Catholicos Aram I Condemns Indictment, Court Hearing of Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II
Karkin II to Attend Court Hearing Alongside Bishops
His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilician on Thursday condemned the Armenian government indictment of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians.
In a statement issued by the Cilician Catholicoste, Aram I called the indictment and the subsequent court proceedings, scheduled for Friday “unacceptable and condemnable.”
“Our two Holinesses are in constant contact with each other and consult on issues affecting our Homeland and the nation. We expressed our deep protest to His Holiness Karekin II, and even suggested that he not appear in court and send his representative,” Aram I said in his statement.
“We call on state officials, as we have often done, to show respect for our church and the person of His Holiness and to examine issues within the bounds of mutual understanding and propriety, respecting the laws of the state and the internal order and rules of the church,” Catholicos Aram I added.
Despite pleas by Aram I for Karekin II to not attend the court proceedings Friday, the Holy See of Etchmiadzin announced Thursday that the Catholicos of All Armenians and the other members of the Supreme Spiritual Council who have also been indicted, will personally attend the hearing Friday.
The information was conveyed by Father Yesayi Artenyan, Communications Director of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, in an interview with the News.am news agency on Thursday. Artenyan said that Bishop Vahan Hovhanessyan will not attend the proceedings, since he was not in Armenia.
Ara Zohrabyan, an attorney representing Karekin II and others wrote on his Facebook page that on Friday, at 4 p.m., the first session of the preliminary court hearing of the criminal case against Karekin II and the six bishops will take place in Vagharshapat—better known as Etchmiadzin—at the court of first instance of general jurisdiction of Armavir Province.
Zohrabyan also confirmed that the Pontiff and the other clerics will attend the hearing.
“The state’s interference in the decisions of the Catholicos of All Armenians to recall a diocesan primate [of the Armenian Apostolic Church] and deprive him of the status of bishop is a violation of the fundamental principle of Church autonomy, the state-Church constitutional relations, and religious freedom, and a shameful historical event. The Armenian Patriarch is being prosecuted for fulfilling his ecclesiastical and canonical duty,” the attorney said.
“In this criminal case, the court will examine not only the accusations brought by individual persons, but also another important question: can secular authorities invade the internal life of the Church and criminalize the exercise of the canonical authority of the Catholicos of All Armenians?” Zohrabyan added.
