Էջմիածին-Անթիլիաս հարաբերությունները 1988-1990 թվականներին

Abstract

In 1988 the relations between the Mother See of Holy Etchmaidzin and the Great House of Cilicia became unprecedentedly warm. This was mainly due to the beginning of the Artsakh Movement and the devastating earthquake in Spitak. These events of great Pan-Armenian importance led His Holiness Vazgen the First, the Catholicos of All Armenians and His Holiness Garegin the Second, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia to take some steps to solve the existing problems between the two Armenian churches before they split in 1957. During 1988-1990 the two Catholicoses met four times. One of the meetings took place in the USA, two of them were in the Soviet Armenia. Not only did these meetings intend to unite the efforts of all the Armenians for fair solution of Artsakh Movement and for elimination of the consequences of the earthquake, but also negotiations were held for solving the problems existing between the two Churches. However, all efforts to restore the unity of the Armenian Apostolic Church failed once again mainly due to political reasons. The main reason of the failure was the fact that both Catholicoses did not have total freedom in their actions and were subject to certain political and party influence. If the Soviet authorities were in favor of the reunification of the churches with the purpose of increasing their impact on the Diaspora, the Armenian Revolutionary Party opposed this process, showing concern for the prospects of limiting their influence in the Diaspora. Thus, despite the unprecedentedly warm relations between Echmiadzin and Antelias in 1988-1990, once again the attempt to solve the problem between the two churches failed