On December 31, 2017, in the Cathedral of Saint George in Tbilisi, the Primate of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan; celebrated the Divine Liturgy on the Eve of the New Year.

In accordance with the order approved by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, a Prayer of Thanks and Pomegranate-blessing service are being offered for the New Year in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and all the churches of the Armenian Church. The end of the old year and the start of the New Year are marked by a Pomegranate-blessing service.

Following the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of Saint George of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, under the presidency of the Diocesan Primate in the presence of believers the Pomegranate Blessing Service and the Prayer of Thanks were offered with the participation of all the clergy members.

At the conclusion of the service, Bishop Vazgen addressed the faithful and conveyed blessings and of His Holiness, the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II. The Bishop spoke about the sacrament of the Pomegranate-blessing; and explained that in the Armenian tradition, the pomegranate as a national symbol reflects the meaning of life, prosperity and abundance. In the Christian symbolism the pomegranate is the symbol of the blood shed by Jesus Christ, and in the interpretations of our church fathers the pomegranate is also presented as following: that the church members are as diverse as the granules of the pomegranate but the pomegranate is covered by a solid peel: being united in one Church.

The Primate extended his blessings and appreciation to the members of the Church-loving Women’s Association of the Cathedral of Saint George, who had decorated the altar with pomegranates, and together with the church fathers blessed the pomegranates donated by the  the godfather of the Cathedral of Saint George, Yuri Yeremyan, and brought by the faithful, encouraged everyone to participate each year in the service of Pomegranate-blessing in the Armenian churches on New Year’s Eve and wished everyone Happy New Year and Merry Christmas.

The churches of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia marked the end of the old year with a Prayer of Thanks and Pomegranate-blessing service.