March 16 will see the beginning of the construction of the Moscow Patriarchate's third church in the Armenian capital, Yerevan - an event that will be consecrated by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who arrives in Armenia early on Tuesday. The move will further contribute to fraternal ties between Moscow and Yerevan.
Echoing her words was Catholicos Karekin II, head of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church, who also hailed the burgeoning bridge-building between the peoples of Armenia and Russia. The top Armenian cleric is currently in Moscow to accompany Patriarch Kirill during his trip to Yerevan. The hope is that the construction of another Russian Orthodox church on Armenian soil "will help cement even further what are already long-standing bilateral relations, which add to our people's happy and prosperous life", Karekin II told reporters in Moscow earlier on Monday:
"Patriarch Kirill's current visit to Armenia is keeping with an atmosphere of friendship that is currently in place between our people and Churches, Karekin II says. Citizens of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh rightly perceive Kirill's visit as another confirmation of full-scale bilateral cooperation that has been developing since time immemorial, he underlines".
It is a great honor for me to contribute to the construction of the Yerevan-based Orthodox church, Karekin II says, citing the Orthodox People Unity Fund prize he got in Moscow earlier in the year.
The Holy Armenian Apostolic Church is lending spiritual support to tens of thousands of Orthodox believers from the ex-Soviet republics, who currently reside in Armenia. For its part, the Russian Orthodox Church is propping up Armenian Orthodox believers who now live in countries which have no churches of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church.
One of the world's oldest Orthodox churches, the Armenian Apostolic Church was founded in the early centuries of Christianity and is referred to as a so-called pre-Chalcedonian church. It strictly adheres to traditions of the first Christian believers and warns against dividing them into eastern and western successors of Jesus Christ. For their part , Patriarch Kirill and Catholicos Karekin II have frequently pointed to the same spiritual values their Churches are currently sticking to despite the two's different approach to dealing with major religious holidays and services. Significantly, we defend the same faith and the same values despite an array of differences in our cultural background, they both said.
Please rate: