International Orthodox Christian News

Parishioners of St. Hagop Armenian Church are preparing for a historic visit by their world leader this week.His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, will arrive Saturday for a two-day celebration during which he will consecrate St. Hagop's new $2-million church. It will be the first time he has consecrated an Armenian Apostolic church in North America.Catholicos Karekin, whose ecclesiastical seat is in Etchmiadzin, Armenia, is on an 18-city visit to the United States that includes New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Detroit and two additional stops in Florida - Boca Raton and Hollywood.

This Sunday all Armenian Apostolic churches in Florida will be closed in honor of the visit and members of those congregations are expected to be among those who will travel to Pinellas Park to see the pontiff. He will travel to St. Hagop's in a motorcade with police escorts.Members of the local congregation, who come from as far away as Citrus, Pasco and Manatee counties, have been preparing for the pontifical visit for a year. Last October, Archbishop Khajag Barsamian of New York made St. Hagop's a promise, said Dr. Hagop "Jack" Mashikian, vice chairman of the parish council.

The archbishop, head of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, told St. Hagop's leaders that if they finished their church before Catholicos Karekin's pastoral visit to the United States, he would arrange for the pontiff to consecrate it.With that goal in mind, the congregation - the only full Armenian Apostolic parish on Florida's west coast - rushed to complete its traditional Armenian-style church. In June, they held a ceremony to top off the church with an 8- by 5-foot aluminum cross.This weekend Catholicos Karekin will enter an almost completed church. The altar and 19 crosses, all of which he will bless, are scheduled to arrive late this week. The pews will arrive after the consecration, but parish council president Arsen Bayandrian says the temporary chairs will allow optimum capacity for Saturday and Sunday's historic celebration. An overflow tent with a video feed will be set up on the church grounds, he said.Father Hovnan Demerjian, 33, the church's new priest, said he is starting under auspicious circumstances."It's a great way to begin," he said. It's like you're beginning with a great boost of energy and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that the church is being consecrated and also visited by His Holiness. It's like a double blessing."This weekend's celebration will begin with a turnpatzek, or "opening the doors" ceremony, on Saturday. A private reception will follow. The consecration and pontifical divine liturgy will take place the next day, followed by a banquet at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.

The ceremonies will be steeped in pageantry, though Sunday's is expected to be the more impressive. Demerjian, St. Hagop's new priest, said the consecration will be part of the normal Sunday liturgy."A main part of it is blessing 16 crosses that are sort of the pillars of the church," he said.Each cross has been dedicated to a saint, he said. Additionally, a godparent has been appointed for each cross and like a godparent, the role will be a supporting one.In effect, Demerjian said, the godparents agree to support the church "and raise it into a strong community of God."The 250-seat church and planned multipurpose building have been a long-held dream. Back in 1997, Catholicos Karekin's predecessor promised to consecrate St. Hagop's new church during his 1998 visit.