Under the chairmanship of Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian, Hon. President of the St, Sarkis Church Trust and the Chairman of the St. Sarkis Parish Assembly, the committee for the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the consecration of the St. Sarkis Church met in Gulbenkian Hall on Wednesday, 12th September, 2012, to discuss a long list of programmes and lectures as part of the year-long celebration. Presiding at the meeting was His Grace Bishop Vahan Hovhanessian, Primate of the Armenian Church in Great Britain and Ireland, and Pontifical Legate, under whose auspices the anniversary celebrations will take place. Some 17 events have been organised between September and January to celebrate this historic milestone with the parishioners of St. Sarkis and the wider Armenian community. The committee discussed and finalised the details of several of the events scheduled in the months of September and October.
Window View of the Armenian Church, Volume IV, Number 3, 1994
The Witness of the Armenian Church in the Diaspora
A Conversation with ARCHBISHOP ARAM KESHISHIAN, Moderator of World Council of Churches and Prelate of the Armenian Church in Lebanon
By Hratch Tchilingirian
Archbishop Aram Keshishian, as Moderator of the Central and Executive Committees of the World Council of Churches, has the highest position within the structure of WCC. The General Assembly of WCC convenes every seven or eight years. The Assembly elects the Central Committee, comprised of 168 members, a Moderator and two Vice-Moderators. The Moderator, the two Vice-Moderators and the General Secretary are the four officers of WCC. Archbishop Keshishian is the author of several books, among them Witness of the Armenian Church in a Diaspora Situation; Concilliar Fellowship; Orthodox Perspective on Mission.
The Challenges Facing the Armenian Church. An Interview with Hratch Tchilingirian
by Khatchig Mouradian
"The Armenian Church hides, under its each and every stone, a secret path ascending to the heavens", wrote the famous Armenian poet, Vahan Tekeyan. Yet, the Armenian Church is more than a religious institution that has acted as a "mediator" between Armenians and their God. Having survived the shifting tides of time for more than seventeen centuries, this "unique organization", as Professor Hratch Tchilingirian calls it in this interview, has served its people as much as, if not more than, it has served God. Today, in the age of globalization, secularization and false crusades, the Armenians - despite their constant boasting about having the oldest Christian state in the world - are also following this global trend, by gradually distancing themselves from established religious institutions and, at times, looking for spiritual answers elsewhere.
Armenian Reporter Internatinal [Paramus] 21 Aug 2004: 25.
Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian lectured recently at Haigazian University on "The Armenian Community of Abkhazia."
Tchilingirian described the overall situation in Abkhazia, which lies on the northeastern shores of the Black Sea and has a territory of 8,600 sq km. Abkhazia was an autonomous republic within Georgia during the Soviet period. With its wonderful climate and developed infrastructure for tourism, it was considered the "Riviera" of the Soviet Union. Successive Soviet leaders from Stalin onwards had their summer resorts in Abkhazia. About 1.5 million tourists visited Abkhazia annually in Soviet times, when its total population was only half a million. Agriculture was also a very successful sector of the economy, and Abkhazia had one of the highest GDPs in the Soviet Union.
Hayagerdum yev Mangavarjutiun [Armenian-formation and Pedagogy]. By Bebo Simonian. Beirut: Shirak Press. 1996. 360p.
By Hratch Tchilingirian
Preservation ofthe Armenian identity (hayabahbanum) is one ofthe mosttalked-about subjects in the Armenian Diaspora; One couldeven say that "hayabahbanum" has been the raison d'etre of theDiaspora, at least until the independence of Armenia.
Window view of the Armenian Church, Vol. I, No. 3, January 1990
Canonization of the Genocide Victims:Are We Ready?
by Hratch Tchilingirian
This year is the 75th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and it seems that the "preparatory activities" are still continuing... So far the victims of the Genocide have not been canonized. There are several problems with the issue of canonizing the victims of the Genocide. However, before going into the discussion of these problems, let us briefly define what "canonization" is.
Window view of the Armenian Church, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1991
The Armenian Church: Glasnost Without Peristroka?
by Hratch Tchilingirian
For the first time in the history of the Armenian Church in the diaspora, an international Conference of Armenian Clergy was held in New York from July 17-21, 1991.
A special publication of The Armenian Weekly and The Aztag Daily newspaper, 24 April 2005.
Recognition or Reconciliation?
Turkish-Armenian relations need untangling
Hratch Tchilingirian University of Cambridge
Ninety years after the most catastrophic episode in Armenian history, the Genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire remains the most problematic and determinant factor in Turkish-Armenian relations. For decades, Armenian expectations and demands for recognition by Turkey have been "reciprocated" by official Turkish denial. In recent years, however, the ideas of "reconciliation" and "dialogue" in Turkish-Armenian relations are gaining currency in Turkey. Nevertheless, the issue is not simple, but multi-faceted and complex.
Armenisch-Deutsche Korrespondenz (ADK)[Koln], No. 103, 1999/Heft 1, pp. 7-8; No. 104, 1999, Heft 2, pp. 2-4.
Berg-Karabach: Die Außenpolitik im Wandel [published in German, see PDF versions]
[Nagorno Karabakh: Foreign Policy in Transition]
Hratch Tchilingirian
For over a decade now, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the South Caucasus remains the oldest unresolved conflict in the former Soviet Union. Meanwhile, a fragile cease-fire since May 1994 remains in place and the OSCE's Minsk Group continues attempts to mediate a resolution.
Window view of the Armenian Church, Vol. II, No. 3, 1991, pp. 10-12
THE ARMENIAN PROTESTANTS A Brief History
Compiled by Hratch Tchilingirian
The beginnings of the Armenian Protestant church dates back to the late 19th century. As a movement it was "imported" and "implanted" by American and European missionaries, amidst the "intellectual renaissance" that was taking place in the Armenian community within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire. Tracing the roots of Armenian Protestantism is not as easy as it may seem. The authors who have written about the subject, while they agree on dates and personalities are divided over the reasons, rationale and effects of the events that lead to the establishment of a separate Armenian Protestant denomination.* The purpose of this article is to give a historical account of events rather than an analysis of the movement.
Reuters' journalistic objectivity and reputation have become questionable in the wake of its deeply biased coverage of the recent presidential elections in Armenia.
More Priests, More Scholars While the legacy of communist oppression continues to hamper Armenia's seminaries, scholars have teamed up with the Church to offer a dynamic alternative to secular students, reports Hratch Tchilingirian
When the Soviet Union collapsed and the Republic of Armenia declared independence in 1991, the Armenian Apostolic Church, Armenia's national church, faced one of the greatest challenges of its history: how to care for the religious needs of the three million Armenians in the country with fewer than 150 clergymen.
In late December, the OSCE Ministerial Council in Copenhagen marked the end of Armenia’s yearlong efforts of political recovery subsequent to the Lisbon Summit in December 1996. Contrary to expectations and due to Armenia’s diplomatic efforts, the Ministerial Council did not make any substantive declarations concerning Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia characterized the outcome in Copenhagen as "positive," since it did not create "additional obstacles" for the peace process in general.
War Report, No. 56, November 1997 (c) Copyright: The Institute for War and Peace Reporting 1997
Nagorno Karabakh: A Time for Thoughtfulness?
Beneath the surface, new and possibly constructive positions are being tested
By Hratch Tchilingirian
The conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over Nagorno Karabakh has resisted attempts at a solution since the Karabakh Armenians' independence movement emerged in 1988. Over two dozen OSCE sponsored negotiations, initiated since 1992, have failed to resolve the oldest conflict in the former Soviet Union. The last formal talks between the parties to the conflict under the auspices of the Minsk Group were almost a year ago. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan and Karabakh Armenians are as far apart from each other on key issues as they were five years.
War Report, No. 50, April 1997 (c) Copyright: The Institute for War and Peace Reporting 1997
Internationalising the Enclave
By Hratch Tchilingirian
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh was transformed from a domestic Soviet conflict into an international issue. Besides Russia, a number of countries--including regional players such as Turkey and Iran--and international organisations proposed various unsuccessful initiatives. The most important of these, if not the most successful, has been the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which, since the summer of 1992, has been actively facilitating negotiations in the form of its 11-state Minsk Group, whose co-chairmanship became a triumvirate of Russia, France and the US earlier this year.