Social and political organizations of Javakhk express dissatisfaction on decision of Armenian Apostolic Church and Georgian Orthodox Church in the case of St. Hambartsum church in the village of Gumburdo

ArmInfo. A number of Javakhk  socio-political organizations express dissatisfaction with the  decision on the case of the Surb Hambartsum church in the village of  Gumburdo (Kumurdo), adopted by the Armenian Apostolic Church and the  Georgian Orthodox Church.

According to the message, which received ArmInfo, representatives of  Organizations believe that the Javakhk Vicariate follows the status  of a diocese. In this regard, the Union of Intellectuals, the Javakhk  People's Movement, the Javakhk public organization and the Virk party  jointly wrote a letter to the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II,  the Supreme Spiritual Council, the Catholicos of the Grand House of  Cilicia Aram I, the Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church Grigor  Petros I, The Armenian Evangelical Church, the Armenian Evangelical  Unions of North America, France and the Middle East, in which they  expressed their conviction that the decision on the church in the  village of Gumburdo was hasty.

"First of all, not the belonging of the above-mentioned church should  have been decided, but it was taken with the participation of several  persons, moreover, in a hurry." In general, the indignation of the  villagers occurred when, during the so-called restoration work, the  graves of the apostolic period are destroyed.Whether the graves,  which are at least 700 years old, are not monuments, part of history,  or are the ancient khachkars who are the same age as why they were  removed? On what grounds in the joint statement is the bishop  asserted is that the temple was never apostolic, in the case where  there resting ministers Apostolic Church - Ter-Matevosyan, blood  relatives of the world famous singer Charles Aznavour, Levon  Ter-Aznavuryan and others, "said in the letter.

At the same time, representatives of the Javakhk organizations are  perplexed by what Armenian roots could have prevented UNESCO from  taking it under its protection. "Who is responsible now for this  vandalism?" The villagers collected 500 signatures and appealed both  to the clergy of Armenia and Georgia, as well as to the political  authorities, so that the bones dug from the destroyed graves were  collected and buried in the courtyard of the temple with a khachkar a  natural desire that contradicts the interests of the GOC, it became  clear to all of us that they are pursuing far-reaching goals than  simply restoring the temple as a historical monument, and in general,  the actions of the Georgian authorities and the Georgian Orthodox  Church are not Christian, or Aryan, "the letter reads.

In the statement, the organizations also deal with the problem of the  absence of clergymen. They note that for many years Javakhk Armenians  have not been provided the conditions for training young people as  spiritual ministers. "In the Apostolic churches, there are no  clergymen ready to act.For these 20-odd difficult years, despite our  numerous requests, the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in  Georgia has not created the conditions for the preparation of  clergymen among the Javakh youth. Catholicos of All Armenians, but  now the proclamation of a separate diocese of Javakhk is a  necessity.As for the number of churches and the population (about 200  thousand people), Javakhk corresponds to all In addition, the  presence of high-ranking clergymen in the region will become a real  deterrent to the aggressive ambitions of the Georgian Orthodox  Church. If we are supported in this matter by the Catholicos of the  Great House of Cilicia, Aram I, we would be very grateful to him. We  ask you to consider a fundamental renewal of the diocese AAC in  Georgia: The security of the Armenian population of Javakhk becomes a  priority issue and we ask for your support, " noted in the  circulation.