On November 24-26 in Tbilisi a conference took place, the title of which was “Christianity in our life – yesterday, today and tomorrow”. Representatives of different religious organizations were participating from Georgia and foreign countries. In order to participate in the conference the organizers asked the Armenian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia to present a report, named “Christianity and State”. The Bishop of the Armenian diocese in Georgia Vazgen Mirzakhanyan entrusted his advisor on legal issues Levon Mirzakhanyan to prepare a report. The topic of the report was “The Armenian Diocese in Georgia – History and the Present”. Some parts of the report will be presented to our audience.
“Under historical circumstances the Armenians have always been one of the greatest minorities of Georgia and the Armenian Apostolic Church has existed here for centuries. According to various sources it has existed since the 5th century. During the course of many centuries the Armenian diocese has erected over 600 churches and religious monuments. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of Georgia the country started the process of democratization. And one of the biggest components of democracy is the provision of freedom. However, there are a few issues in Georgia in this regard, the most important one of which is the legal issue. There are no laws to regulate religious freedom. Meanwhile, the issues regarding the identification of the churches belonging to the Armenian diocese for centuries are not solved. That’s why we think it’s crucial to…”
Solve the legal status of the Armenian diocese in Georgia,
Improvement of the Georgian legislation, which would regulate the religious freedom and the activity of religious organizations.
Give to the Armenian diocese those churches that belonged to the Armenians in Georgia for centuries.
During the presentation of the report the former member of the city council of Tbilisi Mr. Jondi Bagaturyan reacted quite aggressively. When L. Mirzakhanyan finished the report he was bombarded with questions. Historian Marika Lordkipanidze asked how the Armenians could insist that the churches were Armenian, because those churches are Georgian. There were Georgian inscriptions found there and during excavations Georgian tombstones were found. The former rector of the State University of Tbilisi Roin Metrevele screamed out that Mr. Mirzakhanyan’s report should not be taken into account and discussed at all. The audience advocated those suggestions, however, later changed their minds and let Mirzakhanyan answer those questions. Later offensive words were heard about the Armenian diocese in Georgia and its representatives. The academicians and professors, who took part in the conference, say that the reports presented by the Armenians should not be included in the package of discussions of reports. However, the Metropolit Daniil of the Orthodox Church said that he was the one to head the Editorial Council and no one had a right to forbid anyone to express personal opinion. However, he also mentioned that the Editorial Council didn’t like the report very much.
During the whole reporting period the behavior of Bagaturia trespassed all the limits of elementary politeness, he even insulted the Metropolit Daniil. At the end of the conference professor Davit Muskhelishvili asked for a permission to come up with a speech. He said, “Dear Mr. Levon, there was no Armenian diocese in Georgia neither in the 5th nor the 25th centuries. Do you know what a diocese means?”
By A. Avagyan