Sunday, June 26, 2016

At prayer in the Monastery

At 5:00pm this afternoon, the Holy Father, Pope Francis and His Holiness, the Catholicos Karekin II visited the Monastery of Khor Virap, one of the sacred places of the Armenian Church, only feet from Mount Ararat.


Welcomed by the Superior of the Monastery, the Pope and the Catholicos were led in procession to the Well Room, where Saint Gregory the Illuminator lived, imprisoned for 13 years.  They lit a candle in that room and carried it to the nearby Chapel, where they alternated in offering a prayer in Armenian and in Italian, and then exchanged parting words.  The Our Father was recited in choir style by all those who were in attendance - each person speaking in his own language - and the Holy Father imparted the final blessing.

Pope Francis and His Holiness, Karekin II then left the chapel in procession and from the lookout terrace, they released two doves toward Mount Ararat as a prayer for peace.


Finally, the Holy Father and the Catholicos then traveled by car to the Yerevan airport for the departure ceremony and the departure of the Pope's aircraft for the return flight to Rome.

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