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In response to an overture, or letter, from the Regional Synod of Albany, synod delegates on Friday marked the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. Roughly 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1918.

The synod marked the occasion by “expressing our solidarity with the Armenian people, both victims and survivors; and professing our faith in the coming peaceful reign of the Lord Jesus.” Synod also expressed lament through two resolutions:

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Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, whose Spirit is making and will make all things new; and

Joining our voices with those in Scripture who call upon the Lord in lament, protest against injustice, and urge compassion for and solidarity with those who suffer; and

Recalling the violence in Armenia in the year 1915, an act of such horror and magnitude that it rightly deserves to be named as genocide; therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED that the two hundred ninth regular session of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, meeting at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, in the month of June 2015, recalls and laments the Armenian Genocide, the centenary of which we now mark with sorrow for the past and with hope in God’s good future, as we stand in solidarity with the Armenian people, both victims and survivors, and pray for God’s peace to reign upon earth and rule in our hearts.

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BE IT RESOLVED, the two hundred ninth regular General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, meeting at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, in the month of June, 2015, laments and condemns the persecution, kidnapping, and execution of our Christian sisters and brothers at the hands of extremists in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

We prayerfully seek the strengthening of their faith and ours through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and pray for peace so that all believers may worship God without fear of persecution or death. May God’s peace be upon the earth.

Later that day, an ecumenical guest thanked the synod for their action. “Thank you for genocide resolution voted unanimously today,” said Very Rev. Fr. Aren Jebejian of the Eastern diocese of Armenian Church of America. “It means so much that you stand with the worldwide Armenian church.

“I now include all of you as part of our family for the action you took.”