His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, will serve as the Guest Chaplain in the United States Senate.

In solemn remembrance and observance of the centennial year of the Armenian Genocide, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) invited His Holiness Aram I to offer the morning prayer and meet with members of the Senate community.

As the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Reed is a champion of Rhode Island’s Armenian community and an advocate for economic aid and military assistance to Armenia. Senator Reed has travelled to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and been a steadfast supporter for full and formal U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian Apostolic Church is one of the oldest Christian communities.

His Holiness Aram I is the head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and was elected Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church in 1995. Ordained a priest in 1968, Aram Keshishian was named locum tenens of the diocese of Lebanon in 1978 and Primate in 1979, and was ordained as a bishop in 1980. He received his PhD from Fordham University in New York and resides in Antelias, Lebanon.

The morning prayer will be televised live on C-SPAN2 and will be included in the Congressional Record.