Marmara Armenian Daily
2 October 2003
Istanbul
His Beatitude Mesrob II, Armenian Patriarch of
Istanbul and all Turkey, has been prevented from
travelling to Van, in Eastern Anatolia, where
he was scheduled to lead a pilgrimage to Christian
holy sites, such as the Armenian Church of the
Holy Cross on the Island of Aghtamar.
Although arrangements had been made and confirmed
weeks ago, the Patriarch was told at 7:30am on Thursday,
October 2, that “the plane was full” and that “no
information had been received previously
about the Patriarch’s trip”. This was not true since
the Patriarchate’s Chancellor had informed the
Governor’s Office in Istanbul and the Airport
Authority, in writing, that His Beatitude would
travel to Van on Thursday, October 2nd, at 07:50
hours.
The Patriarch then turned down a Turkish Airlines
offer to travel to Van on another flight scheduled
two hours later, reportedly via Ankara, since he
would have missed his appointment with the Governor
of Van, Mr Hikmet Tan, at 14:00 hours.
The Patriarch had accepted an invitation to lead a three-day
spiritual pilgrimage on the occasion of the 1000th
anniversary of the passing into eternal life of Saint Gregory of
Narek in 1003, not long after the Saint completed
his prayer book called “Speaking with God from the
Depths of the Heart”, a work that has been translated
into numerous languages.
The pilgrimage would have included the Armenian church
ruins on the Islands of Aghtamar, Ktuts (Carpanak),
Lim (Adir) and Arder (Tavsan) in Lake Van, the ruins
of the Varak Monastery (Yedi Kilise) and the village
of Narek.
Over a hundred Armenian pilgrims from Istanbul flew to
Van on Oct 2nd without their Patriarch or any other clergy
to lead their spiritual pilgrimage.
A similar problem occurred in 2001 when the Patri-
archate organised a pilgrimage to the same region.
Bureaucrats “unofficially” suggested to the Patriarchate
that a pilgrimage by the Armenian Patriarch to the
region was perhaps “untimely”. The pilgrimage had to be
cancelled.
Yorumlar kapatıldı.