AAC EASTERN DIOCESE LEGATE INSTALLED NCC PRESIDENT
PanARMENIAN.Net
15.11.2007 19:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Archbishop Vicken Aykazian who was installed as
President of the National Council of Churches (NCC) in the USA, which
is the leading force for ecumenical cooperation among Christians in the
United States with 45 million faithful members in 100,000 congregations
in all 50 states, the Armenian Assembly of America reports.
Archbishop Aykazian, who is the legate of the Diocese of the Armenian
Church of America (Eastern) in Washington, and ecumenical officer,
will serve as the 24th NCC President since the Council’s beginnings
in 1950. He is the third Orthodox president and the first from the
Oriental Orthodox tradition to lead the NCC.
The Assembly also commends the General Assembly NCC for urging Congress
to pass the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H. Res. 106).
During the NCC’s annual meeting last week, the General Assembly passed
a voice vote in support of the resolution. The NCC’s statement said,
in part, that the NCC "strongly urges the leadership of the U.S.
House of Representatives to bring forth this legislation before the
end of this Congress." "I believe that these types of meetings are
extremely important for the recognition of past genocides and the
prevention of future genocides," said Archbishop Aykazian.