My Turn
The Armenian Church should immediately defrock all rebellious clergymen
Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of the United States, issued a highly controversial statement last week that caused further turmoil by aggravating the existing contentious relations between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Recently, Abp. Derderian also signed a joint statement with nine other dissident high-ranking clergymen and Prime Minister Pashinyan, calling for the resignation of the Catholicos of All Arm
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Not only should the Church defrock them, but also excommunicate them.
I agree with Steve M’s “modest proposal” and Mr. Sassounian’s condemnation of clergy whose political behavior leads only to division and disunity of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church. We must not tolerate worldly, self-serving clergy in our church who put politics and their own personal goals above the Gospel, and we cannot allow political machinations to shape the Church into a political tool.
Which is why I propose to extend the defrocking/excommunication recommended above to all the clergy who pledge allegiance to the schismatic “Catholicosate” of Antelias and who are card-carrying members of the ARF first, members of the Armenian Apostolic Church second.
Antelias has led a schismatic sect of the Armenian Church since the birth of the post-Soviet Armenian republic. While there have been political/geographic divisions of the church in our history that have resulted in the unfortunate necessity for multiple catholicoi, there is absolutely no legitimate theological or canonical reason for Antelias to be home to a Catholicos when the entire Armenian Nation has one homeland and one Mother See. The Catholicosate in Antelias serves one purpose only: political expediency and influence on the part of the ARF.
Let us put to rest this sin and shame in our Church and get rid of the anti-Catholicosal structure in Antelias whose very existence is an example of the venal and worldly abuse of the sacred Church that Misters Sassounian and “M” identify and denounce in Pashinyan and Archbishop Derderian.
But, I believe we can be a bit less revolutionary and more charitable than they. I move to amend Steve M’s modest proposal: Let those who want to remain faithful to the vow they took to the ARF be simply defrocked (after all, they have “rendered unto Ceasear” their allegiance), and those who wish to serve the Lord and His Gospel instead of a political party be graciously accepted into the fold under a Patriarchate in Antelias under the jurisdiction and oversight of Etchmiadzin with no ties to the ARF or any other political organization, foreign or domestic. That would be most charitable and just and would, at long last, resolve a division in the Armenian Church that has done untold damage to the souls of Armenian faithful in the Diaspora and has no place in the Republic of Armenia.
Is there a second to this motion?