PRESS RELEASE
Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Armenia in Bari
The Divine Liturgy According to the Armenian Rite to be Celebrated in Bari on 22 March 2026
Father Aram Tilikyan from Barcelona will preside over the celebration at the Church of San Gregorio; a visit to the Basilica of San Nicola will follow
The Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Armenia in Bari is pleased to announce that on Sunday, 22 March 2026, at 10:00 a.m., the Divine Liturgy according to the rite of the Armenian Apostolic Church will be solemnly celebrated at the Church of San Gregorio, an architectural gem nestled in the heart of the historic centre of Bari’s Old City.
The liturgy will be presided over by Father Aram Tilikyan, parish priest of the Armenian Apostolic Community of Barcelona and Catalonia. Father Tilikyan will travel to Bari accompanied by a group of pilgrim faithful from Catalonia, bearing witness to the living bond that unites the Armenian communities of the diaspora with the holy sites of the Christian tradition, among them Bari.
At the conclusion of the liturgical celebration, the community will gather in prayer at the Basilica of San Nicola to venerate the relics of Saint Nicholas of Myra, in a gesture of profound spiritual communion between East and West.
Institutional Context and Coordination
This event is the fruit of the close and fruitful collaboration between the Patriarchal Legation of the Armenian Church in Western Europe and the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Armenia in Bari. The Consulate takes this opportunity to express its most heartfelt gratitude to the Dominican Fathers of the Pontifical Basilica of San Nicola — with special thanks to Rev. Father Giovanni Distante
O.P. and Father Savino Somma O.P. — for the generous availability they have shown and for the warm welcome with which they will receive the pilgrims.
The Annual Armenian Pilgrimage in Italy
The celebration in Bari represents the second of the two liturgical stages that mark the annual pilgrimage of the Armenian nation in Italy. The day before, on Saturday, 21 March, the pilgrims will take part in the Divine Liturgy at the venerable Church of San Gregorio Armeno in Naples — one of the oldest and most significant Armenian places of worship on the Italian peninsula, which jealously preserves the skull of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, apostle and evangeliser of Armenia. That ceremony will be presided over by His Most Reverend Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Representative of the Armenian Apostolic Church to the Holy See and Patriarchal Legate for Western Europe, a leading figure in international ecumenical dialogue.
A Moment of Encounter in the Sign of Shared Faith
The celebration in Bari is not merely a liturgical appointment: it is the living and tangible reflection of the profound historical and spiritual ties that have, for centuries, united the Armenian Christian tradition with Southern Italy. Bari, a city open to the Mediterranean and long a crossroads of cultures, peoples, and faiths, has throughout the centuries embodied the role of a natural bridge between Eastern and Western Christianity. This event powerfully reaffirms its vocation as a privileged place of encounter, dialogue, and shared devotion, where the richness of Christian plurality finds its most authentic and moving expression.
The Armenian community in Italy, the faithful of every denomination, and the general public are warmly invited to take part in this extraordinary moment of prayer and fraternity.
Altri Eventi
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