Supreme Spiritual Council Issues a Statement
On December 1, the Supreme Spiritual Council met in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, under the presidency of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. During the meeting, the Council discussed, among other issues, a publicly published letter of His Beatitude Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, Patriarch of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In this regard the Supreme Spiritual Council has issued the following statement:
“We express our concern regarding the letter of the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Archbishop Nourhan Manougian; which was addressed to the Catholicos of All Armenians, but was first publically distributed on the Internet, days prior to being delivered to His Holiness.
The Supreme Spiritual Council considers the manner of the steps taken by His Beatitude Archbishop Nourhan Manougian as unacceptable, who casts a shadow on the high ranking position of the Patriarch, with inappropriate language and actions for a clergyman, harming the reputation and prestige of the Armenian Church, and trying to defame the Catholicos of All Armenians, the members of the Church Representative Assembly, and the bishops. It is unfortunate that false accusations are being put into circulation by the Patriarch, particularly relating to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin turning the Jerusalem Patriarchate into a Diocese.
On the eve of the 100th anniversary of Armenian Genocide, the Supreme Spiritual Council urges His Beatitude Archbishop Nourhan Manougian to recall his episcopal oath offered before the Holy Altar of Descent to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and to the Catholicos of All Armenians.
“..but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).
The Supreme Spiritual Council expresses their high appreciation and offers support to the Brotherhood of St. James for their dedicated service, exhorting them to continue to preserve the Armenian rights of the sacred places in the same zealous spirit for the vibrancy of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church”.
