News

His Holiness Aram I inaugurates the 86th Scholastic Year of the Seminary

12 October 2015. The Feast of the Holy Translators, which inaugurates the new school year of the Seminary, celebrates the discovery of the Armenian alphabet in 405, which made it possible to translate the Holy Bible into Armenian.

On Saturday 11 October in the morning Rev Fr. Torkom Donoyan, Dean of the Seminary celebrated the Holy Liturgy, presided over by His Holiness Aram I and with the participation of the newly admitted seminarians.

Metropolitan Hilarion meets with Pope Francis

  On 21 October 2015, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the DECR chairman, met with Pope Francis at the “Domus Sanctae Marthae” hotel in Vatican.

Pope Francis thanked Metropolitan Hilarion for greetings he brought to the 14^th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church and conveyed his best wishes to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

Tourists Flock to Pre-Opening of Archaeological Park of Early Christian Buildings from Roman City Parthicopolis in Bulgaria's Sandanski

 A large number of tourists have visited the soon-to-be-opened Archaeological Park of newly restored Early Christian buildings from the Roman city Parthicopolis in the southwestern Bulgarian town of Sandanski during its Pre-Opening events on October 16-18, 2015.

Christian Population in Iraq in Danger of Being Eradicated in 5 Years

 The Christian population in Iraq is in danger of being extinct in about five years, a recent report from an international Catholic charity organization says.

At present, there are only around 300,000 Christians left in Iraq from over a million in 2002. The Aid to the Church in Need released a new report saying Iraq's Christian population faces extinction in five years, especially after 120,000 of them are being forced to convert to Islam or die, according to Rome Reports.

ISIS Release 50 Assyrians Captured in Qaryatain, Syria

ISIS has released 50 of the 250 Assyrians who were captured in Qaryatain, Syria on August 7. ISIS released 15 Assyrians from this same group of hostages on September 4 after they paid the jizya (Muslim poll tax).

185 Assyrians of Qaryatain remain prisoners of ISIS.

The 50 Assyrians were released on September 12 and arrived safely to the Assyrian villages of Zaidan and Fairozeh.

400-year-old church re-emerges from beneath Mexican reservoir

The relics of a 16th-century church built by Spanish colonisers has emerged from a reservoir in the south of Mexico.

It is the second time the church, usually submerged on the reservoir bed, has been revealed in the state of Chiapas as a result of drought.