OLEG GABRIELYAN: CRIMEAN-ARMENIANS URGE AUTHORITIES TO CONSIDER THEIR CLAIMS FOR SURB KHACH MONASTERY’S STATUS

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.12.2009 17:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ After reconstruction and consecration Surb
Khach ceased functioning as a monastery, according to Head of
Crimean-Armenian Community Oleg Gabrielyan. "If the monastery had
monks, we could have avoided such situation," he finds.

In a letter addressed to Supreme Rada Speaker Anatoly Gratsenko,
the Armenians of Crimea voice their community’s position on the
impermissibility of authorities’ taking any measures without the
previous consent of the AAC Ukrainian eparchy.

Earlier Gratsenko announced that beginning December 1, 2009, Surb Khach
Monastery would become a department of Crimea’s ethnographic center.

A monument of state importance, Surb Khach (Holy Cross) was for
centuries a place of worship and pilgrimage for Armenians.