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In keeping with the Eastern theme .....

- H. B. Nerses Bedros XIX TARMOUNI, Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, Head of the Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church (LEBANON)

Born in 301, the Armenian Church found that Sunday was already called the “Day of the Lord” by all the Churches. She did the same and developed her own rich tradition based on Sunday. The Fathers of the Armenian Church severely condemned priests who did not celebrate the Eucharist on Sundays, or those who do not respect the Sunday rest. The Sunday Eucharistic Celebration in the Armenian liturgy is solemn and is, due to this, always sung. In the Armenian and Georgian villages, far from the secularization of the big cities, I saw our faithful celebrate Sunday truly as a day of great joy and festivity, with an active participation of the whole assembly in the Eucharistic Liturgy. The Feast of Easter is the central date of the liturgical calendar, in such a way that all the Sundays of the year adapt to the date for Easter, which is mobile. The great feasts are also transferred to Sundays. Thus, the Transfiguration is celebrated on the 14th Sunday after Easter, the Assumption on the closest Sunday to August 15th and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross the closest Sunday to September 14th. In the same way, no commemoration of saints is celebrated on a Sunday, which is consecrated to the Resurrection of the Lord. Another characteristic of Sundays in the Armenian liturgy: 4 Sundays of the year for the 5 feast days called of the Tabernacles, have special veneration: Easter, the Transfiguration, the Assumption of Mary, the Exaltation of the Cross, the 5th feast being the epiphany, called Theophany. They are preceded by a period of fasting and are followed, the day after, by the commemoration for the Dead. One of the Fathers of the Armenian Church exhorts the faithful in this way: “Exalt Sunday through your good works, because Sunday is the day of the Resurrection and of freedom”.