AKHALKALAK, AUGUST 18, NOYAN TAPAN. St Harutyun Church in the village of Bughashen of Akhalkalak Region was reconsicrated by Head of the Georgian Armenian Diocese Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanian. Monk Babken Salbian of Samtskhe-Javakhk and priests Samvel Torosian and Tadevos Ter-Mkrtchian participated in the reconsecration ceremony followed by the celebration of the first liturgy. NT was informed by the press service of the Georgian Armenian Diocese (Tbilisi) that Bughashen was full of guests who had arrived from nearby villages of Akhalkalak and Armenia to attend the reconsecration ceremony. In 1830 residents of the Tandzut and Brnakapan villages in Karno Province moved to Bughashen. During the years of resettlement, a church was built of stone in the village with people's donations. In the 1860s a church parish school opened in Bughashen. The church was damaged by the devastating earthquake in December 1899, but in 1909 he was restored with residents' money and functioned until the 1930s when it was closed and turned into a storehouse, and its priest was exiled. A hundred years after the restoration, the villagers enjoyed the unforgettable ceremony of the church reconsecration. Khachatur Yeghoyan, who was born in Bughashen and currently lives in Russia, had provided money for repairs of the church. In his youth he dreamt of seeing his grandfathers' church repaired and functioning and now the dream of the Yeghoyans has come true. Bishop Mirzakhanian underlined the importance of the Yeghoyans' charitable cause and urged those present to revive the church traditions and rituals which were discontinued in the Soviet time. The ceremony was attended by Chairman of the Akhalkalak Regional Assembly Khachatur Aivazian, Chairman of the Regional Board Nairi Iritsian, deputy of the Georgian parliament Harutyun Hovhannisian, advisor to the Georgian minister of territorial administration Hamlet Movsisian and other officials. The liturgy was followed by the traditional sacrifice blessing ceremony and a celebration.

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