TWO QUESTIONS TO THE PATRIARCH

Azat Artsakh Daily
06 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

The appeal made during the assembly of the supreme religious council of
Echmiadzin (under the leadership of the Catholicos of all Armenians)
in connection with the encroachments upon St. Astvatsatsin church of
Norashen leads to the belief that the Patriarch of our church is not
indifferent to the violent seizure of the church and the elimination of
all the Armenian symbols by the Georgian church. It should be noted,
however, that back in March 1995 when our Patriarch was the primate
of the Ararat diocese, he had the occasion to express his concerns
to Ilya II.

In the period between the above mentioned addresses and appeals,
the Georgian church managed to eliminate the traces of the Armenian
history, architecture and art (a sacristy, cross-stones engraved
on the walls, cuneiform inscriptions, wall paintings, tomb-stones
etc.) and even a Georgian graveyard was built nearby the southern
wall of the church with the tomb stones stolen from the graves of
the Georgian cemetery of the village of Mlet, Doushet region.

All over the world, any person who is guilty of a crime is subjected to
liability and convicted. No one on earth has ever turned to a criminal
with a request not to commit a crime anymore. So addressing a message
or appeal instead of filing a case means that we will have to record
new spir itual and cultural losses before we hear our church voice
its next "address and appeal".

The next issue arousing concern is the Patriarch’s statement with
regard to the recent clashes between the Mayor of Gyumri and the
primate of the Diocese of Shirak. In particular, the Patriarch said
that Bishop Mikayel Ajapahyan is capable of protecting himself and
does not need the protection of the Catholicos.

In view of the fact that dioceses are the new pillars of the
church, with the Catholicos being on the top, it becomes clear that
any encroachment upon the diocese is actually a blow to the given
structure. Therefore, the protection of the diocesan in this particular
case was first of all the primary and unreserved duty of the Patriarch,
as may be the case with a Commander who protects his officer corps.

If there is no officer corps, there can’t be any officer, and woe to
the Army whose General thinks that the protection of his officer and
soldiers is none of his business.

SAMVEL KARAPETYAN Head of the "Armenian Architectural Monuments
Study" NGO

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress