Epress.am News from Armenia
Fr. 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, has accepted the invitation by the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin and is now in Armenia, Etchmiadzin press spokesperson Vahram Melikyan told Epress.am today.
According to him, the meeting date has not yet been set.
Recall, on Jul. 31, 2010, Fr. Sarkis was attacked in the well-known nightclub Arrogance at the Golden Sands resort in Varna. On his way to the washroom, a few people attacked him with blows to the head, which resulted in an injury in Fr. Sarkis’ right eye. He was admitted at a local hospital for emergency surgery; for a long time, there was the threat of permanent blindness in that eye.
Fr. Sarkis apparently had told a police officer he had gone to the night club with his friend visiting from Russia, where they had simply “drank two [glasses of] 50 [grams] of whiskey.”
Rumors floating among the Armenian-Bulgarian community also note that the pastor is involved in the drug trade.
Speaking to Epress.am earlier, Fr. Vahram had 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.
Meanwhile, members of Bulgaria’s Armenian community had said the pastor was “in excellent health.”
There are rumors floating around among the community that Fr. Sarkis is living with his girlfriend following his divorce, and the Bulgarian-Armenian community doesn’t want the pastor to preach to them.