Press Release

Church adds Armenian Genocide Memorial Day to its calendar

Prayers to remember Armenians

April 5 2013

Victims of the first major genocide of the last century will be remembered in churches across Wales this month.

An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were systematically exterminated during World War I in what was then Ottoman Turkey. Now, nearly 100 years later, the Church in Wales is officially recognising April 24 as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day by including it in its church calendar.

To mark the recognition, the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, will take part in a special service of prayer at Cardiff’s Temple of Peace on April 22 with Bishop Vahan Hovhanissian, the Armenian Primate of Britain and Ireland. Representatives of the Embassy of the Armenian Republic will also be at the service during which 98 candles will be lit, to mark the 98th year of the genocide.

April 24 1915 was the date on which leading Armenian community leaders, journalists, authors, poets and churchmen in Istanbul were arrested by the authorities and deported to a death camp from which only a handful escaped with their lives. It is the day on which Armenians throughout the world remember the victims of the Genocide.

The Church in Wales, through Archbishop Barry, played a significant role in ensuring that a public memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide was placed in the garden of the Temple of Peace in Cardiff in 2007.

One of the speakers at the dedication of the memorial was Canon Patrick Thomas. He has a deep interest in Armenian culture, history and spirituality and has visited the Republic of Armenia five times since 2005. He is the author of From Carmarthen to Karabagh: a Welsh Discovery of Armenia. It was following his request that the Church in Wales officially recognised April 24th as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day.

Canon Thomas, who is Chancellor of St Davids Cathedral and Vicar of Christ Church, Carmarthen, said, “Honouring the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide is a very significant step by the Church in Wales. Whenever the horrific crime of genocide is denied or ignored it increases the possibility of future genocides. Both Armenia and Wales are ancient countries whose history has been shaped by the Christian faith. Adding Armenian Genocide Memorial Day to our church calendar will also strengthen the growing friendship between the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church and the Church in Wales.”

Canon Thomas has composed a prayer in both English and Welsh that can be used in Welsh churches on that day. It will be said for the first time at the service at the Temple of Peace on April 22. The service, organised by Cardiff Mission Parish, will begin at 4.30pm.

The prayer is as follows:

Almighty God,
whose light revealed in Christ can never be extinguished by the darkness of human actions,
we remember before you today the Armenian victims of genocide;
grant that the memory of their suffering may lead all peoples
to work together for a world set free from prejudice and hatred,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.