By Dr. Arshavir Gundjian, C.M.
Alas, Mr. Pashinyan…It is very difficult for us to understand the shortsighted thinking, amidst the already fragile current psychological state of the country, that led you, with provocative and crude language targeting the leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church, to ultimately humiliate only yourself and your immediate circles.
Mr. Prime Minister, we have expressed repeatedly the demand of the overwhelming majority of the knowledgeable Armenian populace for you to bring together all the important structures of our people so that we may be able to overcome the great existential dangers threatening our homeland and nation today.
It is unacceptable for all of us that not only have you made practically no effort in this regard until today, but on the contrary, you and your immediate circle, obviously with your encouragement, use a vocabulary which is most incendiary for polite ordinary Armenians, and declare war against the senior hierarchs of the Armenian Church. We must infer that you deliberately ignore that the Armenian Church, with its worldwide structure, has been for 17 centuries and remains, despite certain shortcomings, one of the most important factors assuring our national survival.
Under these circumstances, Your Excellency, in order to remain consistent, we are compelled to remind you again that our supreme national interests demand that you, in this period of grave crisis, consider it your primary and most serious immediate obligation to create a platform for national unity, where all the important structures representing the power of the entire Armenian people, whether operating in the homeland or in the diaspora – political, intellectual, scientific and yes, even spiritual – come together. It is only with all our combined and coordinated forces that we can build the powerful defenses which will hopefully permit us to effectively fight and ultimately overcome the current unprecedented vortex of global dangers.
It is simply not permissible for any of us, especially you, Mr. Prime Minister, under the current crisis conditions, to ignore or weaken any of the roots of our national resilience, in this case in particular the Armenian Church.
