Archbishop Nurhan Manoogian, Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, in his letter to His Holiness Karekin II, raised the issues that we, Armenians, both secular and spiritual are worried about. The reason perhaps is so essential: neither this archbishop nor the former leader of France’s diocese, Archbishop Norvan Zakarian, who is taken under the protection of the Patriarch, definitely will not be ranked among the saints, just as Catholicos of All Armenians. Principally, Jerusalem Patriarch is right when he says that there can not be healthy offspring in the atmosphere of fear and intimidation, the mother church and the people will suffer, while there is more need for advanced and puritan clergymen than the heel lickspittles.
Especially, during the period of this His Holiness a system has been created, where the only guarantee of official progress of the priest is to fawn the superior, when any independent, freethinking is punishable, when the words of praise about the subordinate is perceived as an insult addressed to the superiors. All this, of course, promoted the grayness of spiritual atmosphere (or, if you want, tepidity) and discrediting of our church. Apparently, some personal characteristics of the Catholicos play a certain role here, in the presence of which, spreading mediocrity around, and demanding unconditional obedience and adulation is natural.
But there are “shades”, the matter is not private. Otherwise, the situation at different levels of state institutions or parties will differ from the Holy See. And the fact that it does not differ, its vivid manifestation is that special people are kept in both the state systems and the parties, whose duty is to “give a strong rebuff” to all those who have noticed an eye brow above their ‘boss’s’ eye. The so-called staff ‘lickspittles’. There are parties and institutions, where this “strong rebuff” is written by the first person, and then give it to sign to his “dependents”. The Soviet-style leaders simply reflect the Soviet style society.
Of course, it would be desirable that the clergies and the religious sector be above all. But it is not real. The priest can not be apart from social diseases. If the culmination of the public aspirations, let’s assume, is a gorgeous car, the clergy should also dream about it. If the most respected figure is the ‘businessman’, the priests also, to the extent of possibility, should strive towards the business sector.
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That was always and everywhere. Catholic cardinals lying hugged by courtesans were signing orders on publicly burning the wives, who betrayed their husbands.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
