President hosts Supreme Spiritual Council members

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan hosted the members of the supreme body of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Supreme Spiritual Council (SSC), who will be attending the SSC summit in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin on February 20-23.

The Catholicos of All Armenians presides over the Council, which consists of 24 high-ranking clergymen and members of the laic community. The Armenian Patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople act as Council Secretaries.

Welcoming the Council members to his residence, the President of Armenia emphasized that the decisions passed by the supreme body of the Armenian Apostolic Church are important not only in terms of spiritual activities, but also in public life.

“I always remember that the Armenian Apostolic Church is the oldest and ever-existing authority in the Armenian reality, and that the Armenian Apostolic Church has an irreplaceable merit in all aspects of our people’s life. I am confident that strong with that experience, you are taking steps acceptable to the Armenian faithful. I am convinced that you can see the rapidly developing world, as well as the emerging opportunities and challenges. It is obvious that in order to use the opportunities in the best interest of our State and people, we must be able to withstand the challenges. I am sure that you are taking steps to that effect.

Your Holiness, dear Council members, I would like to learn about the session agenda and, of course, your considerations, especially regarding the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the First Republic and the May battles. These considerations are very important to us.

Indeed, we are free to discuss different issues, taking into consideration that a long time has passed since our previous meeting. Once again, I welcome you all here,” the President said at the outset of the meeting. The meeting participants discussed issues of pan-Armenian relevance at the tea table. President Sargsyan answered the questions of the members of the Supreme Spiritual Council.

On behalf of the Council and himself, the Catholicos of All Armenians thanked the President for hospitality and presented the issues on the agenda of the first session of the Supreme Spiritual Council convened this year which features issues related to national and church life in addition to the report on the ongoing customs of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

“You know that a problem of serious concern to our people is the situation in the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople that is high on the Supreme Spiritual Council’s agenda. We will also discuss the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Armenia and the May heroic battles. The Catholicos of Cilicia and I issued a proclamation that was read in our dioceses throughout the world, in our churches: various events, publications, conferences shall be organized and conducted. The ritual event will be examined with the relevant State Commission that we will hold nationwide.

We have a commission that will present other proposals to this meeting, which should be discussed and adopted by the Supreme Spiritual Council. Today's assembly will also examine the Charter of the Supreme Spiritual Council.

As you know, we have started together with the Supreme Spiritual Council to streamline our church life, the activities of its governing bodies, such as the National Ecclesiastic Council Charter, the Charter of the Church-Representative Assembly, the Diocesan and Community Draft Charters as drafted for adoption by dioceses.

Thus, it is also necessary to arrange the rules to be followed by all other bodies, and in the end, the Constitution of the Armenian Church will be complete, if we can say so. We also have another important issue: the Supreme Spiritual Council has decided to declare 2018 as the year of youth, and our Diocesan leaders have undertaken to send young pilgrims from the worldwide dioceses on July 5-8. We expect a large number of youth groups to come to Tsaghkadzor in a camping format. Then the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin shall host pilgrims; a ceremony will be held, and we will convey a message to our youth.

These are the most important issues we would like to bring to your notice. Honorable Mr. President, it is a great pleasure for us that the Church-State relations have always been close, but they have been on the rise especially during these years thanks to your zealous and caring attitude.

Our Church is also guided by the same interests that the Armenian authorities - the preservation of our national identity, the strengthening of our statehood, the peaceful, secure and safe life of our country - which are of primary concern to us and our vision is the core of our activity.

I am glad to say that thanks to the support of the Armenian government, during this time of independence, our Church was able to overcome all those historical calamities that our church was subjected to with great losses. In the period of the Genocide and the Stalin dictatorship, we lost some 3000-4000 churches and 4000-5000 clerics. Yet, we have not been able to recover one fourth or one fifth of these losses. However, the achievements that have been recorded, particularly during this time of independence, give us optimism and hope that we should be able to fulfill the mission of our Church in the lives of our people, providing presence in all spheres of national life.

As we have always been guided by the high consciousness of strengthening the Armenian statehood, so today this consciousness is the characteristic of our clergy, especially church and diocese leaders who make every effort to keep our people’s children together around the homeland and put in the consciousness the interests of the fatherland, to serve the homeland, to support that spirit, consciousness and zeal. This support, as in the past, will be the main idea and guideline for the Armenian Apostolic Church.

We want to thank you once again and express our best wishes to you in this difficult and complicated time. May Lord support you, our authorities by extending His blessing to you and our homeland for the sake of our people’s long-cherished dreams and aspirations.

We ask for God’s help and wish you good health, longevity and productive service for our homeland and our people. God bless you,” the Catholicos of All Armenians concluded. During the Presidency-hosted meeting, for valuable contribution to the preservation and development of national and spiritual values, the President of the Republic handed high State awards to Araratian Pontifical Diocese Vicar Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan, Primate of the Western Diocese of America Archbishop Hovnan Derderian and Primate of the Eastern Diocese of America Archbishop Khajag Barsamian.