Easter at St. Vartan Cathedral: ‘God Will Remove the Stone’

Bishop Mesrop began his sermon with the story of the first Easter Sunday morning, when three faithful women, followers of Jesus, traveled to His tomb. Consumed with grief and pain over Christ’s death, they contemplated who would remove the enormous stone blocking the tomb’s entrance. But when the women arrived to anoint Jesus’ body, they found the heavy sealing stone rolled aside, and the tomb empty — an event described in the Gospels accounts of Christ’s resurrection.

“The Easter message is clear,” Bishop Mesrop said. “The resurrection power of our Lord Jesus Christ is still at work today, and can remove any stone blocking the entrance of your heart. The only condition is that you have to walk towards God — like those faithful women did.”

The Primate expounded his theme by recounting a recent personal experience, when he felt a tremendous burden “blocking his path.” It came when he was first contemplating the financial challenge of repairing the damage that time and the elements had inflicted on St. Vartan Cathedral.

“About two years ago, we learned that the cathedral roof was leaking and in urgent need of repair,” he recalled. “At that moment, I felt like a huge stone was blocking our path to move forward. I worried about how we were going to ‘move that stone,’ to raise the considerable amount of funding needed to restore our cathedral.”

After taking a brief, contemplative pause to reflect, Bishop Mesrop revealed to the faithful what gradually became clear to him. “When you take the first step, God takes the second step. When you move, Heaven moves with you,” he said. “Little by little, step by step, we raised the funds. And today, I stand here and say that the dome of our St. Vartan Cathedral is renovated and stronger than before. The golden cross atop it is shining and proclaims to the world the resilience and faith of the Armenian people, despite the Genocide and persecution we have endured.”

Bishop Mesrop concluded by reassuring the faithful over the various “stones” that may be blocking their path—whether these involve burdens of health, financial or relationship issues, fear, despair, or any discouragement telling you to give up. “Do not believe those lies,” he said.

Release of Doves on the Plaza

At the conclusion of the service, a procession of clergy and the faithful exited the cathedral to gather outside on the plaza for the “Release of Doves” ceremony, symbolizing Christ’s sending out his apostles into the world to preach the gospel. The special ceremony is a beloved, decades-long Easter tradition at St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral.

The godparents of this year’s ceremony were Richard and Dawn Papalian, parishioners of St. Gregory the Enlightener Church in White Plains, NY. As chairman of the Diocesan Council, Mr. Papalian’s leadership and dedication to the Cathedral Restoration Project made his participation in the Cathedral Easter Sunday service particularly significant.

The Easter Sunday service marked two of the Armenian Church’s days of note: the culmination of Holy Week, the sacred commemoration of the events leading to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as the beginning of Eastertide, the 50-day period known as Heenoonk in Armenian, that lasts from Easter to Pentecost.

Holy Week services took place at the cathedral in the days prior to Easter Sunday, with Bishop Mesrop presiding over the Holy Thursday “Vodunluva” (Washing of Feet) ceremony.

As in previous years, the viewing audience for St. Vartan Cathedral’s Easter Sunday liturgy included thousands of people from across the Diocese and around the world, sharing in the service as it was broadcast over the Internet. The small, dedicated production team included Yervant Keshishian, who directed the program, producer and cameraman Mano Baghjajian, and host and narrator Christopher Zakian.