Category: News

Photo: Tony Savino

Archbishop of the Armenian Orthodox Church will make a rare visit to Naples, the reports.

Unlike the archbishops of most churches, who are tasked with baptizing or confirming or ordaining around their diocese, Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, of the Armenian Orthodox Church, comes to Naples this weekend simply to be with his Southwest Florida flock.

It will be his first time here since 2006, a cause for major celebration, with two dinners and the church’s service, known as the Divine Liturgy, on Sunday.

Naples is receiving the Eastern U.S. archbishop at a fortuitous time, too: In the Armenian church, Sunday is “The Day of Good Living,” the last day before the Orthodox penitential season of Lent begins.

This congregation is holding its breath until Saturday. Archbishop Barsamian was actually scheduled to visit last year but was summoned at the last minute to a conference in Armenia.

“So we held the banquet anyway, but he couldn’t come,” recalled Frank Avakian Stoneson, parish council chairman.

Stoneson knows the archbishop; he worked for him in the Eastern diocese office in New York for 10 years.

“He’s a real Christian spirit,” he said. “He has really pushed for ecumenism, and he’s served on interfaith organizations around the world.”

He also invited the public to experience the two-hour Divine Liturgy, a formal event with ecclesiastical robes and a sermon from the archbishop, on Sunday: “If you haven’t been to one, it’s a great experience.”

The Naples parish is considered a mission because it does not have its own sanctuary. It meets at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Davis Boulevard, bringing in a priest for its service, known as the Divine Liturgy, twice a month.

Nearly half of its members are seasonal, Stoneson said. The congregations dwindles to about half its 100-member count during the summer. There’s an average of one baptism a year, according to records with the national church.

That isn’t a concern to its leaders. There is a history of loyalty to the Armenian church and to its adherents’ struggling homeland. Their faith to them is “like the skin of our bodies,”  Archbishop Barsamian said from his office in New York.

“We don’t proselytize,” he added “But for someone who wants to adopt our faith, we welcome them in.”

If anything, the Armenian church has been fostering communion with other religions rather than taking from them, Archbishop Barsamian said. He was one of the founders of an annual dialogue among Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic church, tackling the tough theological points that could divide them.

It has brought about revelations that churches have misunderstood each other for years, perhaps centuries, when they could have been collaborating. An example in mind is the nature of Jesus Christ, whom all consider the son of God, but whom some churches don’t consider as ever having been human.

“We believe in two natures of Christ. He was human and divine,” he explained. After one of its ecumenical dialogues the discovery came that they all believe the same thing: “All the theologians see there was misunderstanding in the past. Some of it had to do with languages — now that some of those texts are translated they see there was a wrong interpretation.”

Even more surprising were the statements of Pope Francis at the dialogue’s conference last year. The pope addressed the assembled group with the idea of a “unity where no one is higher than the other.”

That is a watershed moment for Orthodox churches, which each have prelates but have always understood Catholicism to insist the pope is the universal head of the church. It was “a breakthrough,” said Archbishop Barsamian, that still excites him: “So having different heads for churches does not create any obstacle to communion. It looks like Pope Francis is in favor of this.”

All of those may be in his message to the faithful this weekend. But Archbishop Barsamian says his primary message to Naples will be the one that bedevils Christianity everywhere — that we are in danger of becoming that “Material Girl” Madonna sang about. That, and the rise of secularism, that separation of church from daily life, worry him most.

“That’s a challenge, especially in the Western World,” he remarked. “Is that the intent of life?”

“In defiance to the calls of the international community, the demands of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries to strictly adhere to the 1994-1995 ceasefire agreements and to refrain from the use of force and threat of use of force, last night the incursion attempt by the Azerbaijani side on the Line of Contact between Azerbaijan and Artsakh, is Baku’s another blow to the efforts by Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries exerted towards the peaceful settlement,” the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

“While continuing attempts to undermine the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg on creation of conditions conducive to the advancement of the negotiation process, Baku intentionally escalates situation, initiates new provocations,” the statement reads.

“We once again draw the attention of the international community, and first and foremost, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries to the strict necessity to sober up Baku and to bring it to the reality,” the Ministry said.

The Azerbaijani side undertook another attack on the front troops of the Artsakh Republic last night. The enemy incurred losses and was thrown back, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

“The military-political leadership of Azerbaijan had been aggravating the situation at the line of contact for several days and spreading misinformation.

After the losses incurred last night, the Azerbaijani side was again speaking about “attacks” of the Armenian side to mislead its own people and the international community.

“The Armenian side is committed to the maintenance of the ceasefire regime and calls on the Azerbaijani party to refrain from further aggravation of the situation,” the Defense ministry said.

“The military-political leadership of Azerbaijan bears full responsibility for tension at the line of contact,” the Ministry said.

Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisyan has posted a video, proving the fact of the offensive Azerbaijan undertook last night.

“The first circle ndicates the launch of the “Tropa” demining system. The second shows the dust that rises after the launching of it, also as the response fire opened by the Armenian side. The third one shows the Azeri troops escaping under Armenian fire. The vide footage reflects the actions in the direction of Akni (Aghdam). The corpses of the Azerbaijani soldiers are clearly seen at the end of the video,” Artsrun Hovhannisyan clarified.

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs have been informed about the Azerbaijani offence attempt.

“Armenia informed OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries on Azerbaijan offensive attempt,” the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Twitter post.

The Azerbaijani side used special equipment as it in the southeastern and eastern directions of the line of contact at 03:00 and 04:00 respectively

The Azerbaijani side used special equipment as it launched an offencive in the southeastern and eastern directions of the line of contact at 03:00 and 04:00 respectively, the Artsakh Defense Ministry reports.

“The attempt was a complete failure,” the Ministry said, adding that, as usual, the Azeri side tried to ascribe its actions to the Armenian side.

In particular, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry issued a statement, claiming that the Artsakh forces had undertaken an attack with a view of improving their positions and noting that the Azerbaijani side had incurred losses in the “defensive.”

Press Service of the  Artsakh Defense Ministry declares that the claims have nothing to do with reality. The Ministry adds that the defending side could not have left losses in the neutral zone.

An agreement on the elections of the Patriarch of Istanbul has been reached after two days of discussions at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

Bishop Sahak Masalyan, General Vicar of the Patriarch of Istanbul Aram Atesyan and Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Germany Karekin Bekdjian came together in Yerevan for a meeting chaired by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

Thus, the Locum Tenens will be elected by the Clerical Assembly by March 15. The elections will terminate the powers of the General Vicar of the Patriarch Aram Atesyan. The Bishops will have equal rights to participate in the elections of the Locum Tenens.

After the elections, the Clerical Assembly will form a commission comprising clergymen and secular figures to organize the transfer of power from the General Vicar to the Locum Tenens.

The elections of the initiative group will be organized within 10 days after the election of the Locum Tenens. The group will, in turn, organize the elections of the Patriarch of Istanbul within a six-month period.

An Islamic State car bomb killed more than 40 people on Friday in a Syrian village held by rebels backed by Turkey, sources in the region and a war monitor said, a day after the jihadist group was driven from its last stronghold in the area, Reuters reports.

The blast hit a security checkpoint controlled by rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army (FSA) banner in the village of Sousian, killing 41 people including 35 civilians, the sources in the region said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said 42 people were killed.

Asbarez – The Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) calls upon the international community to pressure Azerbaijan to respect its international promise and imprison Ramil Safarov, the Azeri lieutenant responsible for the horrific murder of Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan.

The ANCC condemns the pardoning and rewarding of this convicted killer by the government of Azerbaijan.

On February 18, 2004, while both men were participating in a NATO-sponsored course in Hungary, Azerbaijani lieutenant Ramil Safarov axed to death Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, when the latter was sleeping. Safarov subsequently admitted to the murder, and was convicted by a Hungarian court and sentenced to life in prison for his heinous act. Hungary had consistently refused extradition until August 2012, when it allowed Safarov to return to Azerbaijan, under assurances and promises by Azerbaijani officials that he would serve out his full prison term. However, upon his arrival in Azerbaijan, Safarov was welcomed as a hero, received a full presidential pardon by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and was promoted to a Major rank in addition to receiving various compensations.

Commenting on the issue, ANCC president, Shahen Mirakian said “With a track record of complete disregard for international law, and continuous abuse of human rights, Azerbaijan cannot be trusted as a credible partner to the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) peace process brought forth by the OSCE Minsk Group.

“By not calling on Azerbaijan to imprison Safarov, the international community sends a message that it will not uphold Azerbaijan’s obligations in respect to the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) peace process.” said Mirakian.

Since the internationally brokered ceasefire of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) conflict, Azerbaijani forces have repeatedly attacked the Republic of Artsakh’s border on multiple occasions, targeting ordinary civilians, women and children.

These ongoing violations of the ceasefire in the Artsakh conflict represent an escalation of the ongoing disregard by Azerbaijan for the efforts of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France, to solve the conflict peacefully.

“Azerbaijan’s latest actions are another clear example of how the Aliyev regime continues to incite ethnic hatred and violence, and threaten peace in the region; all in an effort to deflect focus away from its own corrupt practices” said Mirakian.

The extradition and pardoning of Safarov in 2012 raised concerns in the OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairmanship countries of Russia, France and the United States (where both the White House and Congressional leaders strongly expressed their concerns regarding Azerbaijan’s actions) and the Canadian parliament. Despite international calls on Azerbaijan to abide by its promise to the Hungarian authorities and imprison Safarov, the axe murderer continues to live freely in Baku today.