Why am I not particularly interested in whether or not Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II has a daughter — a rumor I’ve been hearing for at least thirty years?
There are many reasons, and one of them is that the “examination” of the Catholicos’s or other clergymen’s moral or canonical fitness is being carried out by people who have absolutely no such right — neither legally nor morally.
People whose actions have led to our country’s terrible territorial and human losses; who are willing to subject Armenia to new humiliations just to keep their seats; whose propaganda is aimed at the moral decay and division of society; and who, finally, use these tabloid-style stories to distract the public from the catastrophe they themselves have brought upon the country.
That catastrophe is in no way comparable to the personal problems of high-ranking clergymen. Moreover, the possible sins of senior clerics — regrettable as they may be (if they exist) — do not undermine the institutional foundations or hierarchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. But inciting defrocked former priests to defy their superiors’ decisions is a step directed toward weakening the Church. And at the root of it lies “politics” — if one can call clinging to power politics at all — because the Church may stand in the way of their political self-preservation.
Read also
To present all this as a struggle for high moral standards is simply absurd: there is no moral or ethical dimension here whatsoever.
I’ve also heard the argument that “both sides are equally bad.” I disagree — there is no symmetry here. On one side is the Church, with all its problems; on the other side is the government — with its police batons, NSS* bugs, fabricated cases against priests, and obedient courts. Through these tools, the authorities are pursuing their political aims.
…I too have written a lot about senior clergymen. But I don’t have batons or “bugs” in my hands.
*Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS)
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
