RUSSIAN PATRIARCH VISITS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL IN YEREVAN
RIAN Novosti
18:4517/03/2010
YEREVAN, March 17 (RIA Novosti) – The head of the Russian Orthodox
Church paid tribute on Wednesday to the victims of Armenian genocide,
laying flowers to a memorial in the South Caucasus country’s capital
Yerevan.
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.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia began a three-day visit
to Armenia on Tuesday to meet the country’s leadership and lay the
foundation of a new Russian church.
Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, who leads the Armenian
Apostolic Church, also laid flowers to the Tsitsernakaberd memorial
dedicated to the victims of the genocide. Armenian priests then held
a short service for the dead.
Kirill called on the Russian community in Yerevan to study Armenian
and to actively integrate into society.
"I am calling on you to be active members of Armenian society, to
make your contribution to its culture, to study the language so that
nothing prevents you from actively participating in the country’s
public life," the Russian Church leader told hundreds of Russians
who gathered in Yerevan’s main Russian Orthodox church.
The patriarch said Christian roots are "the firmest basis for good
relations" between Armenia and Russia and thanked Garegin II for
promoting good relations with the Russian people. He also thanked
Armenia for its respectful attitude toward the Russian language.
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.