ITAR-TASS News Agency. May
18, 2003.
By Galina Nekrasova
Supreme Catholicos of all Armenians Garegin II blessed the Assumption Cathedral
in Lvov on Sunday.
He thanked the authorities of Ukraine for the returned Armenian sacred place and said that "brothers and sisters of our religion" would unite around it. "I am confident that the believers will make a contribution to the development of the country they are living in," Garegin II said.
Armenian Parliament Speaker Armen Khachatryan, French singer of the Armenian descent Charles Aznavour with a son, and Russian actor Armen Dzhigarkhanyan attended the ceremony.
The cathedral dating back to the 14th century
is a unique monument of the Armenian and Ukrainian medieval architecture. It
has become a religious center of the Armenians residing in Southeast Europe.
It was in Lvov that Mesrop Mashtots published the first Armenian book.
In the Soviet period the cathedral was turned into a warehouse, and later on
into icon storage. The building was returned to the church only last year.