Beirut, Lebanon

On Sunday, the 27th of January, 2008 at 10:30 am, Father Vartan Kazandjian celebrated the Divine Lithurgy in Our Lady of Annunciation Church in Geitawi.
At 12:00 noon, Father Vartan lead all the believers of the Annuciation Parish to Mesrobian School, to a pilgrimage at Saint Mesrob Mashdot’s monument. All the Armenian Catholic youth associations including the parental council and the Krikor Loussavoritch Scouts group as wells as Armenian Catholic “Cilicia” choir were present.
This gathering started by the unanimous saying of the Lord’s Prayer, after which the parish priest of Our Lady of Annunciation Church, Father Vartan Kazandjian read a prayer from the Dawn’s Divine Service.
After the prayer Father Cartan said their parish is a little flock thathas  come to present  respect to St. Mesrob.
The day coincided with the first anniversary of Hrant Dink’s martyrdom. Father Vartan told the believers, ”We talk Armenian and we educate our children in Armenian.  Let it be a tradition and let all the pligrims who visit this sanctuary (holy place) perform this. Let them touch the Holy Bible found in St. Mesrob’s hands, take their hands to their lips and kiss. Let the Armenian language be a language of peace, songs and love.”
At the end of the gathering the Cilicia choir performed the “Cilicia” song. While the choir was singing; each representative of each association placed a bouquet of flowers at the monument. And with a minute of silence, all of the pilgrims paid their respect to the immortal memory of St. Mesrob.