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Following the country's independence from the Soviet Union, Armenia now faced major challenges, Catholicos Karekin said. "Armenia, where I come from, is now an independent state. The people and church have finally got rid of the burden of atheism. During the 70 years of the Soviet regime, the Armenian church and all other churches under that regime suffered great difficulties. During this period, churches were destroyed and clergy were exiled. Monasteries and churches were transformed into other activities."

However, Christianity had been preserved, he said, because of the close link between the Armenian people and the Armenian Apostolic Church. In ancient times, Armenia was an important power in its own right, but for most of the modern era it has been under foreign control. Since its establishment, the church had played a significant role in the identity of the Armenian people, both for those in Armenia and for the extensive Armenian diaspora around the world.

"Church and people became one single entity, one single reality," Catholicos Karekin said. "People began to see the church as the guardian of Armenian identity. Especially in the diaspora, people have begun to see the church as a defense of their identity."

He referred to an encounter that as a young student he had with an Armenian soldier serving in the Soviet Army. "My right side is Communist, my left side is Armenian Christian," the soldier told him. "On the right side he had his Communist Party card, on his left side was his heart, his spirit that he had eternally given to the service of God," the Catholicos said.

"It was under these circumstances that we got out of the heavy difficulties of Communism," Catholicos Karekin said. However, pointing to the effects of the Armenian earthquake of 1988 and the outbreak of conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Ngorno-Karabagh, the Catholicos added that Armenia had "paid a heavy and expensive price for our independence."

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the church had reopened church buildings that had not been used under Communism, built new ones, and trained a "new generation of clergy," as well as educating catechists, and encouraging new publications. The church had also entered into formal agreements with the defence ministry on providing army chaplaincy and with the ministry of social affairs to help alleviate the social problems that the country is facing.

"The church did the impossible. In a very brief period we trained hundreds of teachers, established new educational and theological institutions, and sponsored youth work by transforming palaces for young pioneers [the Communist youth movement] into youth centers," Catholicos Karekin said.

But, he added: "All that we did is really nothing in view of the huge needs that still exist in the country."

Copyright © 2001 ENI

Etchmiadzin, the official Web site of the Armenian Apostolic Church, appears to be defunct.

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March (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45