ARMENIA, GEORGIA DISAGREEMENT NOT DUE TO STATUS OF CHURCHES: ETCHMIADZIN

epress.am
06.17.2011 11:12

The Armenian and Georgian parties did not come to an agreement through
negotiations and discussions on signing a communique due to lack of
time and disagreement over the provisions. The provisions put forth
by the Georgian church were unacceptable for the Armenian side,
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin press spokesperson Vahram Melikyan
told Epress.am on Thursday.

“We again presented our version of the communique, but we were unable
to reach a general agreement. And let me note that the Georgian
version of the communique has appeared on Georgian and Armenian sites,
which for us is impalpable, and we’re trying to find out why that’s
happened,” said Fr. Vahram.

Recall, earlier the Georgian press reported that the work and comparing
positions on the communique is still ongoing. At the same time, a
Patriarchate of Georgia spokesperson denied reports that the Armenian
party refused to sign a communique, the text of which was reportedly
as follows:

“Relations between us are developing more and more and entering a new
phase, which implies equal legal status of the Armenian Apostolic
Church in Georgia and the Georgian Orthodox Church in Armenia, as
well as plans for the reopening of Armenian churches in Georgia and
Georgian churches in Armenia.”

According to Fr. Vahram, the disagreement did not lie in the issue
of the status of the churches, but on the way the provisions in the
communique were formulated, the details of which were not provided
by the Etchmiadzin spokesperson.