PATRIARCH REMEMBERS 1915 GENOCIDE
The Voice of Russia
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March 18 2010
Patriarch Kirill spoke in the Orthodox Cathedral of Yerevan on
Wednesday after laying wreaths to a memorial to some million and
a half people who perished in the 1915 slaughter of Armenians by
the Ottoman Turks: "Had it not been for their Christian faith, the
Armenians would have vanished altogether. As would certainly have the
Russians, if they hadn’t drawn on their Orthodox faith to withstand
war, repression, famine and atheism".
The people in the fold of the Russian Church and the Armenians share
Christian values, which makes them all brothers and sisters. The
Russian Church hopes this will stay unchanged for millennia.
At the memorial, His Holiness planted a fir tree in an alley which
contains over 130 such floral tributes from VIP visitors to Yerevan.
Over 40 countries have already officially recognized the 1915 slaughter
as genocide. Early this month, a committee in the US Congress voted 23
to 22 in favour of a House resolution to this effect. Turkey disagreed
and warned of diplomatic complications with the United States.