Controversial Sermon: Did Catholicos Aram I Defrock Father Bartev for Speaking Out?
On October 16, Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia officially defrocked Father Bartev Gyulumian.
It seems that Cilician Catholicosate took offense at comments made by Father Gyulumyan during a sermon he gave in Los Angeles.
Here’s a snippet of what he said: The church is not a national institution. The church is the symbolic body of Christ. The church mustn’t be viewed as a national center or a place to be used. It must be freed of all types of partisan, Masonic and secret organizing institutions”
The video below contains more of what Father Gyulumian said as a basis for his defrocking. (See minute 16)
On October 16, the California-based Asbarez newspaper published the following news item:
Antelias –The Executive Assembly of the Brotherhood of the Cilician Catholicosate declares that taking into account the following:
a)The disobedience shown by Father Bartev
b) The fact that he tricked the Catholicosate by staying in Los Angeles and not to his new post
in Canada
c) His inappropriate comments made in an Armenian Church in Los Angeles
d) His refusal to write a letter of contrition
The Executive Assembly, according to the charter of the Great House of Cilicia, unanimously proposed to His Holiness that Father Bartev be defrocked.
