Twice a year, His Grace Bishop Haigazoun Najarian is scheduled to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at St Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church and the Feast of the Holy Assumption of the Mother of God is one of them.
As the celebrant and homilist on Sunday 13th August 2017, Bishop Najarian was assisted on the altar by parish pastor, Reverend Father Khacher Harutyunyan. In the tradition of blessing grapes in the Armenian Church on this feast day, abundantly filled baskets adorned the front of the altar following the liturgy for the blessing service and were distributed to the congregation as they left the Church.
As this special and major feast day is representative of the Church’s names, each year a dinner is held on the Saturday evening in its hall to celebrate the occasion and welcome the Primate to the parish. This year’s celebration was made extra special with the bestowing of an Encyclical by His Holiness Karekein II Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians to Mr Haig Hicazian for his dedicated service of decades to the Armenian Church as an altar server, church choir conductor and member as well as a former Parish Councillor.
