Fr. Serop Azerian Urges Texas 28th Congressional District Congregations to Reclaim Their Congressional Seat from Azerbaijani Influence
LOS ANGELES — Father Serop Azerian, a priest of the Armenian Apostolic Church, has penned an open letter to faith leaders across Texas’ 28th Congressional District, calling out Rep. Henry Cuellar for accepting Azerbaijani bribes to steer U.S. policy against Armenian Christians – and urging Christian congregations across South Texas to hold their representative accountable.
In the letter, Fr. Azerian draws on the history of the Armenian Apostolic Church – the world’s first Christian nation, founded in 301 AD – and the devastating ethnic cleansing of over 150,000 Armenian Christians from their ancestral homeland of Artsakh between 2020 and 2023. He writes that ancient churches once filled with prayers now “stand empty, desecrated or destroyed,” and that no Armenians remain in Artsakh today.
Fr. Azerian directly charges Rep. Cuellar with failing persecuted Armenians at a critical moment – and worse, actively working against them. Referencing the Department of Justice’s 54-page indictment against Cuellar, the priest describes the alleged Azerbaijani bribes as Scripture’s “thirty pieces of silver,” noting that Cuellar – now pardoned – has “never repented for his sins against Christians” and “never apologized for the grievous wound he helped inflict upon not just Armenian Christians, but upon the entire Body of Christ.”
“Every grave of the persecuted asks the living a silent question: Will you remember their pain, or allow it to happen again?” the letter reads.
Fr. Azerian closes with a call to action, urging clergy to lift up the suffering of Armenian Christians in their prayers and worship, educate their congregations, and remind their elected officials of their moral obligations.
The letter was amplified by the Armenian National Committee of America’s National Headquarters and the Western Region office, which noted that Fr. Azerian urges TX-28 Christian congregations to “rightfully reclaim ownership of this seat from the Azerbaijani government.”
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