Catholicos of Cilicia meets with Canada’s PM

PanARMENIAN.Net - His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia, met with Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, on Wednesday, June 3, Horizon Weekly reports.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the Pontiff thanked Harper for Canada’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide, discussed his concerns regarding the conflict in Syria and the impact it has on the Christians and Armenians in the area since its eruption in 2011.

His Holiness also informed the PM about the lawsuit the Catholicosate of Cilicia has filed to Turkey’s Constitutional Court, requesting the return of the historical Catholicosate of Sis, which was seized by the Ottoman Turkish Empire, along with other Armenian churches and institutions.

During this visit, His Holiness Aram I also decorated Harper with the Prince of Cilicia medal, the highest insignia of the Catholicosate of Cilicia.

His Holiness was joined by the following delegation, Bishop Meghrig Parikian, Prelate of the Armenian Prelacy of Canada, Most Reverend Father Housig Mardirossian, Ecumenic Relations Officer of the Catholicosate, Krikor Der Ghazarian, Chairperson of the Executive Council of the Armenian Prelacy of Canada, Dr. Girair Basmadjian, member of the Central Executive Council of the Catholicosate, Raffi Donabedian, Chairperson of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, and Hagop Der Khatchadourian, President of the Armenian National Committee International Council.

The Catholicosate of Cilicia became the center of Armenian life around which the religious, national, cultural, and educational activities were organized. After the Genocide of 1915, the Catholicosate contributed significantly to the formation and organization of the Armenian Diaspora. During World War I (1915-1918), one and a half million Armenians were massacred by the Ottoman Turkish government. In 1921, when the French forces evacuated Cilicia, a second wave of massacres ordered by Kemalist Turkey took the lives of another three hundred thousand Armenians. The rest of the Armenians were forced to leave their centuries-old homeland and found refuge mostly in Syria and Lebanon. The Catholicosate in Sis, as well thousands of Armenian churches, monasteries, schools and cultural centers were robbed and ruined by the Turks. Catholicos Sahak II followed his flock in exile. After wandering in Cyprus, Syria and Lebanon, in 1930, he established the Catholicosate in Antelias, Lebanon.