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: info@armenianorthodoxchurch.org
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version: nian.htm
TENY PIRRI-SIMONIAN RAISES THE RIGHTS OF THE ARMENIANS
AT AN ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE
Within the framework of the Palestine-Israel Forum, the World Council of
Churches and the Swiss Reformed Churches of Bern, Jura and Solothurn
organized an International Theological Conference on "Promised Land" New
Views on Israeli Palestinian Conflict and the Struggle for Land in Modern
Times, from the 10th to the 14th of September 2008 in Bern. 85 Theologians
and scholars from all continents were invited to discuss the question of
land in the Bible. Discussions demonstrated deferent theological views on
the understanding of the land in the Bible. These diverse views reflected
the way the Bible has been read and interpreted in specific situations and
contexts with regard to the Jewish people.
In order to examine the Biblical understanding of the land in its wider
meaning, a panel discussed the three cases of Brazil, Palestine and South
Africa as examples of new struggles for land. Mrs. Teny Pirri-Simonian, who
represented the Catholicosate of Cilicia at the conference, moderated this
panel. In her introduction, Mrs. Pirri-Simonian reminded the conference that
the "promised land" is conditional on the Biblical mandate of abundant life
built on justice and truthfulness, and that this understanding should show
the participants that the cases of Brazil, Palestine and South Africa, along
with the denial of the Armenian genocide and the rights of the Armenians to
repossess their ancestral land by Turkey, represent both a negation of the
Biblical promise to the land and a breach of the civil and legal rights of a
people according to UN conventions.
The four-day conference ended with the determination to continue the
reflection on "promised land" both locally and internationally.
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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.