“Atheists were more church-loving”
Clergymen of the 12th century Goshavank (Gosh Monastery), which has been under the Armenian Apostolic Church and has been considered a religious structure since Armenia's declaration of independence, provide services on occasions. There are plants on the domes of the churches, and there are even trees growing in certain places.
Charik Grigoryan, who has dedicated forty years of his life to the preservation of Goshavank, tells tourists visiting the monastery that Mkhitar Gosh wrote the acclaimed rule book at this monastery and that the book was law for people in Armenia, Eastern Europe and even nomadic Ghpchans. Grigoryan also regrets to mention that the monastery is losing its splendor and spiritual significance.
The "We Won't Keep Silent" youth initiative is raising voices on the danger of extinction of historical monuments in Armenia within the framework of the program for preservation of the country.
"We are concerned with the fact that church representatives are keeping silent. It seemed as though it should have been the most interested. Monument experts keep silent because they prefer to speak of the state of Armenian churches in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia, but they forget that the situation is troubling in Armenia as well," member of the initiative's council Ashot Poghosyan told "A1+".
Ashot says the lack of the society's spirituality shows the miserable state that historical monuments are in.
The members of "We Won't Keep Silent" initiative call on benefactors building new churches not to forget about preserving the historical heritage. "The Soviet authorities that had proclaimed atheism as a state ideology, even as a cultural monument, paid more attention to the preservation of churches," Ashot says.
With Slavonic pronunciation, but in pure Armenian, Armenology student at St. Petersburg State University, Elly Ponomoryova complains that in Armenia and Russia, the government and benefactors trust non-professionals when they procure funds for restoration of historical monuments.
