• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • flickr
  • blogger
  • youtube

blog-logo

  • Home
  • UAE Armenians
  • Hrach Kalsahakian
  • Հայերեն բաժին
  • Archives
    • News
    • Articles
    • Directory

Armenians' supreme spiritual leader, Council of Holy Etchmiadzin, supremely suppressed?

October 9, 2009
A+ A-
Email Print
Armenians' supreme spiritual leader, Council of Holy Etchmiadzin, supremely suppressed?

Appo Jabarian


 


By Appo Jabarian


Since the release of the highly damaging Armenia-Turkey Protocols on 31 August 2009, hundreds of thousands of the members of the Armenian Apostolic Church have been following closely as to how strongly and unequivocally both His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, and His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia would express their pontifical opposition to the Turkish-dictated Protocols.


After a lapse of one whole month, His Holiness Karekin II issued a statement on 30 September 2009 expressing Etchmiadzin's official position on the Protocols.


While HH Karekin II and the Supreme Spiritual Council expressed their serious concerns about the Protocols, they avoided making a full-blown criticism of the Protocols which the overwhelming majority of the Armenians in the Homeland and the Diaspora expected.


Those of us who had the blessing and the honor of personally knowing His Holiness Karekin II would envision that he would surely have much preferred to issue a strong and clear criticism directed at those who are actively trying to force that unjust document on his worldwide flock, the Armenians.


The 30 September 2009 Pontifical statement carried all the ingredients of a justified pontifical condemnation of the Protocols, but the Holy Etchmiadzin Supreme Spiritual Council seemingly avoided outright confrontation with official Yerevan.


On the eve of his early October presidential trip to the largest centers of the Diaspora, Pres. Serzh Sargsyan met with HH Karekin II in order to get His Holiness' endorsement of the Protocols. The Armenian TV programs disseminated short footage of both Pres. Sargsyan and His Holiness leading a cordial conversation. It is obvious that Pres. Sargsyan is actively seeking pontifical assistance for the creation of positive impressions regarding the Protocols in order to convince the Armenians everywhere to agree to the terms of the Protocols.


This is not the first time that official Yerevan has “summoned” Holy Etchmiadzin for “help.” In 1995 official Yerevan under then Pres. Levon Ter-Petrossyan, pressured Holy Etchmiadzin to elect an outsider as Catholicos of All Armenians. The 1995 Ter-Petrossyan-Etchmiadzin affair sparked the notion that Holy Etchmiadzin now is exposed to official Yerevan's political pressure.


During the Soviet occupation of Armenia (1921-1991), succeeding Supreme Patriarchs and Catholicoi of All Armenians starting from Gevork V of Armenia (1911-1930), to Khoren I of Armenia (1932-1938), to Gevork VI of Armenia (1945-1954), to Vazgen I (1955-1994), were indirectly and sometimes directly suppressed by official Kremlin. Those who did not compromise to the detriment of their people were physically liquidated.


With the re-establishment of the independent Armenian statehood in 1991, Armenians in Armenia-Artsakh and the Diaspora rightly expected that their Supreme Patriarch and the Holy See of Etchmiadzin would no longer be subjected to outside political pressures. But to the chagrin of many, official Yerevan under the First President Levon Ter-Petrossyan outright interfered in the pontifical electoral process in 1995 in order to get His Holiness Karekin I (Sarkissian) elected as Supreme Patriarch. Before his election as Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin I was the Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia.


Pres. Ter-Petrossyan convinced His Holiness Karekin I to vacate the Holy See of the Great House of Cilicia seat and relocate to Holy Etchmiadzin to serve as Supreme Patriarch. At the time, little did His Holiness Karekin I know that Ter-Pterossyan's hidden goal was to weaken and eventually liquidate the Holy See of Cilicia by incorporating it into the See of Etchmiadzin, thus bringing under his control all the Armenians of the Diaspora, in order to politically manipulate them as he pleased, just like the former communist bosses in Kremlin did during the Soviet dictatorship.


Now His Holiness Karekin II (Nersisyan), despite his obvious wish to outright condemn the Protocols, has involuntarily softened his criticism. But His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia, strongly condemned the anti-Armenia and anti-Armenian Protocols, on September 23.


Alas, our Supreme Patriarch is still under political pressure that is reminiscent of the Ter-Petrossyan and the preceding Soviet Kremlin era. So this brings us to realize that contrary to certain individuals' argument that Holy See of the Great House of Cilicia must be demoted from the rank of Catholicossate to the level of Patriarchate just like the Armenian Patriarchates of Constantinople and Jerusalem, it must be even strengthened. After all, The Great House of Cilicia is the last surviving symbol of the now Turkish-occupied Armenian statehood in Cilicia.


There is no doubt that the primacy of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin must be observed and respected. But it is equally important to maintain the Catholicossate of the Holy See of the Great House of Cilicia, just like during the Soviet era, when some people said that it's important to have a church leader outside of the Soviet iron curtain.


Appo Jabarian is the Executive Publisher / Managing Editor of USA Armenian Life Magazine
http://www.armenianlife.com/
Friday,  October 2, 2009

author-avatar

Posted by Azad-Hye

Like to share?

Social Media

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • flickr
  • blogger
  • youtube
Newer PostՀայկական Ժողովրդային Շարժումի Կենտրոնական Խորհուրդի բաց նամակը ՀՀ Նախագահ Սերժ Սարգսյանին
Older PostDeconstructing the defense of the Protocols

POPULAR

item-thumbnail

Rebecca Malikian’s novel “The Caravan of Death”

July 10, 2015
item-thumbnail

Erebouni pen launched in Dubai and other cities

April 12, 2015
item-thumbnail

Vardavar (water pouring) international festival in Armenia gains popularity

July 17, 2015
item-thumbnail

Essam Nagy’s documentary “In The Beginning Was Armenia” (Interview)

January 11, 2020
item-thumbnail

Anna Dolabjian: I feel life coaching as a dream coming true

January 18, 2018

LATEST

item-thumbnail

Liana Ghaltaghchyan is the new Managing Director at the Children of Armenia Fund

January 10, 2023
item-thumbnail

Indian Journalist Venkatesh Remakrishnan mentions the Armenians of Chennai

October 30, 2022
item-thumbnail

Renovation of the Ghukasavan Cultural Center’s main hall

December 1, 2021
item-thumbnail

Nobel Prize winner Ardem Patapoutian

October 7, 2021
item-thumbnail

Armenian Church of the Virgin Mary in Basra, Iraq

August 30, 2021

COMMENTS

Azad-Hye on In memory of AUB Medical Alumni who died during the First World War
Azad-Hye on Kessab Ousoumnasirats celebrates centennial
Lawrence Danny CPA on Kessab Ousoumnasirats celebrates centennial
Stephensmith on Pizza making vending machine invented by Puzant Khachadourian
ALEXANIAN on Astghik Voskerchyan: Every element in my environment has a role in my creations

Categories

  • Applications
  • Art
  • Books
  • Business
  • Celebrations
  • Chinese Armenians
  • Courses and Camps
  • Cyprus Armenians
  • Diaspora Armenians
  • Documentaries
  • Education
  • Egyptian Armenians
  • Energy
  • Ethiopian Armenians
  • European Armenians
  • Festivals
  • Genocide
  • History
  • Hrach Kalsahakian
  • Indian Armenians
  • Interviews
  • Iraqi Armenians
  • Language
  • Lebanese Armenians
  • Music
  • Poetry
  • Politics
  • Religion
  • Rural Armenia
  • Science
  • Syrian Armenians
  • Tourism
  • Turkish Armenians
  • UAE Armenians
  • Websites
  • Հայերեն բաժին

CUSTOM LINKS

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact

RANDOM POSTS

item-thumbnail

How many times to celebrate Christmas?

item-thumbnail

Հայաստանում առաջին անգամ նշվեց վարսահարդարների օրը

item-thumbnail

Ներգաղթի նոր պայմաններ

TAG CLOUD

Armenian Art Armenian Catholics Armenian Christmas Armenian Costumes Armenian Genocide Armenian Songs Armenian Velvet Revolution Azad-Hye Celebrations Cyprus Armenians Daniel Varoujan Hejinian Diaspora Diaspora Armenians Education Emma Kant Emma Karapetyan Ethiopian Armenians Garni Geghard Genocide Goris Greece Hidden Armenians History Iraqi Armenians Kessab Kessabtzis Language Lebanese Armenians Meri Martirosyan Music Music Application Nana Aramyan Nikol Pashinyan Norway Ottoman Empire Paris Speech Therapy Syrian Armenians Syunik Turkey Turkish Armenians UAE Armenians Vardavar Western Armenia

Search this website

© 2023 Azad-Hye . Designed by Wpinhands
Scroll