We treat everyone with the grandeur of Etchmiadzin. Father Asoghik Karapetyan, a monk of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, wrote about this on his Facebook page.
He noted, in particular: “In preparing my work, I was fortunate to study numerous archival documents. In light of the national and ecclesiastical history of the last hundred years, I learned many new lessons, acquired many new thoughts, heard many words, truly accepted, understood, confessed in all their depth, and have lived thus ever since.”
The aforementioned phrase was written in one of these documents, and it flashed in my mind like a sun, filling my entire being with an unfading light: a thrilling thrill ran through me as I rediscovered a simple, obvious truth…
I will not revisit history, but rather turn to our 20th and 21st centuries, recalling all our Patriarchs, from His Holiness Gevorg V to His Holiness Karekin II, His Holiness, who truly lived and acted with the same conviction and principle: “We treat everyone with the greatness of Etchmiadzin.”
The same convictions and principles applied without distinction in all situations… Our Patriarchs are great. Anyone with common sense and national self-awareness can only admire them and bow before them with reverence.
Thus is every clergyman formed from the very first day of seminary; with this true seal, every spiritual servant is imprinted with the Sacred Right of the Armenian Patriarch. And subsequently, each one, through their lives and holy deeds, sacredly preserves or treacherously destroys the “greatness of Etchmiadzin”…
And the “greatness of Etchmiadzin” is a great and wondrous holy sacrament, which is experienced today and is truly reflected in the life, wise words, majestic bearing, and demeanor of the worthy chosen one of my people, His Holiness Garegin II, Patriarch of All Armenians.
This divine, holy gift is passed on from Patriarch to Patriarch. It belongs only to the God-chosen and God-given PATRIARCH, and from Him it spreads throughout all the churches. Member of the Church.
Beloved, truly know your spiritual servants, lest you stray from the path and perish forever. An Armenian cleric, anointed and endowed with the “greatness of Etchmiadzin,” will never, under any circumstances, betray, deceive, or sell himself; he will never renounce or show disrespect for his native Spiritual Home and Spiritual Father. The “greatness of Etchmiadzin” is, above all, conscious and sacred loyalty and obedience, selfless devotion, and uncompromising service.
This is the truth, calling, and path of a cleric.