The first Divine Liturgy was held in the Armenian Genocide Martyrs Memorial Church in Deir-ez-Zor after a hiatus that lasted more than ten years due to the destruction of the church at the hands of terrorist organizations, SANA reports.
The Mass was carried out by the Armenian Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Aleppo and its Dependencies, Masis Zoboyan, with the participation of his deputy, Levon Yeghayan, Archbishop of the Diocese of Al-Jazeera and the Euphrates, and a number of fathers and priests of various Christian denominations, in the presence of official and people of Deir-ez-Zor.
Deir ez-Zor Governor Fadel Najjar referred in his speech to the spirit of love and friendship that unites the Syrian and Armenian peoples, pointing to the crimes of the Ottomans against the Armenian people.
The construction of the Martyrs’ Memorial started in December 1989 and was completed in November 1990. It was consecrated on 4 May 1991.
On 21 September 2014, the memorial complex was blown up by the Islamic State. Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, condemned the destruction of the Armenian Church in Syria. According to the Catholicos, it was a specifically planned crime aimed against the Church that was dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide as well as against the museum affiliated with the church.
The Church was liberated by the Syrian Arab Army in November 2017 after years of occupation by Islamic State forces.
