‘Armenian Church in Milan was unusually crowded on Christmas Day’: Rev. Fr. Nerses Harutyunyan

Alpha News spoke with the spiritual pastor of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Italy, Rev. Fr. Nerses Harutyunyan, about the Christmas ceremony and how Armenians celebrate the holiday in Italy.

“Catholics celebrate Christmas on December 25; we, the parishioners of the Armenian Apostolic Church, celebrate it on January 6. But January 6 is also a holiday for the Catholic Church, it is called Epiphany. In other words, Catholics celebrate Christmas on one day and Epiphany on another. We celebrate both on January 6. In this sense, a festive atmosphere reigns throughout Italy, where we, Armenians, celebrated Christmas. This year it was celebrated on a grand scale.

The church was unusually crowded. After the Christmas liturgies, as well as the Candlelight liturgy, we had the opportunity to gather around the dinner table, talk, and discuss the past and the coming years,” Fr. Nerses Harutyunyan said.

He also noted that the parish does everything possible to ensure that children of the local Armenian community grow up in an Armenian environment.

“Of course, there are problems in the Diasporas. We have Armenians who have lived here for a long time and those who emigrated from Armenia in recent years. But they are all united by the same faith, the same belonging. We have problems, especially related to children; we try to raise them in an Armenian environment, in terms of culture and language. That is why at least once a week we organize lessons in both Western and Eastern Armenian languages,” Fr. Nerses Harutyunyan added.