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:
HIS HOLINESS CONSIDERED COLLECTIVE, ORGANISED AND
HARMONIOUS LIFE TO BE THE BASIS OF ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES
"The Armenian nation is a collective, not a group of individuals. A
collective life means organized life. Organised life assumes harmonious life
and cooperation. It is with this understanding that our communities should
operate. Huge efforts were exerted to organize the Armenian communities
after the Armenian Genocide. If today we have an organized Diaspora with a
well-spread communal life and work, we should acknowledge that organizing it
was not easy. Our church and political organizations played an important
role in this task. Circumstances have now changed. Globalization has brought
down all the walls and subjected national identities to danger. We feel its
consequences and the resulting challenges every day," said His Holiness Aram
I speaking during a luncheon in his honor on May 20 in Aleppo.
Based on this new reality, the Pontiff stressed the importance of
collective, organized and harmonious life in the communities, talking in
detail about each.
The Catholicos also expressed his satisfaction at the level of
organization of the Syrian Armenian community. "Every time I visit here, I
see the community has taken a step forward. During this visit there was an
inauguration of a new school and a new church. In another area, the
establishment of new sections in schools, the inauguration of new libraries.
Our national life with all its fields is active," he said.
His Holiness also greeted the very warm welcome he has received embodied
in the large crowd of believers involved in all his visits and praised the
Primate of the Diocese and community leaders. He also commended the spirit
of unity, expressed once again during his visit, when all the organizations
and unions of the Syrian Armenian community and their members attended the
events organized during his visit, testifying to the wholeness of the
Armenian nation and its goals; a phenomenon that finds its expression in the
Dioceses of the Catholicosate of Cilicia.
Primate Bishop Shahan Sarkissian highlighted the historical importance of
the Pontiff’s visit. He also emphasized His Holiness’ international links
and reputation, which he puts in the service of the Armenian Church, nation,
fatherland, the Armenian struggle and the just resolution of the Nagorno
Karabagh conflict.
About 300 guests from the community’s various organizations and unions
attended the luncheon, providing another proof of the Armenian nation’s
unity.
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View the photo here: m