ARMENIANS’ SUPREME SPIRITUAL LEADER, COUNCIL OF HOLY ETCHMIADZIN, SUPREMELY SUPPRESSED?
By Appo Jabarian
USA Armenian Life Magazine
Friday, October 12, 2009
Since the release of the highly damaging Armenia-Turkey Protocols
on August 31, hundreds of thousands of the members of the Armenian
Apostolic Church have been following closely as to how strongly and
unequivocally both His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, and His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of
the Great House of Cilicia would express their pontifical opposition
to the Turkish-dictated Protocols.
After a lapse of one whole month, His Holiness Karekin II issued a
statement on September 30 expressing Etchmiadzin’s official position
on the Protocols.
While HH Karekin II and the Supreme Spiritual Council expressed their
serious concerns about the Protocols, they avoided making a full-blown
criticism of the Protocols which the overwhelming majority of the
Armenians in the Homeland and the Diaspora expected.
Those of us who had the blessing and the honor of personally knowing
His Holiness Karekin II would envision that he would surely have much
preferred to issue a strong and clear criticism directed at those who
are actively trying to force that unjust document on his worldwide
flock, the Armenians.
The September 30 Pontifical statement carried all the ingredients of
a justified pontifical condemnation of the Protocols, but the Holy
Etchmiadzin Supreme Spiritual Council seemingly avoided outright
confrontation with official Yerevan.
On the eve of his early October presidential trip to the largest
centers of the Diaspora, Pres. Serzh Sargsyan met with HH Karekin
II in order to get His Holiness’ endorsement of the Protocols. The
Armenian TV programs disseminated short footage of both Pres. Sargsyan
and His Holiness leading a cordial conversation. It is obvious that
Pres. Sargsyan is actively seeking pontifical assistance for the
creation of positive impressions regarding the Protocols in order
to convince the Armenians everywhere to agree to the terms of the
Protocols.
This is not the first time that official Yerevan has "summoned"
Holy Etchmiadzin for "help." In 1995 official Yerevan under then
Pres. Levon Ter-Petrossyan, pressured Holy Etchmiadzin to elect an
outsider as Catholicos of All Armenians.
The 1995 Ter-Petrossyan-Etchmiadzin affair sparked the notion that Holy
Etchmiadzin now is exposed to official Yerevan’s political pressure.
During the Soviet occupation of Armenia (1921-1991), succeeding Supreme
Patriarchs and Catholicoi of All Armenians starting from Gevork V of
Armenia (1911-1930), to Khoren I of Armenia (1932-1938), to Gevork VI
of Armenia (1945-1954), to Vazgen I (1955-1994), were indirectly and
sometimes directly suppressed by official Kremlin. Those who did not
compromise to the detriment of their people were physically liquidated.
With the re-establishment of the independent Armenian statehood in
1991, Armenians in Armenia-Artsakh and the Diaspora rightly expected
that their Supreme Patriarch and the Holy See of Etchmiadzin would
no longer be subjected to outside political pressures. But to the
chagrin of many, official Yerevan under the First President Levon
Ter-Petrossyan outright interfered in the pontifical electoral process
in 1995 in order to get His Holiness Karekin I (Sarkissian) elected as
Supreme Patriarch. Before his election as Catholicos of All Armenians,
His Holiness Karekin I was the Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia.
Pres. Ter-Petrossyan convinced His Holiness Karekin I to vacate
the Holy See of the Great House of Cilicia seat and relocate to Holy
Etchmiadzin to serve as Supreme Patriarch. At the time, little did His
Holiness Karekin I know that Ter-Pterossyan’s hidden goal was to weaken
and eventually liquidate the Holy See of Cilicia by incorporating it
into the See of Etchmiadzin, thus bringing under his control all the
Armenians of the Diaspora, in order to politically manipulate them
as he pleased, just like the former communist bosses in Kremlin did
during the Soviet dictatorship.
Now His Holiness Karekin II (Nersisyan), despite his obvious wish
to outright condemn the Protocols, has involuntarily softened his
criticism.
But His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia,
strongly condemned the anti-Armenia and anti-Armenian Protocols,
on September 23.
Alas, our Supreme Patriarch is still under political pressure that
is reminiscent of the Ter-Petrossyan and the preceding Soviet Kremlin
era. So this brings us to realize that contrary to certain individuals’
argument that Holy See of the Great House of Cilicia must be demoted
from the rank of Catholicossate to the level of Patriarchate just
like the Armenian Patriarchates of Constantinople and Jerusalem,
it must be even strengthened.
After all, The Great House of Cilicia is the last surviving symbol
of the now Turkish-occupied Armenian statehood in Cilicia.
There is no doubt that the primacy of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin must
be observed and respected. But it is equally important to maintain
the Catholicossate of the Holy See of the Great House of Cilicia,
just like during the Soviet era, when some people said that it’s
important to have a church leader outside of the Soviet iron curtain.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
