Publisher: Patriarch of Istanbul spreads falsehoods about Covid

PanARMENIAN.Net - In October 2021, the Patriarch of Istanbul, Sahag Mashalian, delivered at the Holy Hovhannes Church in the Kumkape district of Istanbul "a very strange sermon full of conspiracies and fear-mongering statements", publisher of the California Courier Harut Sassounian said in a fresh article.

"His anti-scientific and irresponsible words were intended to deter his parishioners from getting vaccinated against the coronavirus, thus endangering their lives," Sassounian said.

"In his sermon, the patriarch quoted from Chapter 13, Verses 16-18 of the Book of Revelation in the Bible. I am not a theologian, but I believe he is misusing verses from the Bible to spread falsehoods and disinformation. The Book of Revelation, an enigmatic work by Apostle John, has many interpretations, but linking his writings to a virus that surfaced two thousand years after his death is senseless and dangerous, particularly in Turkey which has the sixth highest number of deaths in the world from the coronavirus."

Meanwhile the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, released a statement, dismissing religious reasons given by its believers refusing to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The Church’s Supreme Spiritual Council stressed that “vaccination does not pose a spiritual danger.” The Church also announced that Catholicos Karekin II and many other clergymen have been vaccinated.