The Holy See (Vatican) through its Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and Dicastery for Oriental Churches, with the participation of the Catholicosate of All Armenians, Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Cilicia are planning to honor the 850th anniversary of St. Nerses Shnorhali’s passing. On Tuesday, 21 March, 2023 a meeting of the Organizing Committee, composed of...

On Wednesday, 15 February, a meeting was held at the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity to prepare the commemoration of the 850th anniversary of the death of St Nerses the Gracious (or "Shnorhali", 1102-1173), which falls in 2023. St. Nerses, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, is known for his theological, poetic and musical work, as well as for his commitment to Christian unity. At the invitation of His...

The nineteenth meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches took place at the Logos Center of the Saint Bishoy Monastery, Egypt, from 31 January – 4 February 2023 and was hosted by the Coptic Orthodox Church. Representatives came from the Catholic Church and from the following Oriental Orthodox Churches: the Antiochian Syrian...

The Community Sant’Egidio hosted the 36th edition of its annual “Spirit of Assisi” event in Rome from 23 to 25th October. A three- day peace summited welcomed presidents, religious leaders, and various high-ranking authorities. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Representative of the Armenian Church to the Holy See and the Pontifical Legate of the Western Europe also was invited to taken part of the activities of this...

On October 11th Pope Francis presided over the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, commonly known as the Second Vatican Council. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Representative of the Armenian Church to the Holy See was invited to be present to this historic event. The Second Vatican Council, was opened on 11 October 1962 by Pope John XXIII and was closed...

A newly-built Armenian church has been opened in Malaga over the weekend, becoming the first Armenian church in Spain. The Vicar of the Pontifical Legation in Spain and Portugal, Very Rev. Father Shnorhk Sargsyan attended the event, which was presided over by archbishop Khajag Barsamian, the Pontifical Legate of the Western Europe and Representative of the Armenian Church to the Holy See. At the end of the ceremony, the...

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian was invited by the Gulbenkian Foundation, to take part in the official ceremonies on the occasion of the Founder’s Day on 20 July in Lisbon. During his visit to the Gulbenkian Foundation on July 20, Archbishop Barsamian first had the opportunity to meet with one of the Board members Martin Essayan (the grandson of Calouste Gulbenkian’s sister Rita) and Mr. Razmig Panossian, the...

The eighteenth meeting of the Joint International  Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches took place in Rome from June 20-24, 2022 and was hosted by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. It was chaired jointly by His Eminence Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and by His Grace Bishop Kyrillos, Coptic Orthodox Auxiliary...

Archbishop Barsamian was invited by Ambassador Sahak Sargsyan, Armenia’s permanent representative to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, to participate an event, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the BSEC and the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s participation in this body on June 9, held on a large scale at the Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall of Istanbul. Approximately 1,000 people attended, including...

On June 9, Archbishop Barsamian went to Ankara with Patriarch Mashalian to meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to discuss celebrating the 850th anniversary of St. Nerses IV Shnorhali next year in historic Hromgla, Cilicia (today called Rumkale in Turkish), located on a promontory overlooking the Euphrates River. St. Nerses served as catholicos there. Archbishop Barsamian explained that some months ago he...