Celebrating The Feast Of St. Sargis — The Saint Protector Of Youth And Sweethearts

By the order of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, the Feast of St. Sargis-the Captain and his soldiers-companions is proclaimed Day of Youth Blessing.
Captain St. Sargis is one of the most beloved Saints of Armenians. Together with his 14 soldiers-companions he was martyred for the sake of Christian faith.
According to one of the folk stories, upon return of their victorious battle, Captain St. Sargis and his 39 soldiers-companions celebrated their victory in the royal palace, when all of them were drunk and went to sleep, the king ordered 40 young women to kill the brave soldiers. 39 of the women obeyed the order and killed the soldiers, whereas one of them seeing the handsome and peaceful face of sleeping Sargis fell in love with him and instead of killing kissed him. Getting up and seeing what had happened St. Sargis straddled his white horse and taking the young woman with him smashed the gates of the city, brought up violent snow-storm and left the city. It is because of this folk story that people in love started to consider St. Sargis their intercessor and protector. St. Sargis always helps and supports all young people asking his help and support.
This year the St. Sargis Day was on February 4 and the beneficiaries of the Day Center for People Living with HIV (PLHIV) and Injective Drug Users (IDUs) of the Araratyan Pontifical Diocese organized a beautiful day with the support of the Center’s staff to celebrate the holiday. The Center has been established in the framework of ART “HIV Prevention, Care and Support to People Living with HIV in Armenia” project.
During the feast, about 60 beneficiaries had the pleasure to participate in the event, 40 of whom are people living with HIV, 7 drug users and 20 children, 2 with HIV infection.
The event started with preaching of Fr. Grigor Grigoryan, the Director of the Center. He spoke about the Feast and love which was followed by a warm discussion. Participants made a beautiful ceremony of candle lighting and writing their wishes on a wish tree.
The day was full of surprises and joy. The beneficiaries held both singing and dancing competition, and the winners received presents from the priest. It was a big fun for everyone, which was continued around the table full of different cookies. Archbishop Yeznik Petrossian, the Chairman of Armenia Bible Society on behalf of the Society presented Bibles and calendars to children.
The Center for PLHIV and IDUs started its operations in 2009 and provided services to around 220 people countrywide, such as provision of pastoral care and support, social and psychological support and assistance through Bible study classes, peer-to-peer counseling, self help groups, home visits, individual approach, etc. Also, the Day Center provides the beneficiaries a unique opportunity to have a place where they can have good and useful time, socialize, organize self-help groups or other activities, get psychological support or peer support from each other, share with their own experience and much more.
Being tailor-made to address beneficiaries’ needs, the Day Center also covers the work with Injective Drug Users both in terms of HIV prevention among high-risk population and provision of social assistance and pastoral counseling and care to Injective Drug Users being on methadone replacement therapy. The Center also enables People Living with HIV to become self-confident members of their communities, by actively involving them in the parish life and educating community population on the issues of HIV. The project strived for a synergy among all the HIV-related activities on a national scope, to enable all the dioceses and churches in the country to perform the same activities in the daily church life and on special events, such as December 01 and candlelight day, which in their turn raise the public awareness on HIV and the commitment of church in combating stigma and discrimination towards PLHIV. The priests also apply well-coordinated efforts in reduction of stigma and discrimination in the families, schools, kindergartens and employment places the targeted PLHIV are usually exposed to discrimination and social exclusion.
Alongside with the everyday services of the Center, which include provision of pastoral care and support, including bible study classes for adults and children; individual pastoral counseling; organization of pilgrimages; psychological assistance; individual peer counseling to IDUs family members; including provision of peer counseling and follow-up treatment adherence, social assistance, such as provision of meal packages; providing care to HIV positive pregnant women throughout the whole period of pregnancy and during a beneficiary’s hospital stay; spiritual, cultural, psychological and overall educational development provision for HIV affected children. Besides the everyday activities, the staff supports and facilitates celebration of different feasts, birthdays, pilgrimages, competitions thus providing a unique chance to the beneficiaries to forget about their problems, recall their best times and realize once more that despite all the difficulties life is going on and they are not alone.
According to statistics the estimated number of People Living with HIV in the country is about 2500 (around 0.08% of population of RA). Around 1153 HIV cases have been registered during the period of 1988-2012 with 182 new cases of HIV infection in 2011. The majority of the cases are males (813), females make up 340 cases. The reported cases include 22 cases of HIV infection among children.