The New Year and Holy Nativity celebration visits at the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey were postponed first due to the pandemic restrictions and then due to the illness of the Patriarch Sahak II. On Monday, February 14, Patriarch Sahak II received the Assyrian Catholic Patriarch Acting General Bishop Monsignor Orhan Çanlı.
The visiting Bishop was accompanied by Diyakos Cimi Serkek, Syriac Catholic Foundation Chairman Münir Üçkardeş, Foundation Board Member Alen Şelhat. High Priest Zakeos Ohanyan and Patriarchate Interchurch Relations Officer Senior Father Drtad Uzunyan were present at the reception.
Albeit delayed for obvious reasons, Monsignor Çanlı stated that he came to celebrate the New Year and the Holy Nativity of the Armenian community in the person of Patriarch Sahak II, on behalf of himself and the Syriac Catholic Church.
The Honorable Patriarch Sahak II thanked the Bishop Monsignor Orhan Çanlı on the occasion of his visit and wished well-being to the Syriac Catholic Community in his person. Emphasizing the importance of brotherhood in Jesus Christ, he stated that this brotherhood is a blessing in this difficult time we are living in.
At the end of the visit, the Bishop Çanlı, thanked the Patriarch Sahak II. for his hospitality and left the Patriarchate.
