Pioneering pope visits Armenia

Christian Century, Oct 10, 2001

Breaking new ground in ecumenical relations, Pope John Paul II visited the Republic of Armenia as the guest of Catholicos Karekin II, leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is celebrating 1,700 years of Christianity.

"This is the first time that the bishop of Rome for the extent of his visit to a country is staying in the home and sharing the daily life of a brother who presides over one of the glorious churches of the East," the pope said. "Thank you for this sign of love, which moves me deeply and speaks of a profound friendship and fraternal charity to the hearts of all Catholics," he told the catholicos.

During the almost 23 years of his papacy, John Paul has given high priority to dialogue aimed at reconciling the Latin and Orthodox churches, which split in the Great Schism of 1054. He achieved one major goal with a visit to Athens in May, but the Russian Orthodox Church has refused to invite him to Moscow and objected strenuously to his trip in June to Ukraine, which it considers its "canonical territory."

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexsy II of Moscow also traveled to Armenia for the anniversary celebrations but timed his visit so that it ended two days before the pope arrived on September 24. The 81-year-old pontiff flew to the Armenian capital of Yerevan from Kazakhstan on the fourth day of a six-day trip to the two former Soviet republics.

The Armenian Apostolic Church was created in 301 when King Tiridates II was converted to Christianity by St. Gregory the Illuminator, 36 years before the Emperor Constantine's conversion, and made Armenia the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion. Although the church is closer theologically to Constantinople than to Rome, its rite includes Latin as well as Byzantine elements.

Karekin, 50, embraced the ailing pope at an airport welcoming ceremony, and they exchanged the "kiss of peace" in the Apostolic Cathedral of Etchmiadzin, the ancient seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church located 11 miles west of Yerevan. The complex commands a view of Mount Ararat, the mountain regarded by the faithful as the one where Noah's ark came to rest in the biblical account.