Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

The blessing of the grapes in honor of the Mother of God

Etchmiadzin (Armenia)

En Etchmiadzin (Vagharshapat), the seat of the Catholic of all Armenians, beats the spiritual heart of the Armenian Apostolic Church, one of the oldest in the world. The great cathedral is dedicated mainly to Christ, by the vision of Saint Gregory the Illuminator; but in the complex and throughout the country the churches consecrated to the Holy Mother of God, Death Astvatsatsinin a very old cult.

Unlike Kazan or Šiluva, in Eschmiadzin there is no concrete Marian account of apparition; the great foundational account is Christological. Armenian tradition maintains that the apostles Tadeo and Bartolomé evangelized Armenia and encouraged the veneration of Mary, although the details of that earlier devotion no constan with documentary precision. Where the Armenian Marian piety becomes more visible and affectionate is in a very simple feast and gesture.

The great Marian solemnity is the Sleep of the Mother of God, held on the nearest Sunday to August 15. On that day, in all the churches and especially in Eschmiadzin, the the blessing of the grapes, primicia de la vendimia. La interpretación es bellísima: como Cristo, fruto de las entrañas de María, es la «primicia» de la nueva creación, el primer racimo de la cosecha se ofrece a Dios por medio de la Madre. Esta celebración, en su forma actual, está bien documentada.

Each year, the Catholicos presides over a grand procession in Etchmiadzin with grapes and a solemn blessing, which is attended by the faithful from all over the country and the diaspora. It is widely documented that families keep blessed bunches of grapes at home as a sign of the Mother of God's protection over their households, and share them with the sick and those who are away. The Latin Rosary is not traditionally prayed in the Armenian Apostolic Church—though litanies, hymns, and the Akathist prayer are used; the Rosary is primarily practiced among Armenian Catholics, and there is no evidence of a particular connection between Etchmiadzin and this devotion.