We present the speech of Father Shahe the Most Reverend Ananyan, Congregant of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, at the rally organized by the "Our way" movement.
"Dear brothers and sisters,
Many important things were discussed on this stage. We are all gathered here today under one native sky, children of one nation. We are the successors of our heritage written not on paper, but in our hearts. From the slopes of the sacred Ararat to our valleys, fields, mountains, rivers and lakes, we have lived and survived not only by the sword, but first of all by the power of the soul.
And today, at this important moment of hope and demand, we must ask ourselves here. where is that spirit, where is that spirit that guided our fathers, our ancestors during the years of genocide, hunger, thirst, and war? Where is that spirit? We, thousands of people gathered here, are not trying to find the answer to that question, but we are trying to rediscover it.
A decisive part of the journey
We, dear ones, are all standing at a crucial crossroads, not just to form another good period for our homeland, but we are standing at a crossroads of existence and non-existence of our homeland. And this is crucial not only in a political and national sense, but let me say, in a spiritual sense. And it should be realized not only by our political forces, but by all of us, with the appreciation of inner consciousness and spirit.
When spiritual national values are sacrificed according to conditions, conventions, when justice bows down to fear, when indifference becomes our moral compass, when we lose our spirit in seeming peace and prosperity, I tell you, after losing that spirit, without spirit, the nation becomes a captive nation, becomes a nation without a future.
The politics of spirit
In our thousand-year history, states and empires have collapsed before our eyes, many promises were made to us and they were not fulfilled, but the reason for our spiritual and moral regression is not all that, it is the crisis that started in our soul and consciousness.
All of you, willy-nilly or not, have questions: are the clergy here, are the clergy engaged in politics? Yes, they are engaged in spirit politics. They are engaged in politics aimed at preserving the values of our spirit, national soul, and rethinking them.
Yes, the clergy are engaged in politics, because the kingdom of God is established on this blessed earth only after the renewal and establishment of our national spirit.
The struggle for the soul of a nation
I did not come to convince you. usually the place of me and all my other spiritual fathers and brothers is the holy tabernacle, the holy tabernacle of the church. But I'm just a guilty simple person like you. Like you, I also take steps every time, which are not so righteous and holy, but I have come to share with you. I have come to share with you the values that speak to my conscience and heart, because those values, those principles, as an Armenian man, force me not to be silent, they force me to speak for our three imprisoned priests, Saints Bagrat, Mikael and Mkrtich, priest Ter Garegin, all our brothers and sisters imprisoned with them, the devoted son of our nation and church, Samvel Karapetyan and: about all political prisoners.
The crisis of justice
Usually, when justice is chained, the spirit of the nation becomes a prisoner of those chains. The crisis of justice, which has been present in our country for years, is born out of neglecting the gospel message.
In the Gospel, the Lord says: "Whoever wants to be great among you, let him serve you." And according to the understanding of the church and Christianity, the true power is not in ruling, but in serving, it is the willingness to serve, not pride, but humility, not narcissism, but it is expressed in impersonal love.
Authorities and governments very often forget this message of Jesus Christ. And at that time, unfortunately, without moral standards, the government turns into what, tyranny, turns into a totalitarian system. Even the freedom guided by virtues, with which we are fed so much, turns into chaos, which we all witness every minute and every hour.
I consider it unnecessary to mention that in recent years, we witnessed many, if not hundreds, thousands of cases and manipulative tricks that silenced the voice of justice.
A call to preserve the national spirit
Maybe we realize it or we are still unconscious, whether we realize it or not, I appeal to you, dear people, we have to realize it, because all these cases of self and selfishness, the use of slogans of a false rescue mission, one-sided interpretations of justice and truth threaten to bury our national spirit under the soil of all kinds of unacceptable ideologies.
One day, if we don't speak, if we don't fight with justice, if we don't constantly remind the authorities and everyone else who has a role in public life, we will become participants in the funeral of our national spirit and values.
Beloveds, remember well, remember very well, no government, no reform, no signed paper, military-political alliance, nothing will save a nation whose spirit is asleep and roars in dreams and frivolities.
An exhortation and a hope
Many of you came with all kinds of demands, wishes, many of you continue your struggle for the restoration of justice and truth in our society. Many of you may still be reserving, many of you may already be tired, waiting for justice and truth to be restored as soon as possible. You may despair, be skeptical, because we face all kinds of injustices and challenges.
I am asking you, as one of you, as a person who serves the church and through that, first of all, all of you. Please do not despair and do not lose your faith that all these difficulties will pass. Do not be discouraged, our fathers and ancestors before us wisely understood this, and generations after us will guess it and apply it in life. Therefore, do not be afraid and do not despair.
Despite all the difficulties, despite the difficult life of our imprisoned brothers and sisters, despite the moral standards that are going backwards day by day in our lives, despite our manly, traditional principles being forgotten day by day, despite all these, I pray.
I pray that one day our national-Christian spirit will once again soar permanently and unceasingly in the sky of our motherland spread on the sacred slopes of Ararat. I pray that one day the divisions in our national life will cease, the prominent blacks and whites will become tricolor, and we, like our mountains, high and low, will live hand in hand in anticipation of the vision given to us by God.
Brothers and sisters, I say again, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, be afraid of those who kill your soul. I am not saying this, Lord Jesus Christ is saying this, and we are obliged to think like that.
Keep your national spirit bright and freedom to all those who work hard and bear that heavy cross for our national values in a dignified manner.
May God protect us all," the speech reads.
