On December 25, 2018, the Feast of St. Stephan the Proto-deacon and First Martyr was celebrated in the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is also the feast day for deacons serving in the Armenian Church.
On the occasion of the feast, Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Yerevan. The celebrant was His Grace Bishop Hovnan Hagopyan, Grand Sacristan of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. During the Divine Liturgy the ordination of deacons took place.
This year, on the occasion of the Feast of St. Stephan, with the blessings of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, 35 students from the Gevorkian Theological Seminary and the Accelerated Priest Course, among which three students from Georgia, Albert Arshakyan, Giorgi Abramyan and Givi Avetisyan were ordained to the diaconate by His Grace Hovnan.
During the ordination, Bishop Hovnan presented the mystery of the feast to the faithful, and the history of martyrdom of St. Stephen, afterwards spoke about the ordination of deacons.
His Grace congratulated all the Brotherhood of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin under the leadership of Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, as well as the staff of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary, parents and relatives of the newly ordained deacons.
The Primate of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan congratulated the newly ordained deacons and conveyed his blessings to them.
At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, the clergymen and the faithful had the opportunity to kiss the relic of St. Stephan's Right Hand, which was brought out from the museum of the Mother Cathedral for the occasion, and receive blessings radiating from it.