GEORGIANS CLAIM 5 MONASTERIES
Lragir.am News
11/08/2011
The Georgian Orthodox Church claims ownership of five monasteries
located on the Armenian side of the Georgia-Armenia border. Four,
including Akhtala and Kobair Monasteries, pictured above, are located
in the Lori region; the fifth is the Kirants Monastery in the Tavush
region. (Photo: Temo Bardzimashvili.)
The Georgian Orthodox Church’s claim to several monasteries in
neighboring Armenia is stoking religious tension between the two
South Caucasus neighbors.
The fact that Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as a
state religion (in 301 AD) is a source of national pride in Yerevan,
and government officials accordingly tend to be quick to defend the
prerogatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Authorities in Georgia,
the third country to make Christianity its state religion (in 326 AD,
after Ethiopia), feel similarly strongly about the rights of the
Georgian Orthodox Church. These deeply held opinions ensure that
cross-border property claims are a delicate topic.
Neither church today enjoys the status as a state religion, although
both represent the faith of a large majority of Armenians and Georgians
respectively.
In the post-Soviet era, church relations have travelled on a bumpy
path. A brief thaw set in after Georgian authorities in July approved
regulatory changes that would allow the Armenian Apostolic Church to
gain official status in Georgia. The Georgian Orthodox Church opposed
the revisions, but Armenian Apostolic Church representatives told
RFE/RL that it believed the objections did not have sectarian roots.
These days, property disputes are the primary source of tension. In
Armenia, the Georgian Orthodox Church desires official status and
ownership of five monasteries in areas near the Armenian-Georgian
border that it claims were founded as Georgian churches. Four of
the disputed properties are in the Lori region — the monasteries
of Akhtala, Kobair, Hnevanq, and Khuchap. The fifth, the Kirants
monastery, is in the Tavush region.
The Armenian Apostolic Church supports its Georgian counterpart’s
request for official status, but Armenian church leaders object to
handing over the monasteries.
“It [the Georgian Church] demands churches whose ownership is still
disputed,” claimed Armenian Apostolic Church spokesperson Father
Vahram Melikian.
The Armenian Apostolic Church contends that though these monasteries
may have functioned as Georgian believers during the 11th and 12th
centuries, they were built as Armenian Apostolic churches and should
remain so.Practical considerations also should be taken into account,
added Father Vahram.
The low number of ethnic Georgians living in Armenia -only about 600,
according to government data – does not justify the transfer of five
monasteries, Vahram contended.