Ecumenism to be a central focus of Pope's Armenia
visit
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
arrives in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Friday afternoon for his 14th
foreign pastoral visit. He’ll be spending three days in the country, travelling
to the nearby town of Etchmiadzin, seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church, as
well as to the northern city of Gyumri and to the famous Khor Virap monastery
on the border with Turkey.
Armenia was the first country
to adopt Christianity as the state religion at the beginning of the fourth
century and the great majority of people in the country today belong to the
Armenian Apostolic Church which is part of the Oriental Orthodox family.
Relations with other
Christian communities, including the small Armenian Catholic and Roman Catholic
Churches, are very good and Pope Francis will be focusing on the importance of
ecumenical dialogue and action at a prayer service on Saturday in Yerevan’s
Republic Square.
To find out more, Philippa
Hitchen spoke to Fr John Barker who heads the tiny Anglican community in
Armenia and represents the Archbishop of Canterbury for relations with the
Armenian Apostolic Church….
Fr John says there is an
impressive level of warmth, agreement and mutual understanding in Armenia
between all the different Churches.
He says the people have a
dual hope for this papal visit: firstly that the memory of the genocide, a
century ago, will be brought back into the public eye. But “just as
importantly” he says, there is a hope that “it will show again that we have the
potential to speak as one Christian voice, irrespective of whether we come from
an Apostolic, a Catholic or an Anglican background.
The Armenian Church today, he
continues, have a “very significant voice” in public life, since around 95% of
people are members of the Church and around half of those practice their faith
on a regular basis.
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