Epress.am News from Armenia
“If a person dies and doesn’t have a place [a cemetery lot], we secure a place for him in a family cemetery, in a lot of 3–4 meters, not more, and if he doesn’t have family, there are lots in newly constructed cemeteries, 1 meter by 2.5 [meters], only one person is buried there, and a gravestone is placed,” said Special Service of Population CJSC Assistant to the Executive Director Gabriel Gabikyan at a press conference today on funeral services in Armenia.
Gabikyan also discussed the system of receiving a cemetery lot:
“The relatives [of the deceased] approach us with a doctor’s notice, that notice is entered into the Registrar’s Office, [they] get the death certificate from the Registrar’s Office and come to our department, where they pay 26,900 dram [about $74 USD] for digging the hole.”
According to Gabikyan, about 15–20 burials take place in Yerevan daily.
Father Shmavon Ghevondyan, the priest of St. Hovhannes Church, also at today’s press conference, said that at one time the deceased was taken to church, but today the deceased is placed only in Noragavit Church.
Building luxurious mausoleums, in Father Shmavon’s opinion, smells like competition. Furthermore, the priest considered the act of covering mirrors with various cloths in the deceased’s home to be a pagan practice.
“It would be better if funeral services, prior to beginning activities, came to an agreement with the church. Since they become the bearer and transmitter of wrong actions,” said Father Shmavon.
The priest also noted that the Armenian Church is against cremation.