Have our spiritual leaders lost their moral compass?

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Have our spiritual leaders lost their moral compass?

What has the Armenian Church got against this guy to have gone to all the effort to get him excluded from Armenian for the last 12 years?

AUTHORITIES BAN ENTRY OF ALEXANDRE VARBEDIAN INTO ARMENIA; HELD IN ZVARTNOTS TRANSIT LOUNGE

http://hetq.am/eng/news/25108/authorities-ban-entry-of-alexandre-varbedian-into-armenia;-held-in-zvartnots-transit-lounge.html

12:29, April 4, 2013

Friends and relatives have issued a public letter to President Serzh
Sargsyan demanding to know why Alexandre Varbedian, a French citizen,
is being held in the transit lounge of Yerevan's Zvartnots Airport
and not being allowed into the country.

Armenia's authorities have prohibited entry into Armenia for Varbedian,
an ontologist and genealogist, since 2002.

They say that Varbedian, is exercising his right to enter Armenia
based on the European Union's January 10, 2013 decision to allow visa
free entry to all EU member states.

Varbedian wishes to visit Armenia to celebrate his 70th birthday.

[Haykakan]

Re: Have our spiritual leaders lost their moral compass?

Yeh just look at the love USA citizens get from their country lol.

You Won't Have St. Valentine's Day
Artur Remyan

http://www.lragir.am/index.php/eng/0/society/view/28943

Society - Friday, 15 February 2013, 15:37

This year too, St. Valentine's Day was accompanied with timid
confessions of lovers and church's swaggering. The attitude of the
church towards the day of love can't be justified by religious views,
because no religious issue is discussed on that day. The day of love
is a commercial holiday which can't be controlled. In Armenia, the
church has either tried to be a state model or coalesced with the
state copying the attitudes of the ruling class. While European
religious fathers retire, former kings in Armenia are psychologically
unable to leave the throne. The wish to rule people is not determined
by ambitions but commercial appetite, which makes the church fight
against St. Valentine's Day or rather against the day of love as a
symbol of treacherousness. The commercial government accepts only
calculations excluding any type of ideological or sentimental context.
While if many dwell on the emigration issue on any occasion, for the
commercial government, it is found out to be tolerable. Let's view its
reasons. 1. This government system is unable to provide the population
with income received from jobs because there are no relevant measures.
Citizens without honest and competitive jobs become a burden for the
country because they hinder the clans and monopolies to enjoy the
resources and appropriate investments. The process of creating jobs
becomes artificial and the salary gets far from the consumer basket.
Shortly, the fewer the participants are, the more the income will be.
2. The increasing population in Armenia and its deteriorating social
situation decreases the rating of the country raising issues about the
fair and unfair distribution, undermining the calmness of the
commercial government. The ideal composition of the population for the
government is the following: 80% transfers money and 20% receives it.
At the same time, ideal conditions are created for disappointment and
emigration of the active part of the society because they, as a rule,
are also active demanders. 3. The money allocated to the media and
other ideological structures is a sacrifice for such a government
aimed at suppressing public moods and eliminating them at all, which
is inevitable because the final purpose of the commercial government
is to eliminate every attempt of public freedom. Weakening control is
fraught with collapse of the system and for this reason all kinds of
institutions, including the church, are engaged in the `sacred' task
of control. By the way, the real function of all the institutes,
including the church, is to love and serve people. Dear Armenian
citizen, you will not have a St. Valentine's Day as long as it goes
on, because your country does not love you...

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Have our spiritual leaders lost their moral compass?

You Won't Have St. Valentine's Day
Artur Remyan

http://www.lragir.am/index.php/eng/0/society/view/28943

Society - Friday, 15 February 2013, 15:37

This year too, St. Valentine's Day was accompanied with timid
confessions of lovers and church's swaggering. The attitude of the
church towards the day of love can't be justified by religious views,
because no religious issue is discussed on that day. The day of love
is a commercial holiday which can't be controlled. In Armenia, the
church has either tried to be a state model or coalesced with the
state copying the attitudes of the ruling class. While European
religious fathers retire, former kings in Armenia are psychologically
unable to leave the throne. The wish to rule people is not determined
by ambitions but commercial appetite, which makes the church fight
against St. Valentine's Day or rather against the day of love as a
symbol of treacherousness. The commercial government accepts only
calculations excluding any type of ideological or sentimental context.
While if many dwell on the emigration issue on any occasion, for the
commercial government, it is found out to be tolerable. Let's view its
reasons. 1. This government system is unable to provide the population
with income received from jobs because there are no relevant measures.
Citizens without honest and competitive jobs become a burden for the
country because they hinder the clans and monopolies to enjoy the
resources and appropriate investments. The process of creating jobs
becomes artificial and the salary gets far from the consumer basket.
Shortly, the fewer the participants are, the more the income will be.
2. The increasing population in Armenia and its deteriorating social
situation decreases the rating of the country raising issues about the
fair and unfair distribution, undermining the calmness of the
commercial government. The ideal composition of the population for the
government is the following: 80% transfers money and 20% receives it.
At the same time, ideal conditions are created for disappointment and
emigration of the active part of the society because they, as a rule,
are also active demanders. 3. The money allocated to the media and
other ideological structures is a sacrifice for such a government
aimed at suppressing public moods and eliminating them at all, which
is inevitable because the final purpose of the commercial government
is to eliminate every attempt of public freedom. Weakening control is
fraught with collapse of the system and for this reason all kinds of
institutions, including the church, are engaged in the `sacred' task
of control. By the way, the real function of all the institutes,
including the church, is to love and serve people. Dear Armenian
citizen, you will not have a St. Valentine's Day as long as it goes
on, because your country does not love you...

[Haykakan]

Re: Have our spiritual leaders lost their moral compass?

Nothing new there. The armenian church is starting to behave like any other religious institution. Atleast the sexual abuse of young boys is not like the catholic fiasco.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Have our spiritual leaders lost their moral compass?

But the saddest part of all of this lies in the complete disarray that
parishioners find themselves in. Their suffering is but the reflection of
the church's pathology. Torn between a love of their church and the
pathetic behavior of its representatives, between their faith and the
political ends that their religion is being used for, they no longer
recognize themselves within the context of their nation or within its
religious institution which behaves like a monarchy of divine right by
dictating to all its codes of behavior under threat of expulsion. Those
who thought that their Church would teach the compassion that is so cruelly
missing today in Armenia will have instead witnessed with their own eyes
its cupidity and intolerance unleashed. They will have witnessed a priest
who is the leader of a violent gang. Another who interrupts his mass under
the guise of a punishment in order to scold a parishioner assigned to sell
candles, as if the latter were a temple merchant. Because what one can see
in no other church in the world, one can witness in ours! A picture to
bring tears of blood to Christ's eyes.

P.S.

1): It would be wrong to accuse us by reducing the contents of this
article to a systematic attack and belittling of the Armenian Apostolic
Church. We recognize without a shadow of a doubt the immense amount of work
that it has accomplished throughout the course of Armenian history in order
to maintain its unity and spirituality within often hostile conditions. But
one must also recognize, all evidence to the contrary, that its political
function has overtaken its initial vocation and that today it finds itself
in complete contradiction with its mission. The proliferation of sects in
Armenia will suffice to prove our point.

2) Out of respect for our reader, we hesitated before posting this text.
Because it is not hard to see that what we observed in the Nice parish has
some shades of grey to it. In that affair, no one was safe from the
multiple and insidious manipulations that led to the current situation.
Beginning with the manipulators themselves. Since we could not investigate
on the spot, we cannot claim to have been completely thorough in our
coverage. But the spirit of the events at hand has been completely
respected.

3) The CCAF's call to welcome the Catholicos during his upcoming trip to
the Nice region demonstrates that this organization is acting within its
usual role when it stigmatizes parishioners in order to respect a certain
idea of the Armenian state. Just as I am acting within mine when I defend a
certain notion of human rights. For the CCAF, which worries about the
cultural and religious sights with rotten luck, the Armenian church
represents first and foremost a historical and nationalistic institution.In
this way, one should help it to bring people together by rejecting all
those who might divide it. And no one has any idea by what sleight of hand
usually peaceful parishioners should have becomes crazed fomenters of
discord within their own community. Yet the Armenian Church as it exists
today elicits feelings ranging from respect to suffering. Respect when it
comes to its eminent role in past Armenian history. Suffering when one
witnesses how it treats its illuminatory vocation today. By seeking to
reject any divisions within the diaspora, the church seeks to impose its
own influence. But its lack of exemplariness, not to mention its
indifference to saintliness, are not without consequences. To begin with,
it falls into the hands of other, competing religions. By losing ground in
Armenia and the diaspora, it is the Armenian nation which disintegrates.
And the CCAF, obsessed by a legitimate desire for unity which it confused
with uniformity, in truth acts against the church's bets interests. In
short, by letting the Catholicos exert his power over a part of the
Armenian community, the CCAF also acts against the diaspora itself.
Starting with itself. Because soon, after the creation of the Ministry of
the Diaspora whose goals are blurry, servants of doubtful intentions, and a
Church that acts in a Totalitarian manner, other emissaries of the state
will arrive to complete their work and spread their influence and rigidity.
Today it is in the realm of the religious. But tomorrow it will be in the
realm of information. Trying by way of propaganda to manipulate, counteract
or torpedo this same CCAF's aspirations to become a united political power.

Denis Donikian http://denisdonikian.wordpress.com/c...-viva-armenia/

Translated by CA

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Have our spiritual leaders lost their moral compass?

A Church that is All Business

http://en.aravot.am/2012/10/30/125276 October 30 2012

by Denis Donikian

We can often be heard cursing the current leadership in Etchmiadzin. This
probably won't change for a long time to come, at least until the church
stops paying lip service to its intended evangelical message and instead
puts this message into action in its everyday thoughts and actions. My
novel *Vidures *describes this phenomenon in detail. The minute that a
spiritual institution gives precedence to the institutional over the
spiritual, you can be sure that it has completely distorted its true and
proper vocation. And in Armenia, a Christian nation where one constantly
repeats the now rather hollowed expression *tsavet danem *(*Let me take
your pain from you*) and where a philosophy of every man for himself has
completely eclipsed any type of altruistic behavior, it seems somehow sadly
fitting that the Church be concerned with money rather than the wellbeing
of its flock.

In the current phase of its history this Church, which is dipping its wick
in the century's xxxxhole, can hardly expect to enlighten anyone on the
Orthodox faith without either being stupidly blind or blissfully
nationalistic. Its parakeets in gold vestments continue to revel in magic
and incantatory formulas that people seem to be so fond of, but far from
seducing God, all they are really doing is widening the gap from which a
strong odor of ethnocentrism emerges. We rarely see them drag their
polished shoes to poor Armenian neighborhoods, for fear that they may have
to share the latter's soup with them. Instead we see them, standing
side-by-side those who have stolen the country's money, blessing weapons,
fruit and newly built constructions, whatever it takes in order to bless
money-making concerns. Yesterday it was apricots at the opening of a film
festival. And who knows? Tomorrow it may be a Barbie doll at the Miss
Armenia competition. The fall has been so steep. And yet=85

An anecdote. One fine day the director of Etchmiadzin's affairs has the
Caholicos' car prepared for a trip. Not a Bentley like the one owned by the
Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan, who is in charge ofYerevanand the Southern
half of Ararat province, no. The South is poor and a Bentley reeks of
wealth. And one musn't show off one's wealth too much. On the agenda today
is a tour of the construction site of the Tatev funicular, as the
legitimate owner of the lands where the former is being built. But on the
way there, the large right hemisphere of the church's autocephalic
representative, decides to stop along the way and break bread in a local
restaurant, where he can mingle with the populace and also cop a free meal
along the way in exchange for a papal blessing. Then he has an even better
idea: why not invite the heads of the Italian company actually building the
funicular so that they can narrate their progress as he scans the menu.
The Italians take their leave=85disheartened: `They say that we complain a
lot about our Pope. But compared to yours, he is a Saint.' Need one say
more?

For all that, the Director of business in Antelias, or the Small Left
Hemisphere of the autocephalic Apostolic church, isn't shy about giving out
its blessings either. As long as they bring in some cash. And for all one
knows, perhaps a papal understanding exists between him and his Big Brother
in Etchmiadzin in order to build a new church, Sourp Garabed, right in the
middle ofLas Vegas, the world gambling capital, the world capital of all
sorts of excesses. Poor Garabed, if only you could see the quagmire that
they've buried your sainthood in! Little Left Hemisphere has already won
the day by consecrating the foundations, probably in the hopes of later
pocketing substantial dividends. A sign of the cross - it's like magic! Even
though the church proffers benedictions, it also needs to know how to
monetize them in order to keep its standard of living and carry out God's
plan. And financial manna doesn't fall from heaven with any greater force
than inLas Vegas, since money reproduces faster there than bread in the
hands of Jesus Christ. In thisDisneylandof cardboard and dollar bills,
Sourp Garabed may yet add a lowly touch of Armenianness to this artificial
and pompous world, one filled with vile taste and lost souls.

But before this, Big Right Hemisphere, who some mean-spirited anticlerics
have renamed The Director of the National and Celestial Bank of
Etchmiadzin, had his own ideas about how to profit from the situation.
Otherwise what money would he use to build his branch offices in Yerevanat
the crossing of Abovian and Sayat Nova streets. Only one solution came to
mind: make off with the European parishes, especially those whose patronage
extend to the great banks, casinos, hotels and families. Like those in
Brussels, or Geneva, or why not the one in Nice which is the second oldest
Armenian Apostolic church in Franceafter the Cathedral in Paris' Rue
Goujon. Azuredly in this part of the coast, our Director tells himself
rubbing his hands together, with the Sun's help and the cicadias buzzing to
their hearts' content, the Angels will join in and everyone will blindly
respect the MotherChurch`that has played such a crucial role in the
millennial history of the Armenian people. Hence it is enough for our
church to demand completely blind allegiance for their flock to do
everything it can to obey without ever revolting. Hence the members of the
Nice Cultural Association were expected to simply accept statutes that
would be summarily imposed on all parishes and in a way that would devolve
all powers (spiritual, political, representative and administrative) to
ecclesiastical authorities. During a general assembly, where they did
however accept a negotiated compromise, parishioners rejected this
proposal, rare Armenians for whom Armeniameans everything=85but they did not
reject every single thing. Since people in high places felt that this
outcome was inadequate, they sent the parish a former priest from the
parish itself, a certain V.A. whose apostolic duty seemed to lie in him
raping all the members of the parish. But one still would have needed to
give them a child, that is to say put them at the behest of Etchmiadzin. In
the following weeks, this V.A., aided by a few sycophants he had recruited
as doormen from the gorilla cage from God knows which public zoo, took on
the mantle of some petty little dictator, separating, on Earth as in
heaven, those parishioners who were worthy of entering their own church,
from the others - which included the President of the cultural association!
And that is how the Nice parish was transformed into a zone where no rights
exist. In short, a mini version of Armeniaemptied out of any sense of
justice whatsoever, celestial or temporal, and emptied as well of any
evangelical compassion, where the average citizen has no choice but to fall
to his knees and put him or herself at the mercy of the more powerful.
Master Catholicos, upon being informed of this certain V.A.'s actions
pouted and remained perched from in his lofty heights. As for the
Primate-who-transmited-information, he declared: `Accept the statutes that
we introduced or step down!' A clear indication of how much one these
blessers of apricots really care for their flock! Moving forward, both
V.A. and the primate used every known method of harassment and
intimidation - none was too great: sabotage, threats of excommunication, a
forced coup d'état, insults and even bodily harm and attacks=85In short, they
acted like pugilists who enjoyed attacking. Arrests occurred, followed by
resignations. The only response by the Primate to help this now
traumatized parish was to appoint a commission to replace the Nice parish
council. As a response to all these attacks against it, the latter
requested the appointment of an ad hoc administrator from the Nice High
Court - Xavier Huertas was thus appointed on July 10th, 2010. As one might
imagine, the General Asembly that Huerta organized was not to the Primate's
liking. Then, the Primate's illegal committee ignored and superseded the
Nice court, under the pretext of changing the Nice cultural association's
statutes! In March 2011, the newspaper Nice-Matin got involved in the
matter, underlining all of V.A.'s criminal activities in the matter, and
during their inquiry revealed that within the Russian mafia there existed
an Armenian mafia which was implicated in sordid dealings such as money
laundering and high class prostitution. Starting then, the merely shameful
turned into the scandalous. The Catholicos' emissary, father K.K.,
interrupted a mass so that he could order the parish's elected treasurer to
leave stage area where candles are lit. And then this same K.K. celebrated
the Mass of the Nativity in the Catholic church of Saint Peter of Arena
rather than Saint Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church under the pretext that
the latter was too small, the real reason being that he then instituted a
new cultural association. Since then, father K.K. leaves Saint Mary's
presbytery where he lives, in order to lead Armenian apostolic mass at
Saint Phillip's Catholic Church. As for the Parish Council, it had to call
on Father Sahag all the way from Moscow so that he could officiate at Saint
Mary's, over the objections of the ecclesiastical authorities.

The next visit of the Catholicos of all Armenians will perforce be
problematic. But I suppose that the man must have something in mind. To
mollify the most fragile of the parishioners and to present himself as a
conciliatory spirit, as a means of reaching his ends. Either way, in the
long run, Etchmiadzin's strategy is to count on even the most ardent
dissidents becoming tired and discouraged, in the hopes that it can deal
itself another, more profitable hand.

(One may consult the file on the Armenian Apostolic Church parish of
Nice-Côte-d'Azur on the internet at the following address:*[*
http://www.eglisearmeniennenice.org/...ion/index.html.)

Since the new statutes were meant to be imposed on all Apostolic Armenian
European parishioners, anywhere that lay people sought to avoid the
Etchmiadzinification of the parish and conserve a minimum amount of
autonomy, explosive situations broke out. In Brussels and Geneva, for
example, the exact same things occurred as sin Nice, although on a less
excessive scale. Until then the Ecclesiastical Assembly of Geneva was
simply following the traditions and rules of the Church which had been for
centuries based on a democratic process. In this tradition, the lay
Assembly decides on its system of organization, including its institutions,
finances and the role of its priest. But in its desire to impose the
Diocese in the entire diaspora, the Catholicos sought to impose his sole
authority everywhere. And so thanks to the Vehapar, after numerous
exchanges, parishioners in Geneva were deprived of the services of their
priest who was abusively defrocked, as well as of their ability to choose,
their right to organize, of its attaché in Etchmiadzin. Today they are
deeply disillusioned and worried about the absence of charity, tolerance
and compassion that this incident has revealed; disillusioned as well by a
Church empty of any spiritual values, and by a pontiff who has forgotten
that he was elected in order to act as the Catholicos of all Armenians.

One can accept that the Mother Church would like to impose a certain
statuary unity to all of the diaspora's churches. But shouldn't it have
prepared such change in consultation with the lay members of the church? In
fact the differences, not to say the hostility, that exists between the
Catholicos and the parishioners in the diaspora can be explained by
cultural differences. The lay people in Geneva, Brussels, Nice and
elsewhere, although they are all Armenian, have a different mindset from
Armenians in Armenia proper. If one's Apostolic faith transcends all other
differences, each person's presence in the world is unique due to one's
history, geographic location, and one's adopted culture. Given this fact,
the Church would have been wiser to keep its own cultural prerogatives to
itself and let the lay people define and form the cultural aspects of their
religion. Today these same lay people find themselves commanded to give up
their identities, their church locales - everything that they and their
parents built up themselves. Given this fact, resistance was inevitable. To
the extent that lay and religious people form one organic whole, the roles
that each play should be mutually respected. A transitory period was needed
in order to dialogue and divide up roles. Instead it seems that the Church
had decided to take over all powers and reduce practitioners to complete
submission, transforming the latter into a virtue.

However under the guise of an apparent normalization of all parishes, which
one might understand, one detects hidden intentions of the most purely
political nature. These are tantamount to the transfer of power and goods
from the lay to the religious. In other words, nothing has changed. The
Church seems to be playing the same tune as the Armenian state when the
latter believes that the diaspora must remain submitted, mute and inert
with no influence whatsoever on Armenia, except as a source of financial
manna. When one knows that the Church does all it can not to contradict the
State, and does even less to bring up its terrible treatment of the poor in
Armenia, it is because the relationship between the two institutions goes
beyond collusion to the point that they exchange one favor for another. You
authorize me to teach religion in schools, I will move into your diaspora
parishes in order to help manage your goods. In fact, all of these stories
demonstrate that the Armenian State, by using the Church and soon by
manipulating information itself, is attempting to control the diaspora, or
at the very least to divide it in order to conquer it. For Armenia's great
fear is that the Diaspora will one day be organized enough to influence its
own decisions. Hence the representatives of the Armenian church in Europe
would one day become channels to transmit and relay the wishes of the
Armenian state. Once this happens, the rising critics of the country's
disastrous management will no longer be able to express themselves freely.
Impeded as they will be by the voice of the Armenian church - parishioners
will have only one choice - to shut up.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Have our spiritual leaders lost their moral compass?

I say, let's also do to CEO Karekin II what I suggested doing to Don Dodi Gago on another thread. To serve as an example to those below him, since there are probably not enough nooses for the necks of all the corrupt priests.


"ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH NOT PRIVATE VENTURE" - PRIEST
tert.am
21.11.12

The Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) is not a limited liability company,
neither does it own any, says priest Vahram Melikyan, a spokesperson
for the Holy See of St Echmiadzin.

His comments came in response to the media reports that a parking
coupon provided to the AAC Vazgenyan College gives full information
on the owner of the territory and the people it serves,

"The Holy See St Echmiadzin, with its subordinate organizations, has
adjacent parking lots in different places, which give drivers coupons
for the parked cars. There's nothing unlawful or what's even more,
indecent, about that," he said.

A follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Artak Minasyan, was
earlier said to have expressed anger at seeing a parking coupon marked
Armenian Apostolic Church. He reportedly said that the AAC is little by
little turning into an ordinary LLC, having totally forgotten its role.

Commenting on the report, Melikyan said he can understand the
implication behind the statement (that maintaining a parking lot
requires means which are never donated by people like Artak Minasyan).

"As to why the Holy See's name is marked on the coupon, that's for
making people aware that unlike numerous other similar payments, their
money will serve for the welfare and mission of this structure. If
there are people who are unwilling to have their investment in the
Armenian Church and its projects, I don't see any need to make comments
then," he added.

[gegev]

Re: Have our spiritual leaders lost their moral compass?

I like you answers Yerazishda; everything is explained comprehensively.

Blaming God/Commandments in immoral people's proliferation is a "good" trick; that the sinners use. I guess, God wouldn't answer their posts, while they are not summoned yet.

He will talk to the sinners/immoral afterwords; I imagine, what a great ...munication it would be.

[UrMistake]

Re: Have our spiritual leaders lost their moral compass?

That gentleman is weak governmental management and lack of proper protest from the side of residents.

[londontsi]

Re: Have our spiritual leaders lost their moral compass?

http://hetq.am/eng/articles/16304/bishop-mkrtchyans-business-interests-does-he-own-3-hydro-electric-plants-in-vayots-dzor?.html

Bishop Mkrtchyan's Business Interests: Does He Own 3 Hydro-Electric Plants in Vayots Dzor?
Kristine Aghalaryan




12:50, July 5, 2012

The first thing that catches your eye as you enter the village of Hermon in Vayots Dzor Marz is a site that looks like a water pool.

It’s actually a small hydro-electric station where the local kids go fishing. The guy we saw fishing when we visited was Taron, who is the station’s security guard.

When we asked Taron who the hydro-electric plant belongs to he answered – His Holiness. He was referring to Bishop Abraham Mkrtchyan, Primate of the Vayots Dzor Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Catholicos Garegin II established the diocese in 2010 and transferred Bishop Mkrtchyan from his post as Primate of the Syunik Diocese.

Hermon Mayor Gai Ohanyan told us that there are actually three small hydro stations in the village and that they all belong to Bishop Mkrtchyan.

Hermon is a small village of 250 residents some 16 kilometers from Yeghegnadzor. Back in the mid-1990s, four two-story stone houses were built here by the American-Armenian benefactors Mike and Sona Ohanian. Seven families of parentless children and those of Artsakh war veterans were relocated to the houses. Each house cost $12,000 to build.

Hermon was chosen as the construction site because it was a small village in need of new residents.

The program has been a failure. Only one of the original seven families, that of Armineh, remains today. She doesn’t even live in the house allotted to her.




The houses have been transformed into vacation bungalows. Residents say the bungalows belong to Bishop Mkrtchyan as well.

Taron took us to the resort bungalows where construction was in full swing. They’re building sports facilities for prospective vacationers. They were also building two hydro plants nearby.

The three Hermon hydro-electric plants owned by Bishop Mkrtchyan are: Yeghegis and Hermon, operated by Elegis Ltd, and the third is registered to Sunrise Electric CJSC.

On the online state registry site, Elegis Ltd. was registered to the name of the Syunik Social Benevolent Organization, who director is Mayis Mkrtchyan. Mayis is the brother of Bishop Mkrtchyan.

It was Mayis who signed an agreement with the seven orphanage families to relocate to Hermon.

The state registry has since pulled all information regarding Elegis Ltd. The same holds true for Sunrise Electric even though it was registered back in 2007.

Director Mayis Mkrtchyan wasn’t around when we visited the village.



Aleksan Aleksanyan, who has been working for three years as the shift coordinator for three years, told me, “They say it belongs to the bishop, but he could have drawn up the documents under another name. I don’t know.”

Aleksanyan said that two of the hydro-stations employ sixteen from Hermon and the adjacent villages. Aleksanyan and his colleagues come from Yeghegnadzor to work.

Gai Ohanyan has been mayor for six years. He says that the plants do not interfere with irrigation. In fact, they are supposed to be of benefit to the community.

“I couldn’t say what the benefit is exactly, but they do provide jobs. Most of the village youth work there,” said Mayor Ohanyan.

The power plants only provide a tiny fraction of the village’s budget. Prior to 2005, when the government supported the construction of hydro-plants, 170,000 AMD annually flowed into the community coffers. Today, that figure from property taxes has dropped to 3,750.

Our telephone conversation with Bishop Mkrtchyan was brief.

- No, they don’t belong to us but I assisted in the establishment

- Who do they belong to? Why did you assist?

- I try to help out everything you see in that area. It was an Armenian from Moscow. He moved there a long time ago.

- So who is this person? Is it a secret?

- No, I don’t want to give out any information on this thing and have it appear in the newspaper that the Bishop said this or that. Do some digging and find the guy on your own.

- Do you have any connection with the Syunik Social Benevolent Organization?

- That organisation closed down.

- When?

- Today.

- Why did it close?

- Write whatever you want

With this Bishop Mkrtchyan hung up.