Christmas mass reception in Istanbul’s Armenian Patriarchate passed in tense atmosphere

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. A quarrel took place during the Christmas reception at Istanbul’s Armenian Patriarchate over the election of the patriarch, Agos reports.

The reception, led by patriarchal locum tenens Archbishop Garegin Bekchyan, was attended by ethnic Armenian lawmakers of the Turkish Parliament Selina Dogan and Garo Paylan, Armenia’s permanent representative to the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Arsen Avagyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Istanbul's Armenian St. Slavery hospitalPedros Shirinogluand other representatives of the Armenian community.

During the reception Iskender Sahingoz, head of the foundation of the St. Mary Armenian church of Ortakoy, considered painful the recent statements of Archbishop Aram Ateshyan and locum tenens Bekchyan. “We read with a great regret the statements of our two archbishops in the media. Such accusations against each other harm the community and humiliate us. The number of people visiting the Church has decreased and this is due to you, the clergymen! The clergymen should immediately solve this issue”, he said.

In response locum tenens Bekchyan said: “Events took place in Armenia which I was not aware of. We needed to post an announcement at the patriarchate’s website over the incident and we did it”.

Chairman of the foundation of the St. Hovhannes church of Gedikpasa Harutyun Shanli said the clergymen should play a uniting role instead of expressing dissatisfaction towards each other. “It is necessary to show respect to the position of the locum tenens. It’s time for us to open a white page and forget the past. Our clergymen should use their capacities to unite the community”, he said.

Harutyun Shanli also commented on Ateshyan’s statement made in Armenia in July 2017 where he called some members of the Armenian community “uneducated”, strongly criticizing the clergy for such behavior.

In response to Shanli’s statement, Ateshyan accused him of dividing the community.

Bishop Sahak Mashalyan in his turn said as long as there is an uncertainty over the election of the patriarch, the discussions will continue.

The reception ended after the prayer.