AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR CATHOLICOI IN ETCHMIADZIN AND CILICIA

Dear Catholicos Karekin II and Catholicos Aram I:

I am responding to a commentary which appeared in the 
February 15, 2003 issue of TAR Int’l.   It was entitled, Embracing 
Change--A Tough Assignment.   It was coauthored by Reverend Giragos 
H. Chopourian, Ph.D. and Ara Bouloutian.   I know both of these 
men and I have the highest personal regard for them.

The commentary I’m referring to was directed to His Holiness Aram I 
of Cilicia and it was complimentary, to say the least.   However, 
since you have both acknowledged that our Armenian Apostolic 
Churches are religiously one, I felt it only prudent to address 
this open letter to both of you--even though outside of worthless 
rhetoric, neither of you has done very much, if anything, to unite
 our physically divided Armenian Apostolic Churches and communities 
here in North America.

Father Artoon Sempadian in a commentary entitled, Division in the
 Armenian Church which appeared in the February 8, 2003 issue of 
TAR Int’l, traces the beginning of our disunity back to Cilicia
 1441 AD when the National Ecclesiastical Assembly invited the 
incumbent Catholicos Gregory IV Mussapegian to relocate back to 
Etchmiadzin where the Armenian Apostolic faith took roots.  But
 Catholicos Gregory IV refused.  Thereafter, Giragos I was elected
 as Catholicos of All Armenians and Gregory IV was deposed.

In his commentary, Father Artoon explained why the Holy See of 
Etchmiadzin found its way to Cilicia and back again, but I will
 not elaborate since it has no bearing on why I’m writing this 
open letter.  Suffice it to say that all the decisions to make
these moves were made by the hierarchy.  And as for the root
 cause of the initial separation, it was also created by an 
incumbent Catholicos.

Your Eminences, I cite this because every time there has been an
 effort made by our people to reunite our churches, the response
 from our church leaders has always been that you fellows are only 
following the will of the people.  And since this is not true, then
 what’s going to keep our Patriachates from declaring themselves 
Sees and anointing their own Catholicos.  Moreover, if Father 
Sempadian is accurate in his commentary and I have no doubt that
 he is, then I have to wonder if after 562 years, you who are the
 highest vested leaders of our Christian faith haven’t been able
 to bring ser miootyun (love and unity) back into our Christian 
lives, how can either of you, in good conscience, lead us onto 
the righteous path to eternity?   You try to cover up this major
 flaw by saying, We are religiously one and only administratively
 divided.  Yet I don’t ever remember our Lord ever using the word
 administratively, nor do I remember seeing the word, administratively in either the Old or the New Testament. 

In closing, I would like to say that it was Catholicos Aram’s 
booklet about change and renewal, which triggered Chopourian 
and Bouloutian’s commentary.  But you will note, Dear Sirs, how 
they described that those who have influenced progressive moral 
change are still remembered while those who cling to the past and
 who do nothing are readily forgotten.


In short, those who have ‘talked the talk’ and ‘walked the walk’ 
have won their honored places in the archives of our world, where 
those who have only ‘talked the talk’ in order to selfishly win favor
 have been readily forgotten.

Holy Fathers, time and circumstances have given both of you a chance
 to make history.  If you can overcome the accumulated indifferences
 of 562 years, you can also unite our churches and make us religiously
 whole again.   DESTINY IS ON YOUR SIDE  -- MAKE US PROUD.

Joseph Vosbikian