FORUM SYNOPSIS:
Armenian Apostolic Church: Past, Present and Future(August 16)

On Wednesday, August 16th, Birthright Armenia forum was dedicated to the Role of Armenian Apostolic Church: Past, Present and Future. The invited speaker was Father Ktrij Devejian, Foreign Press Secretary of the Catholicosate of All Armenians.

He began the conversation with a simple question addressed to the audience: Why are you here?

Probably all the volunteers have been asked that question a number of times before, and they definitely asked that question themselves. Father Ktrij's opinion on this issue is that Armenia is a Birthright as well as places where everyone was born or grew up. But besides that there is another Birthright for all Armenians, which is the Armenian Apostolic Church. "The Armenian Church is part of national identity of every Armenian whether you like it or not" he said. "And the environment in which you live has shaped your attitude towards the Armenian Church. You can't separate the Armenian People from the Armenian Church, because you can't learn Armenian History without learning Armenian Church History and you cannot understand Armenian culture without taking into consideration the role of Armenian Church in it" he continued. Father Ktrij stressed the notion that the Armenian Apostolic Church has always shared the destination of the nation. "Genocide was perpetrated not only on the intellectuals and the masses, but also on the Church" he emphasized.

The Armenian Church played a very important role during the history of our nation. Father Ktrij named dates when Christianity was the dominant factor in our history: The adoption of Christianity in 301, the invention of the Armenian alphabet in 405, the battle of Avarayr in 451. These historic facts show that the Armenian Apostolic Church was always on the frontline of Armenian history. The Church played the role of the protector of national identity and fought against assimilation processes during different invasions.

Father Ktrij then switched gears to address another facet of the church. He said that the role of a priest according to Father Ktrij is lead the way, to set a personal example, and to offer others the option to follow. "There is no church without people, if the priest is alone in the church and there is nobody else there, it is not a church" he said.

Speaking about the recent independence of Armenia, the speaker stated that the Soviet period provided a serious challenge to the authority of the Church. Only after the independence of 1991 was it possible to record some progress in terms of bringing the Church and its message closer to the people. "During these last years, the number of priests has reached a hundred, and all them are attaining higher education in philosophy, sociology, marketing, economics and many other majors in the best universities of Europe and North America, and equipping themselves to best be able to help the church and the country."

In the question and answer section, a debate ensued regarding the terminology "Armenian Christian" with Father Ktrij arguing that a person cannot be an Armenian if he/she is not a Christian at the same time. He opined that even if a person seems to be disconnected from Christianity, "God and Christ have not abandoned that person" and Christianity has shaped that person's life from the day they were born. One volunteer in particular countered that faith is a matter of personal choice much more that ethnicity. "One is born Armenian, but later may or may not adopt Christianity at a conscious age".