According to Father Vahram Melikyan, Director of Information Services of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin (in the photo), His Holiness has refused to listen to the recording.
– Recently, in the Netherlands, there were many discussions in the press and social networks about the sermon of priest Armen Melkonyan, accusations were voiced against the leader of the Armenian Diocese in France and against the All Armenian Catholicos. What is the Holy See’s position on this?
– First of all, I would like to inform that Armen Melkonyan was ordained a priest in Syria, for a short time he delivered a sermon in Der Zor and Lebanon, and then about twenty-five years ago, he has got a paper of being in a free position and is no longer under the power of the Catholicosate of Cilicia. Later, he delivered service in the Armenian Diocese of Germany and today, he remains among the clergy of the diocese as a visiting pastor. Not being in the accredited service, at times he is invited by the Diocese to St. Masses and other ceremonies. It has been over months, even more than a year since the issue of service with priest Armen is discussed under the subordination of the Western European Patriarchal delegation, also taking his place of residence into account, for which he was requested to submit relevant documents. He has also come to the Holy See connected with this issue. There can be no talk of his dismissal as there was no directorate by the delegate of the Western Europe Pontifical about his service. Therefore, connecting this issue with his participation in the demonstration in front of the Embassy of Armenia to the Netherlands is not appropriate, and there is no need to speculate the issue by Father Armen as well as other circles.
– Priest Armen said that he has sent a package with the information about Vahan Bishop. Have you received such a package and what does it contain?
– Yes,The Holy See has received the letter from priest Armen. It should be noted that the recording contains statements about the personality of the Catholicos of All Armenians. Noting it condemnable and unacceptable that Armen has secretly recorded his conversation with Vahan Bishop, His Holiness has refused even to listen to the presented recording. Such a step is not appropriate for a clergy, moreover, when it comes to the relations between the two spiritual brothers. Such a phenomenon must be excluded inside the church life and cannot be a way to the favorable settlement of the problems. The clergyman expecting justice from the Holy See should not have allowed this kind of behavior and, moreover, taken such measurement to justify his own actions.
– What is the solution of the problem?
– It is necessary to present the truth rather than talk profusely. Obviously, such a situation cannot be tolerated. No priest can be guided by whim to serve here or there. Considering the importance of the clergy in the European Communities, yes, options have been discussed to call priest Armen for a permanent service rather than to remain in the status of a visiting pastor.
But the spiritual service as written in the spiritual pledge implies obedience to church rules and ecclesiastical authority. I as a churchman cannot perform mass or any other service where I wish without the awareness and permit of the ecclesiastical authority of given territory, in this case, without awareness and permit of the Western Europe patriarchal delegate. I think priest Armen knows this very well, whose consecration no matter comes from God, however, is thru the people endowed with ecclesiastical authority. I repeat, being a serviceman of the Armenian Diocese of Germany, in accordance with the Church laws, he cannot conduct service Mass and other church services outside the territory of the Diocese and in other communities under other ecclesiastical authority without the awareness of the church leader of given territory. Consequently, no need to be guided by time-serving, to artificially complicate the problem and try giving it all-national sonority.
Also in this sense, to avoid guiding the community life to the bifurcation, by the urging of All-Armenian Catholicos, Pontifical Delegate Archbishop Vahan privileged the service of the recent offerings. It is also absolutely unfair to our fellow brother to present the request of the leader to the Community Department under the light of his own “heroism”. The Holy See is convinced that the leader of the Armenian Diocese of Germany will take the necessary steps to correct this behavior adopted by the servant of his diocese. The Holy See also addresses a call of sobriety to priest Armen. The church mission is to bring peace and blessing to the community rather than become a cause for undue disturbances.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
