Anglican Primate to join a Canadian ecumenical delegation to Armenia

The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, is part of a five-member ecumenical delegation set to visit Armenia from Aug. 24 to Sept. 1, 2005.

The visit, organized by the Canadian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, is in response to an invitation by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, to visit the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. It is the first ever visit by such a delegation from Canada to Armenia.

Led by the Primate of the Canadian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, the delegation will discuss future prospects for the role and mission of Christian churches and cooperation between the Eastern and Western churches. The delegation will also meet with Armenian government officials.

Other members of the delegation are: Archbishop Sotirios, Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Canada, Archbishop Brendan O’Brien, President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and Professor Richard Schneider, President of the Canadian Council of Churches.

The dates for this visit were chosen to coincide with celebrations commemorating the 1600th anniversary of the invention of the Armenian alphabet, which take place between Aug. 24 and Sept.1st. The delegation will have an opportunity to participate in the celebrations.

The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin is the pre-eminent centre of authority in the worldwide Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church. Located near Yerevan, the capital city of the Republic of Armenia, it includes The Mother Cathedral of the entire Armenian Church, the residence of the Catholicos, a monastery, the Gevorgian Theological Seminary and a museum that houses the religious artefacts and treasures of the Armenian Church.

The Cathedral dates to the 4th century, and is considered to be the oldest Christian cathedral in the world. Holy Etchmiadzin became the seat of the Catholicate of the entire Armenian nation in the 4th century, following the conversion of King Tiridates III to Christianity by St. Gregory the Illuminator in AD 301. Christianity became a powerful force in preserving the identity of the Armenians who have lived under foreign rule for much of their history.

The Armenian Orthodox church is a member of the Oriental Orthodox family of churches that includes Coptic, Syrian, Armenian, Ethiopian, Eritrean and the (Indian) Malankara. There is an on-going theological dialogue between Anglicans and the Oriental family. In November 2002, the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Commission reached an Agreed Statement on Christology.

The Rev. Canon Harold Nahabedian of St. Mary Magdalene, Toronto, (the only Armenian Anglican priest in Canada), is a member of the Commission.

Formal dialogue between the Anglicans and the Eastern Orthodox churches stemmed from recommendations of the Lambeth Conferences of 1988 and 1998 and the decisions of the Oriental Orthodox Churches that the Anglican-Orthodox dialogue be upgraded from a forum (1985-1993) to a commission.

Armenians dispersed throughout the world after the Armenian Genocide of 1915 when 1.5 million Armenians perished and millions more fled. Today there are more Armenians living outside the country than inside Armenia. It is estimated that over 80,000 Armenians live in Canada.

In 2002, the Federal Government of Canada designated 24 April as a day of remembrance of the 1915 genocide, the first genocide of the 20th century.

The relationship between the Anglican Church of Canada and the Canadian Diocese of the Armenian Orthodox Church, dates back 125 years, when in the absence of Armenian sanctuaries, the Anglicans offered the Armenians liturgical space and hospitality in Anglican churches.

Through the Scholarship of St. Basil the Great, administered by the Anglican Foundation, the relationship between the Armenian Orthodox Church and the Canadian Anglicans has been strengthened and become better known.

The scholarship, established by Bishop Henry Gordon Hill, retired bishop of the Diocese of Ontario, is meant to facilitate exchanges between members of the Anglican Church of Canada and members of the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Assyrian Church of the East.

In 1997, Rev. Sargis Boyajyan of the Armenian Orthodox church was the second recipient of the scholarship. He studied theology and English and is now serving in the diocese of Montreal.

Another recipient, the Rev. Canon Philip Hobson, travelled to Armenia and Jerusalem where he spent four months sharing in the life of the Armenian Apostolic Church and lecturing on the Anglican Church.