Catholicos Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, asked for people to join the prayer for Armenian hostages on November 10.
“We are convinced that such a global prayer held by the World Council of Churches will encourage the participation of Christian communities, diplomatic missions, media representatives, and all relevant international organizations,” said Catholicos Karekin II. “It is our sincere hope that this spiritual effort will raise global awareness of this ongoing humanitarian crisis and will promote a peace-bearing solution, based on truth and justice.”
Answering this call, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is inviting all people of good will to join a prayer day for Armenia — for peace, for support for refugees, and the release of war hostages—on November 10, the day before the opening of the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan.
The military aggression against the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh in September-October 2020, followed by the ten-month-long total blockade of the Lachin corridor and the forced displacement of around 120,000 Armenians from their ancestral lands in September 2023, remains a critical concern.
Catholicos Aram I, Armenian Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, joined in calling for a day of prayer.
“We urge all faith communities, international bodies, and people of good will to join us in prayer, while strengthening efforts to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all Armenian prisoners of war, still detained in Baku, Azerbaijan,” he said. “We remind the international community preparing to meet in Baku for COP29, that justice and peace are closely interconnected and cannot be separated. We cannot call for climate justice without condemning violations of human rights.”
