In the Netherlands, to attend the protest in front of the RA Embassy, priest Armen Melkonyan who was deprived of the right to pastoral responsibility in the Armenian families told Aravot.am that if patriarchal delegate Vahan bishop who had insulted his dignity as a priest and a man does not apologize for disseminating defamation against him, he will have to send such evidences to the Holy See in the end of next week that can cause a great damage to priest Vahan and his position up to becoming a ground for the dismissal of his spiritual rank.
Aravot.am asked priest Armen whether the deadline that he was talking about has expired and whether priest Vahan had contacted with him, and why the evidence are not publicized. The priest replied, “Yes, yes, I know that the deadline was until the passing weekend but I waited for one more day that he will establish a contact with me but no response. As for the evidence, I cannot disclose anything as my goal is not to cause any harm to the church. Therefore, I sent the evidence to the vicar of the Netherlands of the pontifical delegate being sure that it will reach the destination.” Incidentally, recently, another protest was held in support of priest Armen. And the community chairman Levon Sargis delivered a speech in support of priest Armen. In his words, because of Armen Melkonyan’s Nareg inspired behavior, controversy perceptions existed among the clergy, hence, the members of their board and the whole people have no other decision but to stand beside him. “No one but us can imagine the spiritual ups of our community and the unity during the years of priest Armen’s service. They have called on for the patriarchal delegation to reconsider his decision and return us our spiritual shepherd,” – said Levon Sargis. To add that priest Armen Melkonyan also spoke about the fate of sending evidence on his Facebook page where he specifically has noted, “To whom it may concern. Given deadline had elapsed and a part of evidence was submitted to the Vicar of Pontifical delegate in the Netherland to convey them to the all Armenian Catholicos’s attention. The whole package of evidence will be submitted upon request.”
Gohar HAKOBYAN
