The Armenian Church commemorates the Ancestor of Faith, Surp Krikor the Illuminator, who was thrown into the Deep Well (Khor Virab) for the sake of his Faith in Jesus Christ and his suffering. Celebrated Arrival Week (Kalistyan Giragi). Patriarch Sahak II preached in Armenian and Turkish.
On Thursday, March 18, at the Galata Surp Krikor Illuminator Church, the Holy Mass was held by Father Zakar Koparyan. At the end of the month, Ayin-i Ruhani (Hokehankist) prayers were read for all those who sleep in the Lord.
Sunrise (Arevakal) prayers took place in the Kumkapı Central Virgin Mary (Surp Asdvadzadzin) Church under the presidency of the Patriarch of Turkey, Sahak II. At the end of the service, Patriarch Sahak II gave sermons in Armenian and Turkish. The ceremony was broadcast live on the Patriarchate’s Facebook page.
Armenian Churches commemorated the Saint (Surp) Krikor Illuminator, the Father of Faith, being thrown into the Deep Well (Khor Virab) for his Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and his sufferings on Saturday, March 20.
The Holy Mass, which took place on Thursday, was published on the Patriarchate’s Facebook page on Sunday, March 21. Then, on the live broadcast, Patriarch Sahak II gave sermons in Armenian and Turkish on the occasion of “Kalistyan Giragi” (Arrival Week).
He read and interpreted (Matthew 23:1-15) as he began his Armenian sermon.
“A Heart Without Peace Cannot Meet God”
In his Turkish sermon, he read and interpreted (Colossians 3:1-4 and 12-17). Some titles from the Turkish sermon are as follows;
“This is the week of arrival, we prepared, with our fasting, our diet, our prayers, our repentance, our rituals. What we. have prepared for is to meet the Messiah. Christ must come into our lives.
The Christian is the person who awaits the coming of the Messiah in his/her life. The coming of Christ is not just part of our faith. It is the longing that the holy spirit puts in us.
First of all, the first way to meet Christ, the first way to be ready, is a change of mind. First of all, man must know that he is a soul before the body and that he belongs to the heaven, not the earth.
The believer’s readiness for the coming of the Messiah has a lot to do with keeping his eyes fixed on heaven. “Lift up your heads to heaven, your salvation is at hand,” says Jesus. Then, that we somehow raise our heads to the heavens does not mean that God will come from beyond the clouds and the stars. Of course, God is everywhere. But the way we raise our eyes to the sky is the awareness that our hope is not in this world, but beyond this world. That’s why Jesus Christ said in the prayer he taught, ‘O our Father in heaven’.
A heart without peace cannot meet God, cannot find God. A heart that is in panic, that is afraid, that is at war with others and with God cannot find God.
For us to have a heart to welcome God, we must first be calm, serene, and peaceful. But in the face of these problems, too, there must be a sense of piece that places its calmness. This means that piece should become a habit for us.
Don’t get angry, wait calmly, wait for God’s time, wait patiently, forgive, tolerate, give. The reward for this will be to meet God. God will come to you, not a small reward. Similar things attract similar things. If you want to be like Christ, you must be like Christ.
When God created man, he created dependent to himself, because he breathed into him and so we became a different being. We are not only creatures, but we are created as beings who perfectly inhold the Creator and can interact with Him. So God stands within us. The breath of God is within us.
God wants to be in us, but he wants to be content. If you disturb the God within, with your gratitude, your grievances, your negativity, your pessimism, be careful not to leave your soul.
God is the most tangible of all tangible things. But we are looking for other things, with the abstractions of our minds.
May the Lord bless us all and fill us with his spirit. Amen.”
