Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin monk T. Partev Barseghyan, referring to the U.S. State Department published the 2013 annual report on freedom of belief, expressed bewilderment. The monk, bringing a number of arguments, said that the Armenian Apostolic Church has obtained its dominant position over the history.
Chairman of Armenia’s Helsinki Committee, also human rights defender, Avetik Ishkhanyan, in the conversation with Aravot.am, referring to the response by the Holy See, considered it expected, since as said by Mr. Ishkhanyan, the Armenian Apostolic Church has a number of state-sponsored monopolies, and in this case, it was also agreed that instead of the government, the Armenian Apostolic church would respond to the State Department’s report. “In fact, the arguments by the Holy See’s monk do not stand any examination, in the sense that the majority of us is the descendent of the Armenian Apostolic Church over the centuries. Similarly, the Soviet years can be justified that no church can be built because the majority of the population is atheist. Moreover, the intolerant attitude that exists by the Apostolic Church and the government towards other churches is taking to the split of the nation. Discriminating attitude against other religious organizations is an anti-national activity. As for the report, it was pretty objective. The only thing I did not know was that other religious organizations have no right to distribute religious literature over 1000 print copies.”
As said by the human right defender, according to the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights of Armenia, in fact, the government has adopted that there are pressures over teachers of other religious beliefs, which must be stopped; it has adopted that tolerant attitude to other religion directions in compliance with the principles of Toledo should be disseminated at schools. “Why did not the Armenian Apostolic Church say anything against this strategy?” expresses his bewilderment Avetik Ishkhanyan.
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Referring to the idea of the Holy See’s representative that it is hard to imagine that in Greece, where the majority of population are descendants of the Greek Orthodox Church, privileges were given to another church, our interlocutor said, “Greece cannot be a successful example. Greece is one of the rare countries of Europe where the church is not separated from the state. I have Greek friends, one of which now lives in Kiev. He told me that it was impossible to live in Greece, because if the kids were even sick and should not attend the school, then it was mandatory to attend the school and participate in praying. If a child did not participate in praying due to the illness, the priests were coming to his home, rebuking, and forcing him to go to chapel every Sunday. Having a great respect for Greeks, I think that with the “part” of church, the European family member Greece is still in the medieval retarded condition, which can be one of the reasons for its economic failures.”
Gohar HAKOBYAN
