The Patriarch's message to the Armenian Catholic Community members During His Pastoral Visit to Melbourne On the occasion of 1700th anniversary of the baptism of the Armenian Nation 301-2001

My dear people of God, A great joy overwhelms me today as I offer this spiritually enriching, holy Ceremony with you in Melbourne's Mother Cathedral.

It is a great moment for me to meet you and to speak to you on the splendid, momentous and propitious occasion of the seventeenth Hundred Years' Jubilee.

This is a time of wonder and joy for all Armenians as we celebrate through the whole year 2001 the conversion of our nation to Christianity.

We recall the Apostolate of St Gregory the Illuminator in Armenia and the exceptional role of the King Tiridates, together with St Gregory in founding, spreading and multiplying the Christian faith amongst our people. These two people, Gregory and Tiridates, the cleric and the layman, are excellent examples of co-operation. Their co-operation has a lesson for us. Just as both arms are indispensable for a human to function properly, the layperson's arm is indispensable when it joins the cleric's arm so as to bring to success all works. Therefore do not refuse to bring your contribution of the laity. The Church needs your arm! Please do not hesitate to offer your time to ecclesial, national and pastoral work, to work always with solidarity and without human considerations, to search only for the glory of God and the good of the nation, as did Gregory and Tiridates in their fine example of co-operation.

The first Christian nation to accept Christianity is the Armenian Nation. This rightly fills us with pride. But this privilege places a responsibility on our shoulders. Because he who is given more; more will be asked of him, we read in the Gospels.

Amongst the nations we were the first to be chosen by God to spread the Light of his Gospel, the saving light of faith that was transmitted to us by St Gregory. This is why he has been called the `Illuminator' of Armenians.

Certainly, the Gospel is a light that dispels the darkness of lies and of falsehood and grants peace to humankind.

Above all else, therefore, we lift our prayers of thanksgiving to our Heavenly father, who in his infinite goodness, it has pleased him to grant the Saving Light of the Gospel to our nation before many other nations.

Life.

But is it enough for us be merely proud of the accomplishments of our ancestors, no matter how glorious they were? Surely! We owe it to ourselves to bring our personal commitment to the evangelisation they began. The work of evangelisation over the last seventeenth hundred years has not finished. Evangelisation will not finish so long as there are wrong teachings and wrong ideas on this earth. This Jubilee should be for every Armenian a time of spiritual renewal. This renewal should be apparent on the life of his faith, in his daily life, in his behaviour and in his family. This conversion of faith in the spirit and understanding of Avarair means we can say `No' to today's dictators who want to distance the Armenian from God, from religion, from morals and from holy principles. Therefore we should constantly renew the oil of our consecration in the Lantern of the Illuminator. This will mean the lantern of the faith of St Gregory will never be extinguished. It will forever shine in Armenia, in the Diaspora and especially in Melbourne so that the Light, Peace, Hope and Love of Christ will diffuse in all Armenian hearts.

The 1700 years' Jubilee must become the Lighthouse for each Armenian person and family. In this Light the Armenian and his family can walk safely along the path of the ancestors and one day, like them and with them, inherit the enjoyment of paradise.

Glory to St Gregory the Illuminator Glory to the Armenian Christian people And Glory in a special way to those who keep the Lantern of St Gregory.

Nerses Bedros XIX Catholicos-Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholics