At the concert, which will take place at 9:00 p.m. on Friday, October 30, at the Holy Trinity (Üç Horan) Church in Beyoğlu, the Lusavorich Choir, conducted by Hagop Mamigonyan, a graduate of the Melkonyan School, will perform songs in Armenian. Rober Doğanay will accompany the choir on piano.
On Sunday, November 1, at 10:00 a.m., a church service will be held at the Holy Trinity Church, presided over by Sahak Maşalyan, the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey. Senior Archpriest Harutyun Damadyan will officiate at the service, with Senior Priest Kevork Çınaryan in attendance.
During the service, Marten Çulhacı and Tatyos Şant Karapekmez will be ordained to the rank of subdeacon (gisasargavak), while Sercan Gazeroğlu will be blessed and elevated to the rank of senior acolyte (uraragir tbir). The founders of the Melkonyan School, brothers Krikor and Garabed Melkonyan, will be commemorated with prayers for the rest of their souls.
The concert and church service are expected to bring together graduates of the Melkonyan School living in Turkey and various other countries.
About the Melkonyan School
The school was founded in 1926 in Nicosia, Cyprus, by the Melkonyan brothers. It served Armenian students from approximately 40 countries. The school’s first principal was Zaven Der Yeğyayan I, the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople.
The school undertook the difficult task of gathering and caring for more than 300 orphaned Armenian children, both boys and girls, among the thousands left without families across the plains of Eastern Anatolia and in neighboring countries as a result of the Armenian Genocide.
The school suffered extensive damage during the 1974 Cyprus military operation. It was closed in 2005.
