Armenian Genocide Observance, Easter Sunday Coincide on April 24 for First Time in 150 Years

Contact: Jenny Kiljian, 424-234-8616

LOS ANGELES, April 21, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- As we approach the holiest of days on the Christian calendar, a growing number of world religious leaders have called on people of good conscience throughout the United States to hold a National Day of Prayer on Sunday, April 24 in honor of Easter and in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.

In an April 14 statement, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Conference of European Churches (CEC) called on its member churches to join with Armenians on April 24 in a National Day of Prayer.

"When Christians all over the world celebrate Easter on the same date this year, it will be an historic opportunity for all of us to pay tribute to the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide," said the WCC and CEC. "As the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian people observe the 96th year of the Armenian Genocide, the World Council of Churches and the Conference of Churches in Europe appeal to all member churches to commemorate the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide during their prayers and messages on Easter day 2011."

The full text can be read at the World Council of Churches website.

Armenian American religious leaders issued an appeal last week urging people of all faiths to pray with the Armenian nation on April 24. "As children of the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion, on this Holy Day of Easter, we call upon our Christian brothers and sisters as well as people of all faiths to pray with us for the two million Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Pontians, and Greeks, who fell victim to the Ottoman Empire's World War I-era genocide of its Christian minorities, and for justice and peace to prevail in our world," said the statement, signed by Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian; Archbishop Hovnan Derderian; Very Reverend Father Krikor Chahinian; and Reverend Joseph D. Matossian.

For more information, visit the Facebook page -- Resurrection and Recognition: National Day of Prayer on April 24. Facebook members can "Like" the page and share it with their friends.