The Foot Washing Ceremony was held in the Mother Cathedral under the leadership of the Catholicos of All Armenians


A foot washing ceremony was held in all churches. In the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, according to tradition, the ceremony was presided over by the Patriarch of All Armenians. During the foot washing ceremony, accompanied by prayers and hymns, His Holiness Karekin II, the Patriarch of All Armenians, following the example of Christ, first blessed the water and oil placed on the altar, then knelt and washed the feet of 12 people symbolizing the disciples of Christ.
 

Shirak: Aghin


The secondary school in the border village of Aghin will soon be closed by government decision. The village is one of the most depopulated communities in Armenia. It is located in the northwestern part of Armenia, on the Armenian-Turkish border. This settlement in Shirak province was founded in 1872 by Armenians who migrated from Kars and Mush.

Court Decides to Question 34 Witnesses in “Holy Struggle” Case


At the hearing in the “Holy Struggle” case, the court accepted the written evidence presented by the prosecution in full and decided to question 34 witnesses. The court also granted the defense’s motion to call Garnik Danielyan and Hovhannes Avetisyan as witnesses, but at the same time found the request to question high-ranking officials, the Chairman of the Criminal Investigation Department and the Prosecutor General, unacceptable. The defense claims that the country’s top leadership is making public statements about the case from the highest rostrums that are absent from the criminal proceedings.

The Catholicos' brother and nephew have been illegally detained for nearly 5 months


At the court hearing in the case of the brother of the Catholicos of All Armenians and his son, the lawyers presented Garnik Ghazaryan's application, in which he refutes his previous statement that the Nersisyans hindered the campaign of the Republic party. After the main hearings, the defense lawyers filed a motion to lift the house arrest, but the court left it unchanged.

The government took an unconstitutional step to limit the activities of the Catholicos of All Armenians


The Mother See condemned the Armenian authorities, who, unable to correctly assess the realities and the importance of the Armenian Church’s support in the mourning of the fraternal Georgian people, rejected the petition submitted regarding the ban on His Holiness’s exit, considering the necessity of the Armenian Patriarch’s presence at the funeral of the Patriarch-Catholicos of Georgia unfounded. The Mother See emphasized that this style of behavior is reprehensible, does not stem from the interests of Armenia, and also greatly harms the country’s justice and international reputation.

The Catholicos of All Armenians was unable to attend the final farewell of his spiritual brother


Despite an official invitation from the Georgian Orthodox Church, the investigative bodies rejected the motion of His Holiness’s lawyers to allow the Catholicos of All Armenians to travel to Georgia for a few days. Attorney Ara Zohrabyan called the investigator’s refusal illegal, which not only violates the rights of the spiritual leader, but also deals a major blow to Armenia’s international reputation.

"The Clergyman in Prison"


In a penitentiary institution, the clergyman is the only one for whom the prisoner’s punishment, article, and crime do not matter. He is there to help a person isolated in four walls, alone with his conscience and past, to go through the path of repentance, penance, and reconciliation with his own soul. Spiritual ministry in prisons has been carried out since 1993, during the years when His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, was the Vicar of the Araratian Patriarchal Diocese.

Educational reforms or schools being liquidated?


The government is preparing to liquidate 229 schools under the name of “Quality Educational Services”. These schools are mainly located in border communities or remote villages in the mountains and highlands. These schools are mainly the only educational institutions in the communities, and after their closure, children will have to travel more than 12 kilometers in some cases. According to education expert Atom Mkhitaryan, residents of high-mountain villages even plan to have children in the summer so that they can take the newborn to the regional center, so how will the children of these communities go to school? It is also not yet clear who will cover their travel expenses.

The government is liquidating 229 schools on the grounds of poor educational services


According to the September 2023 decree, schools with small numbers of students are to be closed, and children are to be transferred to newly built large schools in other communities. Experts describe this as a “disguised reduction” that is undermining the viability of remote communities. The target is mainly border villages. In Syunik and Shirak alone, almost 100 educational institutions are planned to be closed.

Churches burn incense in memory of innocent Armenians of Sumgait massacre


At the end of the requiem service in the Mother See, a requiem mass was held under the chairmanship of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians. The Sumgait massacres did not receive adequate political and legal assessment, which contributed to the further escalation of violence against Armenians in Azerbaijan and the implementation of new massacres. In 1988-1990, the massacres of the Armenian population in the Armenian-populated territories of Azerbaijan, in Sumgait, Kirovabad, Shamakhi, Shamkhor, and Baku, testify to the state policy consistently implemented by Azerbaijan.

Video recordings examined at court hearing on the case of the brother and nephew of the Catholicos of All Armenians


Attorney Emin Khachatryan drew the court's attention to the factual inconsistencies underlying the accusation. According to the attorney, the prosecution claims that the Nersisyans' car was spotted in the center of the Voskehat village during the campaign, but video footage proves that the car was parked in the yard of the house the entire time. The next hearing, which will take place on March 23, is scheduled to question Gevorg and Hambardzum Nersisyans.

The Supreme Spiritual Council condemns the authorities' arbitrary, discriminatory actions


On March 10-13, a meeting of the Supreme Spiritual Council was convened in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin under the chairmanship of the Catholicos of All Armenians, the agenda of which included the issue of convening a church-representative meeting to be held in September. At the end of the three-day work, a statement was published in which the council condemned the arbitrary, discriminatory actions of the authorities, the persecution of the Armenian Church and clergy, the use of state levers to hinder the activities of the Church, and attempts to illegally interfere in church life.