Mother See: Georgian Church is intolerant
"The Supreme Patriarch respects Patriarch Ilya's age and experience," head of the divan of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Bishop Arshak Khachatryan announced during today's press conference. Commenting on the latest information that the Patriarch of All Georgians Ilya called Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II "an inexperienced youth who rushes to get everything", Bishop Arshak added that this announcement didn't fall in line with the logic of etiquette of the church leaders' relations.
Overall, Khachatryan gave a positive assessment of the Supreme Patriarch's five-day inter-ecclesiastical and pontifical visit to Georgia. However, His Holiness regretted to mention that the Georgian Church's recent intolerance toward other churches and religious organizations impedes the speedy solution to existing issues facing the sister churches to a certain extent.
"The ethnic and religious minorities face many issues in Georgia. At the same time, the Georgian government has taken on several obligations in front of international organizations that will be implemented sooner or later," mentioned His Holiness Arshak.
According to him, the Mother See doesn't object the granting of the status of a legal person to the Georgian Church by following the example of other religious organizations registered in Armenia. The clergyman says Georgia is obliged to do its part by showing the same attitude toward the Georgian-Armenian community and the church diocese.
He added that these issues were discussed during the meeting with President Sahakashvili and the latter expressed willingness to support the solution to those issues.
Overall, His Holiness Arshak says he gets the impression that the Georgian Church is trying to turn the inter-ecclesiastical relations into market relations by putting forth demands that it presents for itself. According to him, the claims for several Armenian churches located in northern Armenia fit in this logic.
Mother See Inter-Ecclesiastical Relations correspondent, Archbishop Yeznik Petrosyan told "A1+" that the Georgian-Armenian Diocese used to have 457 churches and 3 monasteries before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, of which nearly 300 are situated in Georgia. Petrosyan added that the Mother See intends to create a separate Armenian Diocese in Javakhk.
