WikiLeaks: Catholicos tells US Ambassador he is open to dialogue on churches

Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II told the US ambassador earlier this year that the Armenian Apostolic (AAC) is willing to participate in a joint commission with the Georgian Orthodox Church to discuss the historical ownership of a number of disputed churches in the country.

According to a WikiLeaks-leaked confidential cable disclosing the details of a February 17 conversation between Ambassador Marie Yovanovich and Garegin II, the Armenian patriarch expressed willingness to include in the discussion churches claimed by the Georgians in Armenia. He told the Ambassador that she could share the information with Embassy Tbilisi.

"The Catholicos expressed frustration over the condition of churches claimed by the AAC in Georgia. The Catholicos said that many of these churches are in danger of collapse, (and in fact the St. Gevork of Mughni Armenian church did collapse last November (ref B)), but because the churches are owned by the Government of Georgia (GOG), the AAC is unable to undertake restoration work to prevent their further deterioration. The Catholicos said the AAC owns only two churches in Tbilisi: St. Gevork, which serves as the seat of the Diocese, and Holy Etchmiadzin, where the AAC recently spent over $700,000 in renovations. (Note: AAC "ownership" of these two churches is not in the strictly legal sense, as there is no document conferring such ownership. However, the two churches were the only Armenian churches in Georgia allowed to operate during Soviet times, and the Georgian authorities have continued to permit the AAC to use and refurbish them since ndependence. End note.) He pointed out that ethnic Armenians in Samtskhe-Javakheti use their own money to repair disputed churches and then hold services in them, without asking for official permission. The Catholicos considers
this an unsatisfactory - and risky - way of operating," Yovanovich said in her message.