On March 27, 2016, the churches of the Armenian Diocese in Tbilisi, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli region and Batumi solemnly celebrated Easter with participation of many faithful.

A morning service was conducted, the Andastan Service was performed wherein the four corners of the world were blessed, and afterwards the Easter Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the crowded Cathedral of Saint George and Saint Etchmiadzin Church in Tbilisi.

Easter Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Surb Prkich (Saint Savior) Church in Batumi. The celebrant was His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia. The Prime Minister of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara, Archil Khabadze; Batumi Mayor Giorgi Yermakov; Minister of Education, Culture and Sport of Ajara, Giorgi Tavamaishvili; Consul General of Republic of Iran in Batumi, Huseyn Mashadii; RA Consul General in Batumi, Aram Grigoryan, were in attendance to welcome the Diocesan Primate and to participate in the Divine Liturgy.

Following the Holy Mass, the Alexander Mantashev Educational Cultural Youth Center hosted the opening of an exhibition of the paintings by the artist Hrach Sechinyan. The Diocesan Primate opened the exhibition.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili; the Head of the State Agency for Religious Issues, Zaza Vashakmadze; the Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia, Sozar Subari; the Chairman of the City Council, Giorgi Alibegashvili; Georgian MP Ruslan Poghosyan; diplomats from the RA Embassy in Georgia, community officials, culture and education workers, many Armenians were in attendance of the Holy Mass in the Cathedral of Saint George in Tbilisi.

During the Divine Liturgy the celebrant, Rev. Father Samvel Torosyan, read the Message of His Holiness, Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, on the occasion of the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

At the end of the Divine Liturgy, Very Rev. Father Khoren Hovhannisyan, Pastor of Kvemo Kartli region at the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, congratulated the people present on the occasion of the Lord’s Resurrection, and on behalf of the Diocesan Primate he expressed joy for the presence of Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and other state officials. “There are many nations in the world deprived of statehood, but we, Armenians of Georgia, have two. We equally love Armenia and Georgia. We are proud to be Armenians, and we are proud to be citizens of independent Georgia,”- Father Khoren said.

Notably, during Holy Week and on Easter the faithful from the Sister churches (Coptic, Assyrian and Indian Malabar Churches) willingly participated in the Armenian Church services in Tbilisi.

The Divine Liturgy in connection to the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ was conducted in all the churches of the Diocese.