Following the annual Divine Liturgy at the Holy Cross Church on Akhtamar Island in Lake Van, Archbishop Sahak Mashalian, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, said that this year they offered a special prayer for the restoration of Armenia-Turkey relations.
“This year in particular, we prayed for world peace and the brotherhood of humanity. We prayed for Turkey-Armenia relations to improve and normalize further. Because the peoples living in these lands deserve peace. That is why we ask God for mercy. May this peace come to these lands and peoples. May we all together turn this world into the beautiful table God has prepared for us,” he said, Ermenihaber reports.
The Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Armenian Patriarch Sahak Mashalian of Constantinople and Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan, Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church in the U.S. It lasted two hours.
Armenians who had arrived from Turkey, Armenia, the U.S., European countries and Iran attended the service.
