AAC Eastern Diocese legate installed NCC President

PanARMENIAN.Net - Archbishop Vicken Aykazian who was installed as President of the National Council of Churches (NCC) in the USA, which is the leading force for ecumenical cooperation among Christians in the United States with 45 million faithful members in 100,000 congregations in all 50 states, the Armenian Assembly of America reports.



Archbishop Aykazian, who is the legate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) in Washington, and ecumenical officer, will serve as the 24th NCC President since the Council's beginnings in 1950. He is the third Orthodox president and the first from the Oriental Orthodox tradition to lead the NCC. The Assembly also commends the General Assembly NCC for urging Congress to pass the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H. Res. 106).



During the NCC's annual meeting last week, the General Assembly passed a voice vote in support of the resolution. The NCC's statement said, in part, that the NCC "strongly urges the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives to bring forth this legislation before the end of this Congress." "I believe that these types of meetings are extremely important for the recognition of past genocides and the prevention of future genocides," said Archbishop Aykazian.