Mother See: Armenian Apostolic Church ‘has no statute’ claim has nothing to do with truth, reality

News.am

Recently, the unfounded claim that the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church (AAHC) has no statute has been deliberately circulated in the press and by various individuals. The Armenian Apostolic Church has for centuries been guided by the canons adopted by church councils and by patriarchal encyclicals, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin noted in a statement it released Thursday.

“It was still during the reign of Vazgen I, Catholicos of All Armenians, that the Armenian [Apostolic] Church embarked on creating the Constitution of the AAHC, the work on which continued under Catholicos Karekin I and, on a broader scale, during the tenure of the current Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II.

During the Church-Representative Synods (CRSs) convened at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in 2009 and 2014, the statutes of the National-Church Synod (NCS), the Church-Representative Synod, and the Supreme Spiritual Council (SSC), as well as the guidelines for diocesan, parish statutes, were approved. These approved and completed statutes are operational in our church, and their final ratification must also be carried out by the NCS.

Therefore, the uncalled-for claim that the Armenian [Apostolic] Church ‘has no statute’ has nothing to do with truth and reality. Moreover, the relevant committees established by directive of the Catholicos continue the work in this direction, to finalize the AAHC Constitution, the adoption of which will become a truly important and landmark event in the life of our church.

At the same time, we must sadly record that the work of the committees drafting the statutes has been disrupted, since their chairpersons are currently unlawfully imprisoned.

As for the convening of the NCS, we deem it necessary to emphasize that it has been and remains the wish of the Catholicos of All Armenians to convene the NCS once every seven years to discuss the problems and challenges facing the Armenian [Apostolic] Church, to provide solutions to existing issues, and to outline the priorities of our church’s activities. Unfortunately, it was postponed due to the [coronavirus] pandemic and the Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] war [in 2020]. We hope that in the near future, an NCS will take place at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, which will respond to and provide solutions to the raised problems and concerns,” added the statement of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.