On June 7, 2015, the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church celebrated the Feast of the Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin. In the Armenian Diocese ofGeorgia, the feastwas celebrated in the Saint Etchmiadzin Church with the Divine Liturgy delivered by Rev. Fr. Ter Manuk Zeinalyan with the participation of the Primate of the Armenian Diocese, His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan and the clergy.

At the end of the Divine Liturgy, the Primate read a sermon on the sacrament of the day, noted the importance of the Saint Etchmiadzin Church in Tbilisi, congratulated the congregation and blessed the Matagh before distributing it to the people.

Later, everyone had a chance to visit the exhibition entitled “Komitas As Seen Through the Eyes of the 20th Century Artists” held in the “Hayartun” Center. Among the visitors were the Counselor from the RA Embassy in Georgia, Karen Melikyan, and Armenian and Georgian artists and guests from Yerevan, Norway and Sweden.

The artworks of Sargis Muradyan, Suren Safaryan, Grigor Aghasyan, Tigran Tokmajyan, Zaruhi Muradyan, Stepan Andranikyan, Henrik Mamyan and Henrik Siravyan were exhibited in the Calouste GulbenkianHall reflecting the theme of the genocide and highlighting the personage of Komitas Vardapet, who presented Armenian ethnic songs to the world but who himself wasn’t able to psychololgically handle the crime committed against his nation.

The exhibition was organized with the support of the “Hayartun” Center, “Sargis Muradyan” Gallery in Yerevan and the Union of Armenian Artists of Georgia. The daughters of the greatly lamented artist, Sargis Muradyan, Zaruhi and Gohar also attended the exhibition.

In his welcoming speech, the Director of the “Hayartun” Center and the Director of the Cultural Department, Levon Chidilyan noted that the exhibitionwas part of the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. The Chairman of the Union of Armenian Artists of Georgia, Merouzhan Shahumyanreferred to the artworks of Panos Terlemezian, Arevshat Avagyan and Sargis Muradyan. The Counselor from the RA Embassy in Georgia, Karen Melikyan, the inspirerofthe project, Arsen Kharatyan, poetess and translator, Anahit Bostanjyan, Georgian artists Gia Markozashvili and Giovanni Vepkhvadze also gave speeches.

The founder of the “Sargis Muradyan” Gallery, Zaruhi Muradyan thanked the organizers and called upon Georgian artists for increasing their future cooperation.

The Primate of the Armenian Diocese, His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan expressed words of appreciation and recalled the crime committed against the Armenian nation, emphasizing the tragedy of the loss of Komitas' genius in a human sense and the loss of Mount Ararat in a territorial sense.

The exhibition was accompanied by the musical compositions of Komitas presented by Manan Garukyan, violinist from Yerevan.

The exhibition “Komitas as Seen through the Eyes of the 20th Century Artists” still continues.