Diocese Plays Role in Voicing Concerns of Mid-East Christians: Legate meets with Christians in Middle East

For most Armenians in America, the Middle East is more than a place mentioned on the nightly new news or a spot on the classroom map. It is the home of their ancestors and perhaps for some, the home they left behind.

While Armenian and other Christian communities in the Middle East have been diminishing in recent decades, they are still there. It was to those remaining Armenians and their Christian brothers and sisters that a group of American clergy spoke during a recent tour of the Mid-East.

“Our message was one of solidarity with the Christians,” said Bishop Vicken Aykazian, diocesan legate and ecumenical officer, who traveled with the 11-member delegation of the National Council of Churches from January 21 to February 4. “And the message we received from them was they longed for solidarity with western Christian communities.”

The trip was arranged at the invitation of the Middle East Council of Churches. Delegates included the NCC president, Christian Methodist Episcopal Bishop Thomas Hoyt, Jr., and NCC General Secretary Robert Edgar.

The delegates visited Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders during stops in Beirut, Cairo, Tel Aviv and Bethlehem.

“It is extremely important for the Christian minorities in the Middle East to know the Christians in the western world haven’t forgotten them and are defending their rights,” Bishop Aykazian said. “Solidarity with Christian minorities in the Middle East is especially important in the Holy Land, where the presence of Christians is less than two percent.”

“Now they know they have partners in the Western world who are concerned about their disappearance and the larger problems in the Middle East and in the Holy Land,” the legate added.

PROMOTING PEACE

While showing solidarity with local Christians, the group also brought a message of peace and hope for the future to the area.

“We have hope that there will be peace and that peace will continue. With the death of [Yassir] Arafat and the new efforts at dialogue, this is the best opportunity for peace,” Bishop Aykazian said.

When speaking with Palestinian leaders, Bishop Aykazian said the group asked what they could do to promote peace.

“First, they said we can help by helping Christians financially and morally,” Bishop Aykazian said. “Financial help is need for building churches; they’re in bad repair. And moral help is to go and back them up, to visit Jerusalem, be with them. There is nobody who goes to Jerusalem anymore. They have all forgotten.”

URGING VISITS

Taking up that call, Bishop Aykazian is urging all Armenians to remember and act to support the Armenians in the Holy Land.

During the NCC journey, the delegates spent five hours meeting with Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem. They met with members of the Brotherhood of St. James and toured the patriarchate and the library of ancient Armenian manuscripts. They also visited the Church of the Holy Archangels and the Cathedral of St. James.

“The visit gave all of them a chance to see that Armenians could play a very important role in the future of Jerusalem,” Bishop Aykazian said.

He urges Armenians in the diaspora to learn about the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, to get involved in supporting it and its work, and to make a special effort to visit.

“Since the problems started in Armenia in 1988 – the independence movement, the earthquake, the war with Azerbaijan – Armenians in the United States have done a lot for Armenia, and it is right to do such a thing,” Bishop Aykazian said. “But it doesn’t mean they should forget Jerusalem and the Armenian Patriarchate, which has been completely forgotten by the Armenians of the Western world.”

“There’s no financial help, not even moral help. So my request is: I invite the Armenians in the diaspora to go and visit and bring their financial contributions to the Armenians in Jerusalem. It is a must, especially today more than any other time. So I hope that that Armenians will do something to encourage our brothers and sisters in Jerusalem.”