RUSSIAN PATRIARCH GIVEN ARMENIAN CHURCH’S HIGHEST HONOR

RIA Novosti
March 17, 2010
Yerevan

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia received on Wednesday
the highest award of the Armenian Apostolic Church – the Order of
St. Gregory the Illuminator.

St. Gregory, also known as Gregory the Enlightener, is credited with
having converted Armenia to Christianity over 1,700 years ago. The
award was given to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the
Yerevan cathedral dedicated to the saint. Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan attended the ceremony.

Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, who heads the Armenian Church,
said the award was a token of fraternal love and respect from Armenians
worldwide.

More than 90% of Armenians belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church,
which is in dialogue but not in communion with most Eastern Orthodox
Churches, including Russian, due to certain dogmatic differences.

Patriarch Kirill began a three-day visit to Armenia on Tuesday
to meet the country’s leadership and lay the foundation of a
new Russian church. On Wednesday he paid tribute to the victims of
Armenian genocide, laying flowers to a memorial in the South Caucasus
country’s capital.

Turkey has always refused to recognize the killings of an estimated
1.5 million Armenians in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire in
1915 as an act of genocide. A number of countries have recognized
the killings in Armenia as the first genocide of the 20th century.