ARMENIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES CATHOLICOS KAREKIN II AND PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW I

Noyan Tapan

Se p 29, 2008

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN. On September 29 Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan received Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, the
diocesan heads of the Armenian Apostolic Church, His All-Holiness,
the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I who arrived
in Armenia to participate in the Blessing of the Holy Muron, and
the representatives of the sister churches of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, NT was informed by the RA presidential press service.

S. Sargsyan underlined the importance of the role that clergy play in
the preservation of peace and moral values and in the struggle against
disillusionment, demoralization and temptations as there are a lot
of temptations in modern world. In his words, extreme fanaticism on
the one hand and denial of God on the other hand are dangerous to the
world, and these dangers are ruinous first of all for small nations.

His Holiness thanked the representatives of the sister churches for
their participation in the Blessing of the Holy Muron.

The head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Oriental Churches
Leonardo Cardinal Sandri on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI wished the
Armenian people peace and prosperity. He said that the enthusiasm
with which people attended the Blessing of the Holy Muron shows the
Armenian people’s exceptional devotion to church.