The Consecration of the Diocesan Cathedral

BURBANK — His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, visited the Western Diocese in order to conduct the consecrationof the Diocesan Cathedral on September 10-12.
Thousands gathered both Saturday and Sunday to watch the Catholicos consecrate St. Leon Cathedral of the Western Diocese and dedicate a traditional cross stone in memory of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“We greet you with a joyous spirit, and with words of praise and song from the hymn, we offer our appeal to heaven, so that this holy sanctuary, crowned with the all-sustaining divine cross, which became for us salvation and a sign of victory, brings new light to the spiritual vibrancy and strength of the national life of our son and daughters in America,” he told congregants.
Religious leaders representing various faiths, and state and local officials attended the long-awaited ceremony and official opening.
On Sunday, September 12, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross the Pontifical Divine Liturgy took place in the newly consecrated Cathedral, and His Holiness offered his spiritual message to the faithful.