ARMENIAN SPIRITUAL LEADER MEETS AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT, VISITS CHURCH
news.az
April 27 2010
Azerbaijan
Aliyev receives Garegin II Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev yesterday
received the head of the Armenian Church, Catholicos Garegin II.
They discussed the importance of the Baku summit which has brought
together world religious leaders.
Ilham Aliyev and Garegin II said that the event would contribute
to strengthening inter-faith dialogue and expanding contacts among
religious leaders.
Garegin II visited the Armenian church in central Baku yesterday,
accompanied by Russian Patriarch Kirill and the head of the Caucasus
Muslims Department, Sheikh ul-Islam Haji Allashukur Pashazade.
A police cordon around the church prevented journalists from
approaching the visitors, ANS TV reported.
The Armenian church leader later shared his impressions of the visit
with ANS TV. He believed that the Armenian church in Baku would one
day reopen: ‘We visited the Armenian church. We have been unable to
hold services in this church for a short time in 70 years. Fire has
badly damaged the frescoes. We also saw that there was no grave for
one of our church servants. The church has been turned into a library.
This is the way it has been preserved. We hope and pray that the time
will come when the church will function fully. Our faithful will be
able to pray and make pilgrimages there.’
Yesterday the Catholicos, Russian Patriarch Kirill and Sheikh
Allashukur Pashazade signed a declaration calling for dialogue among
religious leaders and a peaceful settlement to the Karabakh conflict.