“We are witnesses of an epoch-making event,” Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan said at the opening of the Bishops’ Synod at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
Noting that it has not been possible to organize Episcopal Conference for the past 600 years, the President said “this event is an important impulse to the pious people and is called to prove the commitment of the Mother Church to the task of uniting world-spread Armenians.”
“I’m confident that this conference will mark new progress in the Armenian religious life and will allow all Armenians to undertake the realization of national goals with greater vigor,” the President said.
“With the commencement of this meeting the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church is entering a new historic stage. It creates an opportunity to get answers to a number of questions of our religious and moral life, to reform and improve the Church’s activity in line with the modern challenges,” President Sargsyan said.
“On the threshold of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, our people continue to say “no” to crimes against humanity. It’s our duty before our ancestors, the innocent victims and all humanity to ensure the prevention of new genocides in the future. In this regard, great are the expectations of world-spread Armenians from the Armenian Church,” the President added.
“The destructive civil war continues in Syria today. It became a most heavy trial for the Syrian Armenian community. What’s happening in Syria today is our greatest pain and number one concern. At the hardest moment for the Armenian nation, Syria accepted with open arms the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and shared all it had with us. We want a political solution to the issue to be found as soon as possible to prevent the bloodshed in our friendly country,” President Sargsyan said.
