The law regarding those groups has been passed by the Supreme Council
of the Republic of Armenia way back in 1991. There have been some
changes and fill-ins made by the National Assembly in 1997 and in 2001.
However, there are many flaws and contrasts in the law, basically, it
is not being applied. According to Priest Ghevond Mailyan, who is the
owner of the Center of Christian Discipline and Preaching in the Holy
See of Etchmiadzin, “the law regarding the religious activities says
that apostasy is forbidden. The religious groups disobey that law. They
take away the members of the Holy See, or as they call it “shape them
up” and include them in their group. The 8th article of the law states
that apostasy is forbidden in the Republic of Armenia, while on the
other hand religious groups criticize that law claiming that it
represents itself as a sort of privilege for the Armenian Apostolic
Church, for example conducting lessons about history of religion,
preaching through the means of mass media, etc.”
Heretics in Armenia
After the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Evangelical church is the most
active in founding benevolent organizations. The law states that the
state may not charge fees from these groups. According to official
data, the Evangelical church has 5000 members. The Armenian Catholics,
18,000 in number, do their job in the north of Armenia and Javakhk. The
Pentecost is more active in Armenia (25,000 members). Some members of
the Pentecost movement are registered, while others are not registered
but work in the villages of Armenia.
The “Jehovah’s Witnesses” movement started in the U.S. over 150 years
ago. Its founder was Charles Russel. The meeting site for Jehovah’s
witnesses is in Brooklyn-one of the suburbs of New York. The
organization has not been registered in Armenia due to the contrasting
views in the law and charter of the Republic of Armenia. The statistics
claim that the followers of this sect in Armenia are about 18,000
people. According to other statistics, this number has reached 28,000
in a year and a half. Jehovah’s witnesses do not participate in any
state or national holidays, considering them a manifestation of
idolatry. They do not celebrate birthdays, death anniversaries, they do
not believe in the Holy Trinity idea and wait for the Armageddon-the
end of the world.
The lair of the Jehovah’s witnesses
You don’t have to look hard to find the heretics on the streets of
Yerevan. They will come to you, smiling and they will try to start a
conversation with you about any topic. That’s how it started with me
when I met two Jehovah’s witnesses. I was passing by the Yerevan State
University at night. Two women with smiles on their faces approached
me, greeted me in a civilized manner and asked me something about the
“miseries of life”. I immediately understood where the conversation was
going to lead, but I got entangled. They were middle-aged women, nicely
dressed, fairly decent. They were smiling, but their eyes expressed
nothing. After a couple of minutes, the women invited me to the next
Jehovah’s witnesses meeting. I welcomed the invitation but I confessed
that I was a journalist and that I was only coming based on curiosity.
We exchanged telephone numbers. They said that they had to consult with
the “management” and then we could make an appointment. They called me
in the evening and we arranged to meet the next morning. It was a
Saturday. The “Jehovah’s witness” by the name of Hamaspyur greeted me
not far from the Yerevan Cognac factory. That was where they gathered,
in one of the private homes. It was a newly built building with fruit
trees. Many people of different ages, families, all dressed properly,
men dressed in white shirts came to this house which looked almost the
same as the rest of the houses. Everyone knew each other and at first
they warmly welcomed me as “Sister Sona”. I noticed that the house was
being supervised. One of the broad-shouldered boys who also wore a
white shirt was first at the gates, then he moved towards the garden.
This meeting was going to be held at the “royal hall”( as they call
it). There were seats in rows, there was a “podium” for preachers, and
inside there was a sort of strange atmosphere. Anyway, that was how I
felt. They handed out the “Ditaran”(Observatory) periodical to each
person (this was their periodical published in the U.S. and translated
in Armenian). Then they rose and read some kind of prayer. That day,
one of the “brothers” from America was going to read a lecture. After
analyzing the lecture, I understood why many heretics state that the
reason for not joining the sect is connected with not understanding the
Holy Testament. Here, they interpret the Bible however they see fit.
I could not stand reading the “Ditaran” and I left the “royal hall”.
The broad-shouldered boy was following me in the garden and did not
leave my side for one second. We started talking. He told me that he
had fought in the Karabagh war, but now he thinks that these “national
ideas” are wrong and that Christianity has not given anything to
Armenians. Finally, one of the witnesses named Gegham approached me. I
had made an appointment with him to give an interview. This man who was
so firm in his belief was trying to explain why he was clinging to this
organization. He told me that he had been baptized in Geghard when he
was 40 days old. “When I started to read a lot of literature, one thing
was always on my mind-where was God in 1915? If God has power,
mightiness and does not use that power at the right time, I will not
worship that God, or kneel down to him, or I don’t know, light
candles…something which my people do and I myself have done. When my
wife and I got married, we got interested a lot. We read books by
different religious groups, we joined many 50s, evangelicals, apostles,
studied the book by Krishna. We have learned that we say “Our Lord,
high up in the heavens, may your name be saint.” What is God’s name? My
name is Gegham.” I asked him if he and his wife had tried to get
answers from the evangelicals of the Apostolic Church, and he gave the
following reply: “I say the prayer of “Dear Lord” to anyone who I have
met and before I used to wait for an answer which was either going to
be from the Bible, something logical, something illogical. The
individual goes with that and believes it. I consider that person to be
a fanatic. They were not able to answer my question. One time in a bus
I met a person who had the Bible in her purse. She said I am a
Jehovah’s witness and I said fine, can we chat. She immediately gave
the answer to my question and I found out the truth. After that, I got
baptized in 1993 and became a Jehovah’s witness.” I asked Gegham to
provide me with some information about their organization in Armenia
and he told me that I had to go to the information center. The next day
they refused to give me any information.
What are you looking for around here?
In order to explain the goal for these religious sects and what they
are doing in Armenia, Priest Ghevond Mailyan used a quote by director
of one of the religious sects Ron Hubbard: “If you want to become a
millionaire, start a new religious movement.” In many parts of the
world, religious sects do not pay taxes. However, in France, the
“Jehovah’s witnesses” sect is not considered as a religious sect and is
forced to pay billions of taxes.
P.S. After writing my first article on Jehovah’s witnesses, some
strange things started happening to me that had never happened in my
life. Evangelists explained that it was proof that I was not ready to
communicate with them….
P.P.S This spring, the “Jehovah’s witnesses” religious sect has
appealed to the “Ethnic minorities and religious issues” department of
the government of the Republic of Armenia in order to get registered.
Experts are currently observing the “Jehovah’s witnesses” charter.