Etchmiadzin Wants to Govern Armenian Diasporan Churches’ Finances: Hraparak

Board of trustees members of Armenian Apostolic churches located in different cities in France recently sent an open letter to Primate of the Armenian Diocese of France, Archbishop Norvan Zakarian, reports local daily Hraparak.

In the letter, board members of the church’s governing body expressed their concerns of the situation in the French diocese; in particular, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin’s attempt to change the existing procedure, so that Etchmiadzin and the Catholicos of All Armenians will govern churches instead of local community councils.

The trustees, in their letter, state many of them find such a governing process to be incomprehensible. The French-Armenians’ second concern, reports Hraparak, is that Holy Etchmiadzin wants to the get the finances out of the hands of Armenia churches in the Diaspora and manage them itself. Currently church finances of Armenian churches in France are managed by the decisions of the board of trustees.

Note that His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, had visited France in December.

This is the most talked about subject of the Armenian community in France today, reports Hraparak, and is also widely covered by the French-Armenian press.