Brother Shahe: The public has wrong perception about monastic life

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS: Holy See of St. Etchmiadzin has temporarily suspended the circulation of a press release in mass media which says that the Armenian Apostolic Church invites those who wish to live in monastic life. Holy See Brother Shahe Ananyan told Armenpress that after few responds it became clear that the public has wrong perceptions about monastic life.

“The applicants think that the church is offering job, they ask working hours, amount of salary, and such things. It is a result of cutting the root of Armenian monastic life having history of centuries,” Brother Shahen said with regret.

He told that in 1930s the representatives of the soviet emergency commission drowned monk Yeznik in the waters of Lake Sevan and destroyed the whole monastery. “This is the very case that is being mentioned in our history as the end of monastic life,” he noted. The Holy See Brother says that after such cruel and sharp stop, it is natural that it will be difficult to restore the tradition.

To fill the lack of information about the monastic life and informing the public the church is going to work out Monk Regulation to present the demands of monastic life.