Armenian Church Leaders Need to Be Elected Transparently

How and why this took place is unknown and would need further research by historians as it became the cornerstone of the relations between Church and State in the Armenian populations around the world.

Two Catholicosates within the Armenian Church

The existence of two Catholicosates within the Armenian Church, namely the Catholicosate of Echmiadzin (the Catholicosate of All Armenians), and the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, is due to historical circumstances. In the 10th century, when Armenia was devastated by Seljuks, many Armenians left their homeland and came to settle in Cilicia where they re-organized their political, ecclesiastical, and cultural life. The Catholicosate also took refuge in Cilicia.

In 1375 the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia was destroyed. Cilicia became a battleground for hostile Seljuks, Mamluks and other invaders. In the meantime, Armenia was having a relatively peaceful time. The deteriorating situation in Cilicia on one hand and the growing cultural and ecclesiastical awakening in Armenia on the other, led the bishops of Armenia to elect a Catholicos in Echmiadzin. The latter was the original seat of the Catholicosate, but it had ceased to function as Catholicosal See after 485.

Thus, in 1441, a new Catholicos was elected in Echmiadzin in the person of Kirakos Virapetsi. At the same time Krikor Moussapegiants (1439-1446) was the Catholicos of Cilicia.

Therefore, since 1441, there have been two Catholicosates in the Armenian Church with equal rights and privileges, and with their respective jurisdictions. The primacy of honor of the Catholicosate of Echmiadzin has always been recognized by the Catholicosate of Cilicia.

Throughout much of its history, the Armenian Orthodox Church has been an instrument of the Armenian nation’s survival. It has, indeed, been the church, as believed by many, that has preserved Armenian national consciousness during the many centuries in which there was no Armenian state.

The Armenian Church played a significant role in the succession of Muslim empires in which its faithful were located. Because some of these were divided according to religious affiliation, the leaders of the Armenian were, in fact, also politically responsible for their communities.

The Armenian Church was greatly affected by two phenomena in the 20^th century: the genocide in Turkey, in which 1.5 million died, and the Sovietization of eastern Armenia, which ushered in seven decades of official atheism. The Genocide essentially destroyed the church in Turkey, where only a remnant remains. It has also profoundly affected the way in which the Armenian Church approaches the idea of suffering in this world. Without closure, Armenians around the world feel a psychological void which the church tries to fill by directing them to believe in God Almighty through their own ecclesiastical stewardship.

The church, however, thrived in the Armenian Diaspora, and regained its strength in newly independent Armenia.

Echmiadzin today is led by Catholicos Karekin II. He was previously a Bishop in Vienna, then Yerevan and was elected the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians on October 27, 1999, when more than 450 delegates from Armenian Church jurisdictions (tems) around the world met in a National Ecclesiastical Assembly at Holy Echmiadzin, the Church’s Mother See. It is reported that the election rules indicate the voters should be one third from the clergy and the rest from the public.

Of course, the public was not informed of his background, education, administrative abilities, or personal characteristics. We were also not informed who these 450 delegates were, where they came from, their affiliations or how many other candidates there were, how many rounds of votes did it take to reach a final choice, or what the results were. The only fact we are aware of is that the road to becoming Catholicos goes through being Archbishop of Yerevan.

There are many different versions of the process which led to his election including interference by political parties, diasporan funding and influencers as well as internal Echmiadzin power struggles. He was, finally, elected amid political turmoil in Armenia and he promptly appointed his brother Primate of the Armenian Church in Russia.

His consecration and enthronement followed on November 4,1999. As the 132nd in a continuous line of Catholicoi dating back to the fourth century, Catholicos Karekin II presides over the Supreme Spiritual Council (the Armenian Church’s governing the college of bishops), and is the chief shepherd of the world’s majority of the 7 million Armenian Apostolic Christians.

He is today 74 years old and is fluent in Armenian, Russian, and German and has held his position for the last 26 years. His legacy will, undoubtedly, be of great interest to future historians with particular emphasis on the lack of modernization.

On the other hand, there is the Great House of Cilicia with its seat in Antelias, Lebanon.

Historically, after the Catholicosate in Sis was robbed and ruined by the Turks, then Catholicos Sahak II followed his flock in exile. After wandering in Syria and Lebanon, in 1930, he established the Catholicosate in Antelias, Lebanon. Thus, a new era opened in the history of the Catholicosate with the organization of Dioceses and the founding of a new theological seminary. The Armenian people spread all over the world looked at the Catholicosate with new hopes and expectations.

Once again, allow me to offer yet a different way of looking at this development. In the 1930s the world was in turmoil at the beginnings of World War II and Nazi Germany organizing to invade other European countries as well as Stalin’s Soviet Union. After the end of this war, the world was divided by the Iron Curtain and Armenia was part of the communist Soviet Union. It was then that the Armenian Diaspora very intelligently decided it would be wiser to disengage from communist Soviet Armenia and Antelias became the Western Armenian Diaspora’s religious center.

Since then, the Great House of Cilicia, very much supported by the relevant political party of the Armenian Diaspora, carved out its presence in the US, Canada, Venezuela, Greece, Cyprus, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar.

In April 1995, and for the first time ever, Catholicos Karekin II of Antelias, was also elected Karekin I, Catholicos of All Armenians in Echmiadzin, Armenia. The hopes of the world Armenian population took heart that, finally, there would be a united Armenian Church. He died in 1998.

In June 1995, Archbishop Aram Keshishian, the Primate of the Armenian Church in Lebanon, was elected Catholicos of Cilicia by an Electoral Assembly (tems) composed of 185 clergy and lay delegates. Once again in this case, the public was not informed of his background, education, administrative abilities, or personal characteristics.

Nor were we informed who these 185 delegates were, where they came from, their affiliations or how many other candidates there were, how many rounds of votes did it take to reach a final choice, or what the final results were. The only fact we are aware of is that the road to becoming Catholicos goes through being Primate of Lebanon.

Today he is 79 years old and is fluent in Armenian, English, French and adequate Arabic while he has held his position for the last 30 years. His legacy will be that he pursued notoriety by preaching and being very active in Ecumenical matters of the Church while maintaining strict control of dogma and the ranks of his Church. Here, again, insistence on the past and no vision of the future will, probably, be a cornerstone of his reign.

Given the above knowledge, let us now take a critical look at where the Armenian Church stands in the 21st Century.

Whereas, the now late, Pope Francis broke a lot of barriers during his 12-year reign and tried to bring the Catholic Church into the modern new world, the Armenian Church staunchly remains orthodox to the teachings and dogmas of the 10th and 12th centuries.

It may have something to do, or not, that both Catholicoi are products of the 1940s and refuse to open, even a little, the parameters set up many centuries ago maybe fearsome they may lose control of their flocks.

There are numerous areas in the everyday life of Armenians around the world which are restricted by the Church. Do incoming candidates to the priesthood pass psychological tests to decide whether they are appropriate to wear the cloth? Should we look at why Armenian women are strictly forbidden from baptizing newborns? Or that same sex marriages are forbidden in the Armenian Church? And why? They are not God’s children or has the Church decided they are less human, aliens or need to be ostracized? Why are there no women priests in the Armenian Church? Why does not the Church bless cremated Armenians? Why is Armenian clergy using the ancient Armenian language (krapar) hardly understood by today’s majority of their churchgoers? Reminds one of the Roman Catholic Church struggling with Latin and turning her mass into the language of every country they are present in during the 1990s so they can be understood from Rome to Kenya and from Sydney to Buenos Aires.  And, last but not least, when will there be transparency in the process of electing the next Catholicoi whether in Echmiadzin or Antelias?

It is fully understood that dogma in any church is the cornerstone of her existence. Political parties also have their dogmas expressed in their existential philosophies of with which they justify their actions and  attract followers. Societies have their own development of behavior, progress, and mechanisms to adapt to future needs. This ability to adopt new ideas and adapt them to the public, whether through political parties or the Church, is totally void in the Armenian population around the world today. Traditions are wonderful to honor and follow if they meet society’s needs. Let me not even mention the role AI may play in the future of the Armenian Church’s existence which will be the subject of a future discussion.

So, given the lack of transparency of how the Catholicoi are elected whether in Echmiadzin or Antelias, the participation and interference of political parties in the election of the religious leaders and the subsequent influence of the Catholicoi in State affairs and decisions, how can one identify the separation of Church and State in Armenian life?

So, in the continuing struggle between the Old World and the New World, will there be any changes in the Armenian Church of the 21st century? I suppose the next Catholicos in Echmiadzin will be the current Archbishop of Yerevan or the Archbishop of Moscow and spiritual leader of some three millions Armenians in Russia alone and the next Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia will be the Primate of Lebanon or, maybe, the now celebrated Archbishop of its Western Diocese being the spiritual leader of some one million Armenians in that region with all the necessary credentials he has developed in his thirty years of service to-date?

We are witnessing the Catholic Church’s conclave of cardinals gathered to elect their new leader. The cardinals will be the only ones deciding, not the Prime Minister of Italy or political parties. Maybe an example for the Armenian Church to follow.

Let God’s be God’s and Ceasar’s be Ceasar’s!

(Miran P. Sarkissian  lives in Athens.)