Towards Europe ” “with the Ecumenical Charter” “

“Discussing the Charta Oecumenica and providing an occasion for exchange on the situation of young people and their relations with the Church in the countries of the former USSR”: these, according to Msgr. Jaznik Petrossian, Secretary for ecumenical relations of the Armenian apostolic Church, were the main objectives of the first national seminar of young Armenian Christians, on the theme “Youth and Church”. Held in recent days in Tsaghkadzor (“valley of flowers”) – some 70 km from Yerevan, capital of Armenia – the meeting was promoted by the WCC’s “Armenia Round Table”, of which the Armenian Apostolic and the Catholic Church form part. Some 50 young delegates participated in the seminar. Also present were representatives of the Patriarchate of Moscow, the Czech Orthodox Church, the Greek-Catholic Church of Bulgaria, the Armenian Church of Georgia, the Lutheran Church of Latvia and the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CCEE). At the present time Catholics form 10% of the population in Armenia: some 300,000, according to Catholic sources. There are 3 priests and 9 women religious engaged for the most part in orphanages. Working in groups. “How is it possible to heal memories? What kind of prayers would you like at ecumenical meetings? How can fidelity to tradition and commitment to the ecumenical movement be reconciled? Is toleration an adequate response to forms of extremism?”. These are some of the questions that guided the reflections of the work groups at the seminar. Some keywords recurred again and again in the interventions and in the debates: “The Armenian identity, formed by 1700 years of Christian history; fidelity to and respect for tradition; the common belonging to this history; dialogue”. In this regard the need to “get to know each other better so as not to fear each other” clearly emerged. The Church’s tasks towards the young. “Young people in Armenia live in a situation of insecurity and despair; they are bereft of moral values. And, after 70 years of religious intolerance, they have a great hunger for God”. So said Harout Nercessian, of the Armenian Evangelic Church, who also described the country’s social situation: “Idealism and sense of power, linked to victory in the war against Azerbaidjan over the region of Karabagh, contrast with the economic crisis and the lack of basic foodstuffs and essential services. There’s a good deal of disenchantment in political life, corruption and unemployment”. For this reason, said Father Vahram Melikan, director of the information service of the Armenian Apostolic Church, “the Church’s first task towards the young is to create Christian communities in which the life of faith may be shared together”. There’s a need, added Father Artemij Skripkin, of the Russian Orthodox Church, for “communities of love. Only in love can man be radical!”. What do the young think of ecumenism and Europe? A girl, with experience of ecumenism and of travel in the West, replied: “My judgement of Christianity in Europe has changed since I got to know experiences of radical Christian life, like that of some Carmelite convents”. Europe, for young Armenians, is “a chance to meet and dialogue with other Christians, to get to know other traditions”. But it is also the “opportunity for ecumenical formation in the theological faculties and, in some cases, a source of funding: 55% of the Armenian population live below the poverty line”. Together with the Christians of Europe. At the end of the meeting many young people asked “for an Armenian translation of the Charta Oecumenica; so as to be able to discuss it in future and feel a greater sense of participation in the ecumenical process on which Christians are engaged in Europe”. As stressed by Sister Arousiag Sajonian, mother superior of the Convent of Our Lady of Armenia, this interest reflects “the wish of the young to devote their energies to the Church and to Armenia to build something new”. The young participants expressed their own ideas on “prayers at ecumenical meetings” and on the “healing of memory”. “Ecumenical prayers – they said – must be experienced together, but in fidelity to the tradition of each Church”. As regards memory: “The genocide of 1915, which caused the death of over 1.5 million Armenians, has not yet been forgotten. But – said the Orthodox youth – the wounds are slowly healing, and preventing fresh ones from being inflicted!”.