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A NEW ARMENIAN PATRIARCH IN JERUSALEM: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/17871
As many church leaders, organizations and individuals have learnt
already, Archbishop Nourhan Manoogian was elected earlier today
(24 January 2013) as the 97th patriarch of the Armenian Church in
the Holy Land (Jordan, Israel and Palestine).
The Grand Sacristan (or Lousararabed in Armenian) of the Church
for many years, Archbishop Nourhan succeeds the late Torkom II who
established a name for himself as a cautious reformer and an ecumenical
leader and who also helped mentor my own Oslo-led political years in
Jerusalem well over a decade ago.
Armenians are a tiny community, and are part of an ever-shrinking
Christian presence across the Holy Land let alone the whole Middle
East and North Africa (MENA) region. Yet they are by no means an
insular community that ghettoises itself in its own Armenian Quarter
in Jerusalem. Rather, they are a vibrant part of a much larger and
more diverse society and can be found in Jerusalem and Bethlehem just
as they can be found in Ramallah, Amman and Haifa too.
The patriarch-elect will not only be the shepherd of his own community
and the steward of its rights - in themselves onerous responsibilities
- but the Armenian Church is also one of the three churches that
oversee the Status Quo arrangements in Jerusalem that date back to
Ottoman times as they affect the religious shrines of this biblical
land - and most notably the Church of the Resurrection (or Holy
Sepulchre) in Jerusalem and the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
It often seems bizarre for many Western minds that Armenians place
such hullabaloo on the election of their church hierarchs. I agree
that it goes against the grain somewhat, and more so from our own
Western perspective where God and Caesar are kept deliberately - and
at times constitutionally - apart. Perhaps we interpret the prophetic
fire of our faith differently.
However, the Middle East and North Africa region also enjoys a
rich but somewhat different culture whereby each community still
looks generally at its religious leaders for guidance and support -
no more so than in those difficult moments facing the whole region
where mounting violence and discrimination or economic hardships are
together challenging the quest for dignity and citizenry.
So even though this 'coming round' a church leader is gradually
diminishing in this part of the world too, I believe that it is
still part of the intuitive and cultural genes of its inhabitants
and one of the prisms that many Christians, Muslims and Jews use in
their daily interplay with each other and with their neighbours -
consciously or perhaps even unconsciously.
In the past year, the Middle East and North Africa region has witnessed
the election of new patriarchs for the Maronite Catholic, Coptic
Orthodox and Antiochian Greek Orthodox Churches. Now Armenians in the
Holy Land have a new leader too - a man who is full of vim, conviction
and wit and who is manifestly unafraid to meet the challenges of the
day. No doubt he will need all those traits as he faces the daunting
challenges of office at a time of uncertainty, concern and even fear.
This is not a day for prolix reflections or over-the-top statements.
So I simply join the Members of the St James Brotherhood who elected
the new patriarch, many other Armenians from Israel, Palestine
and Jordan and elsewhere as well as ecumenical leaders or friends
worldwide in praying for the patriarch-elect. May his ministry be
undergirded let alone enriched by the three fundaments of faith,
love and hope. And given our history, we Armenians also cannot ignore
the age-long maxim that 'Unity applies for essentials, Liberty for
doubtful matters and Charity for all things'.
Serpazan hayr, shnorhavor ella ays or-e mer polorin - may this day
be a blessed and joyous day for us all.
------------
© Harry Hagopian is an international lawyer, ecumenist and EU
political consultant. He also acts as a Middle East and inter-faith
advisor to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England & Wales
and as Middle East consultant to ACEP (Christians in Politics)
in Paris. He is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor
(http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/HarryHagopian). Formerly an Executive
Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and Executive
Director of the Middle East Council of Churches, he is now an
international fellow, Sorbonne III University, Paris, consultant to
the Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (UK), Ecumenical
consultant to the Primate of Armenian Church in UK & Ireland, and
author of The Armenian Church in the Holy Land. Dr Hagopian's own
website is www.epektasis.net Follow him on Twitter here: @harryhagopian
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/17871
As many church leaders, organizations and individuals have learnt
already, Archbishop Nourhan Manoogian was elected earlier today
(24 January 2013) as the 97th patriarch of the Armenian Church in
the Holy Land (Jordan, Israel and Palestine).
The Grand Sacristan (or Lousararabed in Armenian) of the Church
for many years, Archbishop Nourhan succeeds the late Torkom II who
established a name for himself as a cautious reformer and an ecumenical
leader and who also helped mentor my own Oslo-led political years in
Jerusalem well over a decade ago.
Armenians are a tiny community, and are part of an ever-shrinking
Christian presence across the Holy Land let alone the whole Middle
East and North Africa (MENA) region. Yet they are by no means an
insular community that ghettoises itself in its own Armenian Quarter
in Jerusalem. Rather, they are a vibrant part of a much larger and
more diverse society and can be found in Jerusalem and Bethlehem just
as they can be found in Ramallah, Amman and Haifa too.
The patriarch-elect will not only be the shepherd of his own community
and the steward of its rights - in themselves onerous responsibilities
- but the Armenian Church is also one of the three churches that
oversee the Status Quo arrangements in Jerusalem that date back to
Ottoman times as they affect the religious shrines of this biblical
land - and most notably the Church of the Resurrection (or Holy
Sepulchre) in Jerusalem and the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
It often seems bizarre for many Western minds that Armenians place
such hullabaloo on the election of their church hierarchs. I agree
that it goes against the grain somewhat, and more so from our own
Western perspective where God and Caesar are kept deliberately - and
at times constitutionally - apart. Perhaps we interpret the prophetic
fire of our faith differently.
However, the Middle East and North Africa region also enjoys a
rich but somewhat different culture whereby each community still
looks generally at its religious leaders for guidance and support -
no more so than in those difficult moments facing the whole region
where mounting violence and discrimination or economic hardships are
together challenging the quest for dignity and citizenry.
So even though this 'coming round' a church leader is gradually
diminishing in this part of the world too, I believe that it is
still part of the intuitive and cultural genes of its inhabitants
and one of the prisms that many Christians, Muslims and Jews use in
their daily interplay with each other and with their neighbours -
consciously or perhaps even unconsciously.
In the past year, the Middle East and North Africa region has witnessed
the election of new patriarchs for the Maronite Catholic, Coptic
Orthodox and Antiochian Greek Orthodox Churches. Now Armenians in the
Holy Land have a new leader too - a man who is full of vim, conviction
and wit and who is manifestly unafraid to meet the challenges of the
day. No doubt he will need all those traits as he faces the daunting
challenges of office at a time of uncertainty, concern and even fear.
This is not a day for prolix reflections or over-the-top statements.
So I simply join the Members of the St James Brotherhood who elected
the new patriarch, many other Armenians from Israel, Palestine
and Jordan and elsewhere as well as ecumenical leaders or friends
worldwide in praying for the patriarch-elect. May his ministry be
undergirded let alone enriched by the three fundaments of faith,
love and hope. And given our history, we Armenians also cannot ignore
the age-long maxim that 'Unity applies for essentials, Liberty for
doubtful matters and Charity for all things'.
Serpazan hayr, shnorhavor ella ays or-e mer polorin - may this day
be a blessed and joyous day for us all.
------------
© Harry Hagopian is an international lawyer, ecumenist and EU
political consultant. He also acts as a Middle East and inter-faith
advisor to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England & Wales
and as Middle East consultant to ACEP (Christians in Politics)
in Paris. He is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor
(http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/HarryHagopian). Formerly an Executive
Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and Executive
Director of the Middle East Council of Churches, he is now an
international fellow, Sorbonne III University, Paris, consultant to
the Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (UK), Ecumenical
consultant to the Primate of Armenian Church in UK & Ireland, and
author of The Armenian Church in the Holy Land. Dr Hagopian's own
website is www.epektasis.net Follow him on Twitter here: @harryhagopian