BOTH ARMENIAN CATHOLICI EXPRESS THEIR SUPPORT TO NEW PRESIDENT

YEREVAN, APRIL 21, ARMENPRESS: Head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, His Holiness Karekin II, seated in the Holy Mother See of Etchmiadzin and Catholicos Aram I, head of the second Armenian Catholicosate in Antelias, Lebanon, paid a visit today to Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian.

The government press office quoted Catholicos Aram I as saying that due to concourse of circumstances he was unable to attend the inauguration ceremony of Serzh Sarkisian. He said he arrived in Armenia to congratulate personally president Serzh Sarkisian and express his support for him.

“The Church and homeland, the faith and Armenians are a single whole and we have to work within this frameworks,” he was quoted as saying.

Catholicos Karekin II was quoted as saying that the pace of the new government will yield its results some time later and the people will see that concrete and targeted steps are being made to build a homeland desired and anticipated by all.

President Serzh Sarkisian said with the support of both Catholici one can do a lot and archive a lot. He praised the role of the Church in the life of Armenians saying it adopted some of government functions for a millennium when Armenians were deprived of their sovereign state.

Sarkisian said the government will continue its support to the Church to help it become stronger adding also that the Armenian Church should continue to remain a foundation stone of the Armenian spirit and Armenian identity.

Both Catholici expressed hope that president Serzh Sarkisian will work devotedly and with great responsibility to continue to serve the nation and its ultimate interests. They also expressed their readiness to help implement all good initiatives and ideas which the president has to take the country forward.

The Catholicos Of All Armenians And The Catholicos Of The Great House Of Cilicia Express Their Suport To Serzh Sargsyan

ArmRadio.am
21.04.2008

Garegin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, and Aram I, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, visited President Serzh Sargsyan today.

Noting that due to circumstances he did not manage to attend the inauguration ceremony of the President-Elect, Catholicos Aram II said he has arrived in Armenia to personally congratulate President Sargsyan and express his support. “The Church and the Motherland, the belief and the Armenian nation are a unity, within the framework of which we should cooperate,” he underlined.

Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II expressed confidence that the path taken today will, no doubt, yield results in some time, and people will see that concrete steps are being taken to build the Motherland of our wishes and expectations.

According to the President, many things can be done and great results can be achieved, having the support of two Catholicoses at the rear. He highly appreciated the role of the Church in the life of the Armenian people and noted that under the circumstances of absence of statehood for thousand years, the Church assumed the some functions of the statehood and preservation of the Armenian national identity. Noting that the state will continue supporting the consolidation of the Armenian Apostolic Church, President Sargsyan said the Church will remain one of the carriers of the Armenian language and national identity.

The Catholicos of All Armenians and the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia expressed confidence that Serzh Sargsyan will continue serving the common and supreme interests of the Motherland and our people with great responsibility and devotion. They expressed willingness to support the realization of all the kind initiatives that our President has to move our country forward.