24.04.2015
Armenians in Ireland Mark 100th Anniversary of Genocide This Weekend
This coming weekend, April 24 to 26, the Armenian Church in Ireland will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian community here gathers in Taney Parish (Dundrum) and a Remembrance Service will take place there on Sunday afternoon.
The weekend of commemoration will begin on Friday April 24 with a photographic exhibition in Christ Church, Dun Laoghaire, from 12.30 pm until 6.30 pm. At 7.30 pm there will be a silent vigil at Dun Laoghaire Pier which will include the release of 100 Chinese lanterns representing 100 years of the unrecognised genocide.
Each year the Armenian Church and nation has a special day of prayer to remember the 1.5 million Armenians who were killed by the Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1923. It is a National Remembrance day for all Armenians worldwide. The 100th anniversary Remembrance Service will take place in Taney Parish on Sunday April 26 at 3.00 pm. It will be attended by Church leaders and Archbishop Michael Jackson will give the address. In November a Genocide Memorial will be erected in Christ Church Cathedral.
The history of the Armenian Church is almost as old as Christianity itself as according to tradition, two apostles of Jesus, St Thaddeus and St Bartholomew brought the Gospel to Armenia during the second half of the first century.
The Mother See of the Armenian Orthodox Church is based at Etchmiadzin in Armenia. In Ireland there is only one parish. It is based in Dublin and was set up in March 2011. The Dublin Parish is tied to the Armenian Apostolic Church in UK under the supervision of the Primate of the Armenian Church based in London. The Dublin Parish meets and holds parish community activities in Taney Parish (Church of Ireland) in Dundrum.
The majority of those Armenians living in Ireland carry a family history of the Armenian Genocide. Further information is available at www.armenians.ie.