CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY SIGN JOINT COMMUNIQUE
ArmRadio – Public Radio, Armenia
Sept 26 2007
His Grace Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, paid an
official visit to the Armenian Church, 22-25 September 2007 at the
invitation of His Holiness Garegin II, Catholicos of All Armenians.
The Archbishop was accompanied by Bishop Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop of
Gibraltar in Europe and Anglican Co-Chair of the Anglican-Oriental
Orthodox Joint International Commission and Bishop David Stancliffe,
the Bishop of Salisbury. This visit follows the official visit of
His Holiness Garegin II to the Church of England in 2004. These
reciprocal visits have offered the opportunity to experience the
particularities of the life and mission of both Churches in their
historical and modern contexts. At the conclusion of the visit the
Catholicos of All Armenians and the Archbishop of Canterbury jointly
signed the following communique:
"We rejoice that on the occasion of reciprocal visits to the Church
of England (2004) and the Armenian Church (2007), we have each
participated as brothers in the Divine Liturgy of our Churches and
spent time together with our brother bishops, priests and faithful
in both prayer and worship. This present visit has been a wonderful
opportunity to experience some of the fullness of the life of the
Church in Armenia. In addition to visiting a number of monasteries
and seminaries, we have together seen at first hand, examples of the
pastoral outreach of the Armenian Church to some of the most needy
in Armenian society, including the young – both those studying and
learning new skills at the youth centers run by the Church and others
serving a time of detention in the correctional facility at Abovyan,
where chaplains provide for the spiritual needs of the inmates. We
were heartened to see new churches being built in rapidly developing
urban areas – a sure sign of new life in both our Churches.
We have had discussions with the President and Prime Minister of the
Republic of Armenia – their Excellencies Robert Kocharyan and Serge
Sargsyan – as well as with the Justice Minister Gevorg Danielyan.
For our Churches and, we believe, for the well-being of our societies
the continuing development of fruitful and mutually respectful
relations between Church and State is crucial. The Church must
always be a sign of the unconditional love of God in the midst of
His people. In spreading and teaching the Word of God in the world we
must be loving, truthful and fearless, always finding ways to speak
honestly and openly, in a spirit of charity and love, to all our
brothers and sisters, and to the government and public authorities
in our two countries.
We have both been deeply moved to participate in a special ceremony
of prayer and recollection at the Memorial to the Armenian Genocide
in Yerevan, where we were joined by our brothers and sisters of the
Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches in a service of
remembrance for the victims of genocide everywhere.
At the end of this blessed time together we acknowledge with deep
gratitude the many blessings of Almighty God that have sprung from
the long and close relationship between the Anglican Communion and
the Armenian Church.
We welcome the establishment of the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox Joint
International Commission in 2001 and believe that the significant
Christological agreement reached by the Commission at its first
meeting in 2002 in Holy Etchmiadzin demonstrates the importance of
this continuing theological dialogue between the family of Oriental
Orthodox churches and the Anglican Communion.
We express our sadness at the temporary suspension of this dialogue,
and with great hope in our hearts for the future; we look forward to
an early resumption of the work of the Commission.
We thank God for the great gift of friendship between ourselves,
and our two churches, and pray earnestly that the fruit of these
friendships will be manifest in the lives and witness of the members
of our churches and especially in their faithful witness to God’s
love for us in Christ Jesus."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
