Epress.am News from Armenia
Father Sarkis Hovhannisian, the pastor of the Armenian Apostolic Church serving the Armenian community in the Bulgarian city of Varna, who was assaulted at a night club last summer, it turns out, has always had lovers and has consistently abused his wife.
Epress.am spoke with Father Sarkis’ ex-wife Victoria, who is currently in the process of getting a divorce and shared some details of their life together.
“It wasn’t like that in the first 2 years of our marriage; then he began to drink, to hit. At first I thought I can’t voice this issue because I wouldn’t have anywhere to go if we divorced: my parents are common people, they were living in Bulgaria without a passport [i.e. papers], and my husband was frightening us, [saying] through the use of law enforcement agencies he will send them back to Armenia. Then, when we had a child, Sargis continued the beating and coming home drunk. After the birth of the child, when I said, I will divorce you, he said he’ll snatch the child from me, he said, ‘if you’re prepared never to see your child again, the doors are open, leave.’ And I stayed with him because of the child,” said Victoria.
Note, Father Sarkis has filed for custody of the 6-year-old child in a Bulgarian court.
Victoria was unable to explain why Father Sarkis wanted to keep his family and is now fighting to keep their son.
“I don’t know why he wants to keep his family, many people said he was behaving this way in order to remain in his position [in the church],” she said.
“I made the decision to divorce him when I came to Armenia in 2007. At that time, he forbade me from bringing my child, then when I returned, the child described how [his father] had taken him to his lover’s place and did certain things with his lover in front of his eyes. After that, I decided to finally divorce him. At that time, he began to threaten me, [saying] ‘if you want to get hit by a car while crossing the street, get a divorce.’ And I made the final decision when he was in Odessa [Ukraine], I tried to talk to him calmly, to get a divorce and stay in Bulgaria, but he was against that,” she said.
Victoria is now in Armenia, but, according to her, her husband’s threats haven’t stopped.
“For some time, I didn’t even leave the house. Then I found out that he had appealed to the court, presenting [the situation] as if I’ve escaped, I’m not around, I’m not at my place of residence, in order to keep the child this way. But, thank god, through my attorney I managed to appear in court, I found out 2 days earlier that he submitted an appeal, so my attorney has presented by documents.”
“Now I’ve come to ask for assistance from my country, my homeland. I haven’t appealed to His Holiness [Karekin II], but mostly likely I will,” she said.
Recall, speaking to Epress.am last week, His Holiness Karekin II press spokesperson Fr. Vahram said the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin had invited Fr. Sarkis for a “talk”; however, the latter had not presented himself since he was healing from injuries he sustained from the assault.
According to one member of the Armenian community in Bulgaria Epress.am spoke to, Fr. Sarkis is “in excellent health.” Not only that, there’s also been talk of the priest living with his girlfriend following his divorce.
Bulgaria’s Armenian community has said it doesn’t want such a pastor to preach in their community.
Fr. Vahram told Epress.am that Etchmiadzin “will keep an eye [on the situation], and after the talk and examining the case, we will be able to make a decision,” he said.