Epress.am News from Armenia
The Georgian Orthodox Church and the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia consider discrimination on ethnic or religious grounds to be unacceptable. This was announced at a July 22 meeting of head of the Department of Inter-Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Georgia, the Metropolitan Gerasime of the Zugdidi and Tsaishi Diocese (of the Patriarchate of Georgia), and Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, during which time the parties discussed the incident outside the Armenian Holy Echmiadzin Church in Tbilisi on July 19.
The parties noted that for centuries, Georgia has been a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, where people lived and worked together. They also stressed the importance of Armenian-Georgian inter-church relations and centuries-old friendship.
A statement [AM] issued by the Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church mentions that Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan said that though there were "displays of hooliganism in what happened outside the church, unfortunately, there is also an expression of national intolerance, which is not acceptable in society."
"Valuing the history and traditions of the Armenian and Georgian people living side-by-side for millennia, at the end of the meeting both [parties] urged people to live in love and peace. They expressed hope that law enforcement agencies will find the organizers and perpetrators — in order to prevent any kind of rift among peoples in Georgia," reads the statement, in part.
Recall, Georgia's Ministry of Internal Affairs claims there were no ethnic motives behind the brawl between Armenians and Georgians outside the church.