Guest Posted December 25, 2000 Report Share Posted December 25, 2000 There is a widespread notion, shared even by non-Apostolic Armenians, that the Armenian Church is a key institution for our people. This is a result of the historical role of the Church over the years. I do not wish to go in any depth into this topic. I think it is fairly reasonable to state that the Armenian Church played many of the roles of a state especially during the Ottoman domination. However the contemporary role of the Church is far from clear. We have a state, full of problems, but it has all the functions, obligations and rights of a state. And nobody wants to replace it with a theocratic state or anything similar. The Church failed to assume the role of propagator and custodian of our culture in many places. Most priests are there only to clebrate mass, attended mostly by elderly people, wedding, baptisms and funerals. Where isthe Church ? It has been assigned a very comfortable place as a national church but it has not assumed many of the responsibilities that go with it. What do you think ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 25, 2000 Report Share Posted December 25, 2000 First of all let me ask you , who is the "Church" ? Is it "them" and we are "us"?Well think about it.... The Church assumed whatever role we allowed it to play. Imagine our Church and our priests involving themserlves more in depth into every Armenian's problems. I think most people would distance themselves even more from our Church. I agree with you that our Church has to play a more vital role in the preservation of the Faith and the national pride, however does it have the necessary support or mandate to do that? Does it have the necessary funds to do that? As is the case with our newly acquired independent State, which is struggeling to find its patterns of existance , so is our Church, out of decades of hybernation.Let us help both our State and our Church to find and define their role in the process of national preservation and dignity! So basicaly what I am claiming is that , if we stop looking at it as Them and Us , we might move forward with high hopes for the future for our nation. The great National Benefactor, Alec Manoukian, rephrasing JFK's words, said "Don't ask what can AGBU do for you, but what You can do for........." . [This message has been edited by raffiaharonian (edited December 25, 2000).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 25, 2000 Report Share Posted December 25, 2000 Dear Raffi, I am in no way discounting each individual responsibility on the whole process. Be it Armenia as a country or the Church. It is also not a question of we and them, or anything similar. The fact is that the Church has lost its touch with the most basic tenets of Christianity. For a long time it was a para-state structure, once it lost this function it started to decline very fast. I am not interested in blaming anybody. Just facts. Morevoer no degree of romantic militancy will solve our problems. Understanding them, is however, a major step towards improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 25, 2000 Report Share Posted December 25, 2000 Role of the armenian church? Dont ask me, how am I suppose to know the hey why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.