According to the Primate of the Georgian-Armenian Diocese, His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, they are first and foremost national figures
The Armenian Apostolic Church is an integral part of the Georgian-Armenian Diocese, whose center is the Mother See of Holy of Etchmiadzin. The vicariate of the Diocese is the 13th century gorgeous St. George Church, the Diocese covers also the communities of Georgia, Javakheti, Adjara and Kvemo Kartli regions, active and inactive churches. According to the Georgian-Armenian Diocese website, in 2013, the Diocese has 16 priests and 50 active churches. In 2011, the Georgian parliament passed a law, according to which the religious communities operating in Georgia could have a status. As a result, on 12 March 2012, the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia was registered as a legal entity of public law at Civil Registry Agency of Ministry of Justice of Georgia.
Primate of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan said that their Diocese has peculiarities, as the Bishop said, the priests here do not only busy with the priesthood, they are also national figures, there are a lot of problems in the community. Only 50 000 Armenians live in Tbilisi and around 300 000 Armenians across Georgia. We learned from Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan that when they are organizing an event, they let everyone know with the help of the sms-messaging. The young people are connected with the church. Only 100 young people attend dancing classes every Sunday at the “Hayartun” Center at the Church.
The Armenian young couples prefer to marry by the Church, Bishop Vazgen stresses, “We do not have a marriage that is concluded only by the Civilian Registrar’s Office, the baptism and the marriage are conducted very nicely, with two priests and everything. They decorate inside the Church, play the organ, meeting and seeing off the guests under the sounds of the bells, and flying off the pigeons.” During the conversation, there was also a reference to the manifestations of nationalism, particularly to the assail of a group of people on July 2014 against the clergy of Holy Etchmiadzin Church in Tbilisi, the staff of the Diocese and the believers.
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The Bishop mentioned that nationalism exists everywhere, but it is not encouraged by healthy thinkers. “We often meet with high-ranking Georgian clergy who are concerned, they also realize that we are doomed to be brothers. Working here, we see the importance of it, we see how both big powers and Georgia’s and our neighbors compete for the Georgian world. And if we resent and say that it is not like this, we would lose, so do they,” opines the Primate of the Georgian-Armenian Diocese.
He mentions that the Georgian Patriarch Ilya II does not forget his friendship with His Holiness Vazgen, he recalls the exclusive homage of His Holiness Vazgen to him. The Georgian-Armenian Diocese testifies that once if other religious leader arriving in Armenia were staying at the hotels, Patriarch Ilia II was becoming the personal guest of the Catholicos Vazgen at the Catholicosate. “He always remembers it, but the last twenty years have been very similar in terms of intolerance to the 1918-1920 Menshevik Georgia’s period. Fortunately, there are also those who reject intolerance.” The Bishop also spoke about the “Hayartun” Youth Cultural Centre that implements a number of projects. Incidentally, after the establishment of the Soviet regime in Georgia, Union of Armenian Writers of Georgia founded by Hovhannes Tumanyan was re-organized and renamed “Hayartun” and called after Vahan Teryan.
Currently, the “Hayartun” is functioning by the example of the structure created by Tumanyan. There are also “St. Gregory of Narek” Saturday, “St. Elijah the Prophet” Sunday Schools, Batumi “St. Mesrop Mashtots”, Kobuleti “Vramshapuh” and Ozurgeti “Sahak Partev” Sunday Schools functioning in Tbilisi. The institute of a confessor also operates in Georgian-Armenian Diocese, Bishop Vazgen informed that he also has many confessants. In his words, the black robes of the priest should not be a partition between the clergy and the believer, but to unite them, which the Georgian-Armenian Diocese clergymen are trying to do.
Gohar HAKOBYAN, “Aravot” daily
