THE 1500th ANNIVERSARY OF VARDANANTSBY an Encyclical issued last year, His Holiness Georg VI, the Head (Katholikos) of our Church in Echmiadzin, ordered all Armenian communities, wherever they are, to celebrate the 1500th Anniversary of the Battle of Vardanants, who in the year 451 fought the Persians, and laid down their lives for defending the independence of their Country, and the liberty of their Church and religious worship.
According to our Church calendar, the anniversary fell on the first of February last, on which day solemn services were held wherever there is an Armenian church, sermons were preached explaining the heroic conduct of Prince Vardan Mamikonian and his followers, and appropriate hymns and sharakans, written by our Church Fathers and poets in the Middle Ages, in honour of Vardanants, were sung or recited. But the national-political celebration of this great festival will be continued throughout the year 1951. We are here to honour the memory of Prince Vardan and his 1035 followers, who fell heroically together on the battlefield.
