President Sarkissian hosted His Holiness Catholicos of All Armenian Garegin II and His Holiness Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I: To serve the Fatherland is a mission

President Armen Sarkissian hosted today His Holiness Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II and His Holiness Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I.
Welcoming the spiritual leaders, President Sarkissian noted, “Our Church has multiple problems and multiple programs, a lot of things to do in Armenia, in Artsakh, and in Spyurk. The President expressed readiness to discuss what he can do as the President of Armenia, as a devoted Armenian to support and assist the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church in its works.

His Holiness Supreme Patriarch Catholicos Garegin II said in his remarks, “Mr. President, I am glad that today together with Catholicos Aram I we are visiting your residence. Catholicos Aram I has arrived to Armenia on a three-day visit, and we have discussed numerous issues, problems, and programs which concern the Church. We have stated unequivocally that we will continue the historic mission in the life of our Church and our nation, standing by our State, working towards our country’s safe and secure advancement to a prosperous life. With this regard, we undoubtedly should be able to use the world-wide presence of our Church, to unite our people around the Fatherland. Fatherland is the key value for which our people for centuries have been ready for martyrdom.

The Armenian state, Armenian statehood is the greatest feat of our history, and today we carry a responsibility to keep that statehood strong and secure and to bring together all capabilities and competences of our people for that statehood so that our country can move forward safely, prosper, become stronger, and ensure our people’s well-being.

We state on every occasion that along with the soul-saving mission of our Church, it accomplishes with the same dedication its mission on the preservation of the Armenian identity, national identity, and state building. Empowerment, strengthening and prosperity of the state is the ultimate mission of our Church.

God bless you, I wish you excellent health, productive work for the well-being and advancement of our country and the people.”

His Holiness Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I said in his remarks, “I cordially greet you as the earnestly elected President of the Republic of Armenia. We all have things to do. Words come and go, but accomplishments stay. The Church, government, parliament, president, prime minister – we all have things to do in the scope of our responsibilities, and we are called to do them with the highest degree of responsibility, conscience, and dedication.

The cooperation of the state and church is a historic reality for us, we cannot think otherwise, neither the Church nor the state, because Church is not a structure, is not a venue but our nation, our mission. Serving our people, our spiritual fathers have one goal – to glorify people’s life with spiritual, moral values. The nation, the Fatherland is getting stronger through its values.

It is true that in the contemporary world, as you often mention in your words, technologies are very important, however we need to use those technologies to enrich our values, employ them. Thus, for us this meeting is another opportunity to see once again difficulties and challenges our people face here, in Fatherland, and to work together to see what we can do to empower the Fatherland. Thus, on this occasion, I convey to you my warm wish: Let God help you in your mission. Serving the Fatherland is a mission, a calling, and we all with different accents and approaches are in the same mission, doing the same purposeful job.”

President Sarkissian expressed his gratitude and said, “I agree that serving the Fatherland is a mission. Regardless of the tools employed to accomplish that mission – political, economic, scientific, or new technologies, if there is no faith and morality behind it, those tools instead of serving for positive goals will serve negative ones. So, dedication, faith and moral values of the individual are above all, and when it comes to Armenians, also our national values. So, all the tools, yes, but of course, in the center are the faith, morals, and national spiritual values.”