Patriarch remembers 1915 genocide

Patriarch Kirill spoke in the Orthodox Cathedral of Yerevan on Wednesday after laying wreaths to a memorial to some million and a half people who perished in the 1915 slaughter of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks:

"Had it not been for their Christian faith, the Armenians would have vanished altogether. As would certainly have the Russians, if they hadn't drawn on their Orthodox faith to withstand war, repression, famine and atheism".

The people in the fold of the Russian Church and the Armenians share Christian values, which makes them all brothers and sisters. The Russian Church hopes this will stay unchanged for millennia.

At the memorial, His Holiness planted a fir tree in an alley which contains over 130 such floral tributes from VIP visitors to Yerevan.

Over 40 countries have already officially recognized the 1915 slaughter as genocide. Early this month, a committee in the US Congress voted 23 to 22 in favour of a House resolution to this effect. Turkey disagreed and warned of diplomatic complications with the United States.