canonisation by the Armenian Apostolic Church of six hundred martyrs, on 23 April 2015 in Etchmiadzin. The celebration was presided over by Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Representative of the Catholicosate of All Armenians to the Holy See.

In his message for the occasion, Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, affirmed that “The Armenian martyrs are undoubtedly part of the ‘common martyrology’ of which Saint John Paul II spoke, a martyrology that unites Christians beyond their divisions in a true ‘ecumenism of blood’”, expressing the hope “that the blood of so many witnesses today may become the seed of the future unity of the one Body of Christ, torn apart by so many divisions”. The message was read by Rev. Jaromir Zadrapa, Official of the Eastern Section of the Dicastery.

Numerous representatives of other Churches and ecclesial communities present in Rome took part in the celebration, notably Bishop Anthony Ball, Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and Personal Representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Holy See. The Pontifical Armenian College and the Mekitarist Fathers of Venice also took part in the celebration.