LRAPER Church Bulletin
Contact: Deacon Vagarsag Seropyan
Armenian Patriarchate
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Istanbul
T: +90 (212) 517-0970
F: +90 (212) 516-4833
patriarchate@post.com

THE PATRIARCH PRESIDES OVER THE SPIRITUAL COUNCIL

The Patriarchal Spiritual Council in Istanbul convened on 24 June 2005, at
10:00 hours, with His Beatitude Mesrob II, Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul
and All Turkey, presiding. His Grace Bishop Aram Ateshian chaired the
meeting.

The Fathers of the Holy Council acknowledged receipt of the minutes of the
annual plenary conventions held by the church choir associations of the
Armenian parishes of Samatya, Uskudar, Narlikapi, Besiktas, Ferikoy,
Yesilkoy, Kurucesme, Beyoglu, Taksim, Bakirkoy, Kumkapi, Kadikoy, Gedikpasa,
Buyukdere, Princes’ Islands, Boyacikoy and Galata districts and approved
their 2004 budget reports.

Concerning the case of the Revd. Fr. Varujan Terterian, the pastor of St.
John the Baptist Armenian Church of Crete, who has been divorced from his
wife by the civil court in Etchmiadzin, Armenia, the Fathers of the Holy
Council, in the light of the Holy Scriptures (1 Timothy 3:4-5, 7, 12) and
considering socio-ecclesial concerns, decided to free him of his pastoral
position in Crete, returning him to the jurisdiction of the Mother See of
Holy Etchmiadzin where he had been ordained as a married priest in 1996.

The Fathers of the Holy Council decided to request from His Beatitude the
Patriarch to set up a new commission to investigate the condition of the
cemeteries that belong to Armenian church parishes in the suburbs of the
metropolis of Istanbul. The state of the Armenian cemetery in Halicioglu
(Haskoy) was also discussed, expressing the need for a chapel in that
district, since St. Stephen’s Armenian Church of the Haskoy Parish and the
Holy Mother-of-God Chapel of the Kalfayan Sisters were confiscated and
demolished by the civic authorities in 1972 in order to build the intercity
road leading to the Bosphorus Bridge.

His Beatitude the Patriarch asked the Holy Council to prepare a plenary
meeting of the Brotherhood of the Patriarchal See and the married clergymen
in order to discuss certain liturgical practices that need to be addressed.

The Patriarch further instructed that a circular letter be sent to the
church choirs under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Patriarchal See,
directing them not to omit the word `holy’ in the reference to the Holy
Church of Christ while the Nicene Creed is sung whilst the Hours, the
Sacraments or the Divine Liturgy is offered. The Patriarch reminded the Holy
Council that one of the four attributes of the One, Apostolic, Catholic and
Holy Church is her holiness. The proper sentence in the Creed as received
from the Fathers of the Church is as follows: `We believe also in only one,
universal and apostolic holy Church’ (Havadamk yev i mi miayn unthanragan
yev arakelagan surp yegeghetsi).

The Patriarch also reported to the Fathers of the Holy Council his
impressions of the pilgrimages to Pergamon and Kayseri, the inter-faith
dialogue meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Fathers of the Holy Council also deliberated on the pilgrimages to St.
George’s Armenian Church in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and St. Thaddeus Monastery in
Magou, Iran, which the Patriarch prepares to undertake upon invitations
received from the Primates of the local dioceses of the Armenian Church.