 The ceremony, which created around 1.5 million new saints, was the first canonization by the church in 400 years.Catholicos Karekin II remarked, "The canonization of the martyrs of the genocide brings life-giving new breath, grace and blessing to our national and ecclesiastical life.The blood of the Armenian martyred for Christ has placed the seal of unshakeable faith and patriotism on the sands of the desert".