Speaking in Geneva February 28, Catholicos Karekin II of the Armenian Apostolic Church told staff of the World Council of Churches that the traditional bond between the Armenian people and his church had helped to preserve Christianity during 70 years of Soviet Communism.
But he had harsh words for “new missionaries” who had arrived in Armenia since the collapse of Communism, saying that they had come to his country to divide his church, undermine traditional faith and “confuse the people,” more than 90 percent of whom, the Catholicos said, are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
This year marks a major celebration for the Armenian Apostolic Church, one of the world’s most ancient Christian communities, since in A.D. 301 Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion.
Catholicos Karekin’s remarks reflect widespread concern among Orthodox church leaders in the former Soviet Union about the activities of some Evangelical groups, and in some cases, the Catholic Church, in the region. The Orthodox consider the presence of foreign churches as “proselytism”—the seeking of converts from within established church communities.
Speaking without notes and through interpreters, Catholicos Karekin was at pains to emphasize the commitment of his church to ecumenism. He stressed that the Armenian Apostolic Church had “brotherly relations with traditional churches like the Catholic Church and Evangelical churches.”
However, he rejected suggestions that his church’s criticism of what he described as “sects” infringed human rights and religious liberty. He condemned those “who come and criticize us on the basis of their own understanding of religious liberty.”
Armenia’s law on religion was amended in 1997 to curb the spread of non-traditional faiths and movements—including some evangelical churches, Jehovah’s Witnesses and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints—prompting criticism by some minority churches and human rights advocates.
“Sometimes freedom of conscience was being confused with anarchy,” Catholicos Karekin said, admitting that he might be “a little strong in my expressions,” but adding: “If you were in my place, you would have said the same things.
“We are not against evangelization. We are against those who are dividing families, especially parents from children, by promising a good life to the child,” he said
“If through genuine evangelization they are able to convince our people and convert them, we have no objection to that,” he added, saying that the church was against the methods being used that contravened the “laws of a country” and Christian values.
Catholicos Karekin said that the law on religions was “imperfect, and has its weaknesses.” He expressed hope that this year’s “celebration of 1,700 years of Christian Armenia will be an opportunity to clarify church-state relationships and ecumenical relationships.”
Catholicos Karekin, who was elected Catholicos of All Armenians in October 1999, was making his first visit to the WCC’s headquarters in Geneva. He paid tribute to the role played in the ecumenical movement by his predecessor, Karekin I, who was a vice-moderator of the WCC’s central committee from 1975 to 1983 and by Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia—the other main centre of the Armenian Apostolic Church, based in Lebanon—who has been moderator of the WCC’s central committee for the past 10 years.
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
Related Elsewhere
Earlier Christianity Today articles on the 1,700th anniversary of the establishment of Christianity as Armenia’s national religion include: “Christian History Corner: 1,700 Years of Faith | Armenian Christians celebrate their heritage and look to their future” and “Church Readies 1700th Anniversary Amid Assassinations, New Leadership | New head of Armenian Apostolic Church wants to bring order.”Etchmiadzin, the official Web site of the Armenian Apostolic Church, appears to be defunct.
