PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: cathcil@cathcil.org
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

PARTICIPATION IN AN INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON
“HOLY SCRIPTURES IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH”
IN THE VATICAN

The Primate of the Diocese of Aleppo, Bishop Shahan Sarkisian represented
the Catholicosate of Cilicia in a congress held in Rome on September 14-18
and entitled “Holy Scriptures in the life of the Church”. The congress was
organized by the Catholic Biblical Federation and the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity.

The congress was held on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the
promulgation of the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis
redintegratio, a document that specifies the role of the Holy Bible in the
Roman Catholic Church. The document was published by the Vatican.

Over 380 attendants, representatives from various churches, lecturers,
special committees and workshops reviewed the document in detail and its
adoption from the time of its publication to the present. They discussed
ways of publishing and disseminating the Holy Bible in light of the
challenges the current world poses and contemporary local and regional
circumstances.

The participants in the meeting stressed the importance of making God’s word
heard to the modern man through contemporary translations understandable to
people and readings. They also emphasized the importance of brining out the
contemporary messages of God’s word and looking for solution for current
social and moral problems in them.

The participants visited Pope Benedict XVI on September 16. Bishop Shahan
conveyed His Holiness’ greetings to the Pope and made proposals for fruitful
cooperation between the Armenian Church and the Roman Catholic Church within
the context of ecumenical relations.

Bishop Norvan Zakarian from Leon represented St. Etchmiyadzin in the
meeting.

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The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.