Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year!

May Almighty God and the incarnate Son of God grant us and our families love, peace and goodness, so that everything in our houses and families would resemble the manger in Bethlehem, and we will have Jesus reborn in us, in our hearts and in our souls and we will become His New Bethlehem.

We cannot feel in ourselves the great mystery of the birth of the infant Christ the Savior, until Jesus is born within us, until we are spiritually reborn, because a man living for God and having within oneself the divine light should feel God’s presence. So Christmas celebration serves as a good reminder.

And through our Christian understanding of the Gospel one shall give an account of himself to God: “Give an account of your management” - as the Gospel says. Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God, with the life we live, responsibilities we have not only to ourselves, our families, but to our society.

The report must also include: how many good deeds we have done, how often we have helped others, how long have we prayed, how often we have read the Gospel, do we live with God or do we feel distant from God?

Christmas is the time when we remember about the food for thought.

A reference should be made and one must say that 2017 was a year of success; we’ve had shortcomings as well. But this will not prevent us from going in the right direction.

The Armenians living in Georgia have a mission to preserve our spiritual legacy inherited from our fathers, preserve educational and cultural institutions, and, thank God, with assistance from our clergy, officials and beloved children this is becoming a reality.

We must plan our activities with an eye on the future: traditionally, for more than three thousand years Armenians have lived in the land of Georgia. We have done so much together with the Georgian people and we still have a long way to go on this journey, and we must always be ready to take this path. Our education and upbringing will show our readiness, as well as by being a good citizen, and being responsible for our Church and national identity.

On this solemn occasion, I extend my congratulations wishing:

May the Lord bless us, so that we might live wisely, be tolerant, loving, forgiving, caring, so that the spirit of Christianity will be widespread throughout the world.

According to the Gospel, Jesus said: “Love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples”. I give you the same commandment: “Love and respect one another, by this all men will know you are the children of the Armenian Church.”

May God bless and strengthen all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Amen