Armenian Apostolic Church canonized 1.5 million new saints!

Tallguy88

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ECHMIADZIN (Armenia) (AFP) - The Armenian Church on Thursday conferred sainthood on some 1.5 million Armenians massacred by Ottoman forces a century ago, as tensions raged over Turkey's refusal to recognise the killings as genocide.

The ceremony, which is believed to be the biggest canonisation service in history, came ahead of commemorations expected to see millions of people including heads of state on Friday mark 100 years since the start of the killings.

Armenian Church makes saints of 1.5 million genocide victims
 

Tallguy88

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Because I'm Catholic. I'm still at work, so haven't had a chance to check and see if there's a similar topic in TVITD:OO yet.

I think it's great that all these martyrs were officially canonized. May they pray for us!
 
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Tigg

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dzheremi

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I'm not sure exactly how you mean that, Red Fox, but just to clarify the Pope of Rome has no authority in the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is a separate church entirely from that of Rome or any Catholic Church, and is part of the Oriental Orthodox communion (which is composed of the Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian Tewahedo, Eritrean Tewahedo, Syriac Orthodox, and Malankara Orthodox churches), which is itself in no way in union with Rome. The Armenian Apostolic Church is currently shepherded by HH Karekin II, Catholicos of all Armenians, headquartered in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

So if Pope Francis recognizes the Armenian genocide victims (and I have seen that he does, thanks be to God), it is separate from the Armenian Apostolic Church's canonization of the same, though of course appreciated in a spirit of Christian love and brotherliness.

(This is why I asked the question I did earlier, by the way; having this thread in the Catholic subforum could lead to misunderstandings that this event somehow involves the Catholic Church on some level beyond sharing in the joy and pain of the Armenians, which is good of course but should not be taken to be evidence of an ecclesiastical bond that is not there.)
 
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Tallguy88

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If I may ask, does the pope usually recognize genocide victims like this?

Hmm. I never heard on a scale like this, but I know other groups of martyrs have been canonized as a group. The victims of the Boxer rebellion, victims of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 16th Century Japan, etc.

As an aside, the Armenian Apostolic Church is not in communion with the Catholic Church. They have their own Pope and reject most of the Ecumenical Councils after a certain point. But they are still our brothers and sisters in Christ and we rejoice that they have these Saints to pray for them.

Also, Pope Francis made Turkey mad by referring to the Armenian genocide as a "genocide" So he's not afraid to denounce genocide even if it is not politically convenient (unlike the White House which refuses to recognize the genocide for fear of upsetting Turkey)
 
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Red Fox

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Hmm. I never heard on a scale like this, but I know other groups of martyrs have been canonized as a group. The victims of the Boxer rebellion, victims of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 16th Century Japan, etc.

As an aside, the Armenian Apostolic Church is not in communion with the Catholic Church. They have their own Pope and reject most of the Ecumenical Councils after a certain point. But they are still our brothers and sisters in Christ and we rejoice that they have these Saints to pray for them.

Also, Pope Francis made Turkey mad by referring to the Armenian genocide as a "genocide" So he's not afraid to denounce genocide even if it is not politically convenient (unlike the White House which refuses to recognize the genocide for fear of upsetting Turkey)

Thank you for answering my question. For the sake of not derailing your thread, I posted my next questions to you on your profile. Thank you again.
 
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Tallguy88

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Thank you for answering my question. For the sake of not derailing your thread, I posted my next questions to you on your profile. Thank you again.

I couldn't post on your wall for some reason, so I posted on my own.
 
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Sword of the Lord

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I couldn't post on your wall for some reason, so I posted on my own.

Ditto Red Fox. You have messaged me a couple times but I can't reply. Do you have visitor messages turned off?
 
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