On June 25, 2001 in Lviv’s historic Armenian Cathedral, His Holiness Pope John Paul II was given a ceremonial shepherd’s staff by the city’s Armenian community. The meeting and brief prayer service were held just hours after the Pope’s arrival in Lviv.
The Pope had a private 20-minute meeting in the Armenian Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Lviv, where he was greeted by three priests, from Lviv, Odessa and Donetsk, and by Gregory Buniatian, Armenian Apostolic Archbishop of the Ukrainian eparchy. The Pope prayed for a few minutes, sitting on a throne that had been specially prepared for him. The Armenian community presented the Pope with a ceremonial shepherd’s crozier made from a walnut tree in Armenia’s Ararat valley. The staff was a gift of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of all the Armenians (head of the Armenian Apostolic Church), whose words of brotherly love were read at the presentation. The crozier arrived at the church just in time for the Pope’s visit because the parcel had been lost and accidentally ended up in Moscow. The pastor of the parish, Father Thaddeus Heorhian, noted that his parishioners, 100 of whom were gathered to meet the Pope, were overcome with joy and proud that their “big brother in the faith” had come to visit them. On his first day in Lviv the Holy Father visited 3 parishes: one Greek Catholic, one Roman Catholic and one Armenian Apostolic. This symbolically recalled the period before World War II, when there were three Catholic Archdioceses in Lviv, one of each of these particular churches. Today the Armenian community in Lviv numbers about 1500. And the clergy plans to organize a society for friends of the Church who are not of Armenian descent. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Eastern Orthodox Churches, is not in ecclesial communion with Rome. But, as a result of theological dialogues held between the Roman Catholic and Armenian Apostolic Churches in recent years, the two Churches have signed common declarations proclaiming theological agreement on certain key doctrinal issues.