Romanian Orthodox Church delegation Supports refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh

A delegation of the Romanian Orthodox Church met with representatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church during an official visit aiming to establish a framework to support Armenian refugees from the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The meetings are taking place in the context of a fundraiser organized by the Romanian Patriarchate in 2024 to aid Armenian refugees. The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church approved the fundraiser in its meeting on February 29.

The Romanian Patriarchate’s delegation visiting Armenia from July 23 to July 26 consists of Father Ciprian Ion Ioniță, Patriarchal Counselor at the Social-Philanthropic Department of the patriarchal administration, and Father George Lepădatu, Counselor at the Economic-Financial Department.

An initial meeting took place on Tuesday at the Armenian Patriarchate’s headquarters. During the meeting, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, expressed gratitude to His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel for the support provided and spoke about the good relations with the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Archbishop Natan Hovhannisian and Bishops Datev Hagopian and Kevorg Saroian also participated in the meeting. The Armenian representatives expressed their joy at the Romanian Orthodox Church’s involvement in helping the refugees.

The Romanian delegates conveyed His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel’s best wishes and discussed the Romanian Orthodox Church’s efforts to assist refugees from Ukraine and Syria.

In the coming days, the two delegations will visit the temporary housing of the refugees.

In November 2023, representatives of religious denominations in Romania held a meeting to seek support solutions in the context of the humanitarian crisis of Christian refugees from the Nagorno-Karabakh province in Armenia.