On Friday, June 6, 2025, at the invitation of His Eminence Mor Dionysius John Kawak, and in the presence of His Grace Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan, Primate of Armenian Apostolic Church for the Eastern Diocese (United States) and His Grace Bishop Ashot Mnatsakanyan, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Egypt (Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Africa), along with the Syriac Orthodox clergy and the faithful of the New Jersey parishes gathered at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Paramus, NJ to pray and commemorate our Syriac martyrs of the 1915 (SAYFO) genocide.
The evening began with evening prayers, followed by an introductory message delivered by His Eminence Mor Dionysius John Kawak about the importance of remembering SAYFO, praying for the martyrs, and talking to our families about the genocides of our Christian communities so that it doesn’t happen again.
At the invitation of His Eminence Mor Dionysius John Kawak and the Archdiocesan Education Committee, His Grace Bishop Mesrop, of the Armenian Apostolic Church presented a paper titled “1915 Genocide: Martyrs for Christ”, followed by Mr. Richard Ghazal, Executive Director of In Defense of Christians who spoke about “1915 Sayfo & Christian Persecution Today”. Following both presentations, Rev. Fr. Joseph Shammas moderated a discussion with the panelists and faithful regarding the two presentations.
The evening concluded by offering prayers in front of the Sayfo Memorial, and fellowship in the Mor Aphrem Center social hall.
The evening’s events emphasized the importance of unity amongst the Syriac people and the longstanding effects of a genocide against all Christian communities in our homelands that occurred 110 years ago.
