On December 7, 2014 the leader of the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia, His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan conducted the Sunday Divine Liturgy in St. Echmiadzin church.The sacred ceremony was attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiaryof RA to Georgia, Mr. Yuri Vardanyan and his wife, the member of the Georgian Parliament, Mr. Ruslan Vardanyan, the representatives of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia and civil society members.

During the Divine Liturgy, the officiating priest Narek Ghushchyan preached about the importance of Christian values and about putting them into practice correctly and knowingly.

At the end of the Divine Liturgy, a requiem was performed by the leader of the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia, His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, for the peace of souls of the victims of 1988 December 7th disastrous earthquake in the northern region of the Armenian Republic and the crew members of the helicopter shot down in Artsakh.The leader of the Diocese called the earthquake a trial of God, which the Armenian nation has had to face during the severe days of Artsakh war. The series of disastrous earth tremors took more than 25 thousands of lives within seconds.Also, His Grace prayed for the soldiers, killed by the enemies on Artsakh border and for the crew members of the helicopter shot down in Artsakh. One of them was the cousin of Angelina Nazaryan-Kocharyan, the head of “Ani” ensemble.

His Grace Bishop Vazgen refered to the response and the assistance provided by the different countries to the Armenian nation, which got into trouble. He appreciated the help, received from the Christian neighbor country of Georgia and Georgian nation, and mentioned that Armenians always remember that provided assistance with gratitude.

Time heals all wounds, but the Armenian person continues to pray for the peace of souls of the victims and lights a candles in their memory.

In all the churches of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia a requiem was performed in the memory of the earthquake victims and the candles were lighted for the peace of their souls.