The leader of the Armenian Catholic Church, His Beatitude Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, visited Fresno on Monday. The visit culminated with an evening prayer service that he led at St. John’s Cathedral in downtown Fresno, followed by a reception, before he departed for Northern California. The Vespers service included chants in Armenian and thanks from Minassian for the Fresno welcome he received.
His visit to the central San Joaquin Valley was a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for community member Bryan Tellalian. “We’re kind of in a diaspora situation, and so even amongst Armenians, Armenian Catholics are a small group, so it just means a whole lot to us that our patriarch thought of us to come here to Fresno,” Tellalian said. “We’re very grateful, and we feel very blessed.”
There are approximately 800,000 Armenian Catholics throughout the world, the Diocese of Fresno said. Tellalian shared his thanks at the end of the prayer service as a representative for Fresno’s Armenian community. Many are descendants of Armenian genocide survivors. Minassian visited the Armenian Genocide Monument at Fresno State earlier in the day.
Full story at Fresno Bee.
Looking at that pic, they need their own version of Vatican II.
If your comment was serious, what do you mean by that?
Eastern Catholic Churches had bishops at that ecumenical Council and most of its documents apply to all Catholics.
(The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy contains some things that apply only to the Latin Church. One example: “The use of the Latin language, with due respect to particular law, is to be preserved in the Latin rites. … the use of the vernacular… may frequently be of great advantage to the people, a wider use may be made of it, especially in readings, directives and in some prayers and chants…” Sacrosanctum Concilium # 36)
Is it that we Eastern Catholics have different vestments that prompted your remark?
Please let us know. Thank you.