Armenian Diocese in Georgia Has No Legal Status to Return Armenian Churches to its Ownership

It was only two weeks ago that a neglected Armenian church, St. Kevork of Mughni, collapsed in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 1989, Karmir Avetaran (The Church of the Red Gospel) of Shamkhor (in Tbilisi’s Armenian quarter, Havlabar, collapsed, while St. Minas and St. Nshan churches in Tbilisi are in poor condition.

The fate of Armenian churches in Georgia is connected with the fact that the Armenian Apostolic Church does not have status as a legal entity and thus cannot oversee its historic heritage (as Armenian churches are under the jurisdiction of the Georgian church), while Georgian authorities don’t particularly concern themselves with saving Armenian churches from ruin, not even as historic monuments found within their country.

“The Armenian Diocese of Georgia doesn’t have leverage in such a way as to influence the return of Armenian churches to its Diocese,” stated St. Kevork Church priest Narek Ghushchyan to local Armenian daily Capital. According to Ghushchyan, the Diocese has consistently raised this issue for the past 7 years.

“The church is truly unsafe, though that doesn’t justify the local authorities’ actions, since the church has become unsafe due to neglect. At one time, when it was possible, in one way or another, to reconstruct and save it, at least as a historic monument, it wasn’t done. The fact is, that in 1989, St. Astvatsatsin [Blessed Virgin] Church of Shamkhor collapsed; this year it was St. Kevork of Mughni. It’s unfortunate that, though we have on numerous occasions appealed to different bodies, even to [Georgia’s] president, we haven’t seen any results.

“And today, according to Georgian officials, the parliament is not prepared to adopt a law on religion recognized by church clergy. They don’t accept the law, [and] the Armenian church, from a legal standpoint, cannot provide solutions to the issues,” said Ghushchyan.

Earlier, announcements had been made that the collapsed church would be rebuilt within a year. But the priest is not convinced that Georgian authorities are prepared to take on big expenses in order to rebuild the church.

“In the case of St. Kevork, Georgian governing authorities waited, until it collapsed, and now they’re making promises. There’s another issue: after the church collapsed, from November 19 onward, all the clergymen and employees of the Armenian Diocese of Georgia, at least a few times, have come to the church and they are keeping a close eye on the situation, while not a single person from the Georgian Orthodox Church has gone or inquired, though they argue that the church is theirs. The Georgian Ambassador in Armenia had promised that the church will be rebuilt. If that is so, then why do they keep insisting that it’s not an Armenian church, but a Georgian one?” concluded the priest.

Source: Tert – Original Article

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