His Holiness Mikayel: "We don't respond to stupidity with a stupid act, but we have the right to receive an answer"

GYUMRI, 14 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS.Leader of the Shirak Diocese, His Grace, Bishop Mikayel Ajapahyanperformed a Requiem Mass in memory of the victims of the Avetisyans who were brutally murdered in Gyumri. The Requiem Mass was performed at the St. Nshan Church in Gyumri.

After the Lord’s Prayer and the order, His Holiness urged the people to claim, but also be alert.“There is so much sorrow in our hearts. This is a national tragedy. For the past three days, we have been trying to understand the incomprehensible, perceive the imperceptible and explain the inexplicable. The crime came as a surprise, and the criminal can no longer be referred to as a human being. For a moment, we thought we were on the battlefield, and the Avetisyans were on the frontline. That human-like animal could have entered the house of any one of us. Here we ask ourselves questions and want them to be answered. We don’t want anything else, if not peace and safety. We Armenians have always looked at soldiers as the guarantee of our peace and security, not as someone who invades someone’s home at night and kills our children. So, something is wrong, and we have to make it right. We have to clarify who the culprit is. We weren’t ready for genocide in 2015, much less from the representative of a nation with faith in fraternity. The one who perpetrated the crime was a soldier, meaning that the government is liable and responsible for giving a response, and the people of Gyumri have the right to demand a response from the Russian Federation, no matter how big and powerful that country seems to be. They call on us, and we call on you to be alert and balanced. We Armenians are balanced. We don’t respond to stupidity with a stupid act, but we have the right to receive an answer, and if in this city there is an institution that causes harm to our citizens, then the issue has to be discussed. We simply want a response. We don’t want to see bloodshed or a revolution. We are Christians. We are a strong nation. We have experienced genocide and must live, create and become stronger. The Avetisyans’ must live on. May the child recover,”His Holiness Mikayel mentioned, calling on everyone once again to pray for the little boy’s health.

Armenuhi Mkhoyan