Note: AIWA claims neither to endorse nor to disagree with the following statement. AIWA is a diverse organization, with members of many religions and beliefs, and does not take official positions on religion. That is not to say that we are not interested in spiritual life among Armenian women, which was, in fact, the subject of our Annual Meeting in May.
I heartily welcome all my sisters in God who are assembled in Beijing for the Fourth World Conference on Women. I pray God that their deliberations may promote the women's growing participation in human life in today's world. Hereunder I share with you some of my thoughts in the light of your interest.
2. Women have always been present and often very active in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the life of His church. The Armenian Church Tradition is eloquent in providing ample evidence for the women's impact-making role in the life of the Armenian people all along the past twenty centuries. The first Armenian person who ever gave her life for the sake of Christ was a woman, St. Santoukht, in the first century. Women in Armenian life have been preachers, educators, members of Religious Orders, benefactors, most active servants in social services, mothers par excellence, even martyrs in defense of and for the lively preservation of the Christian faith.
3. The Armenian Church does not allow the priestly ordination for women. This attitude should never be considered as an attitude of discrimination. The Church follows the Tradition (with a capital T) and has to respect that Tradition. The question of ordination of women has never emanated from the life of the Armenian Church. It has been considered as a foreign question that has not affected the life of the Church. Women in the Armenian Church are fully satisfied with their active engagement in all aspects and areas of service of the Church.
4. Divorce and remarriage are allowed in the Armenian Church but only on grounds of the teachings of the Gospel. Divorce is possible but most difficult to acquire, because the Church does preach the sanctity of marriage and does everything possible to promote normal life, particularly in modern societies and which have to be handled in the spirit of mutual sacrifices.
5. The sanctity of human life is recognized above all considerations. Life is the gift of the God and should be respected on all levels and in all cases. The refusal of abortion emanates from such basic principle as taught in the Bible and in the Tradition of the Church. However, the Armenian Church has not formulated any dogmatic stand on this matter. It tries to build up and cultivate this principle in the hearts and minds of its people recognizing their freedom to exercise such principle according to their Christian conscience and moral responsibility.
6. In Armenia of today I rejoice by seeing the role of women in constant growth. As the head of the Church I think I was the first Catholicos of All Armenians in whose election women took part.
7. Surely, the Church is not a political institution. Political engagement is not its immediate and primary concern. Political issues and actions are left to the State and to political parties. The Church only comes in and speaks and acts on such issues which are described as political but have a bearing on moral, spiritual values, particularly when these latter are not given full consideration or are being violated. This is why the Armenian Church manifests its concern for the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian nation by the Turks in 1915 to 1920s. For human life has been destroyed and the consequences of the genocide continue to affect the Armenian life all around the world. The same concern the Church expresses for any other nation, people or group.
8. I sincerely believe that the United Nations is rendering a greatly beneficial service to human life of today and for the decades to follow, by enhancing the concern and the care of humankind for the advancement of women's roles in human life. Ancient injustices should be redressed and women should feel that they are equal to men in the eyes of God, the Creator of the world and the giver of life.
Note: This text is unofficial. It is reprinted from the Armenian Mirror-Spectator (Watertown, Mass (USA)), Saturday, October 14, 1995, page 14. It was apparently included in the report issued to the United Nations by the Armenian government on the occasion of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.