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Under the presidency of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, a Prayer of Thanks and Blessing of Pomegranates service will be offered for the New Year.

The service will be offered at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and other Armenian churches at midnight on December 31.

The authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic have donated pomegranates to the Mother Cathedral for the Blessing of Pomegranates, the press service of the Armenian Apostolic Church reported.

In Christian symoblism, the pomegranate represents the blood shed by Jesus Christ, also symbolizing the Lord’s Glorious Resurrection and the diversity of God’s graces. And in interpretations by priests of the Armenian Church, the pomegranate also depicts that like the pomegranate seeds, the Church members are numerous and various, but are covered with a solid outer layer, being united into one Church. For this reason, the pomegranate is widely used in the ornamtentation of the church architecture, arts and miniatures.

The faithful are encouraged to participate in the Prayer of Thanks and Pomegranate Blessing service.