The international conference on “Church and State Relations: Imperatives and Challenges” drew to an end on October 19. The conference was held by the blessing of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

The two-day conference included lectures on “Different Models of Church and State Relations Today” by Priest Sergey Matyushin (Russian Orthodox Church) and Asatur Nahapetyan (Armenian Evangelical-Baptist Church for Christians in Yerevan). Dr. Peter Cromer (leader of the Evangelical Church of Austria), Elizabeth Kitanovich (Conference of European Churches, Executive Secretary for Human Rights of the Committee on Church and Society), Father Nectarius Ioanius of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus within European organizations and Jose Luis Baza (legal consultant for migration, European Commission of Catholic Bishops) delivered speeches on the topic of “International Laws and Standards in Freedom of Religion”.

The fourth session of the conference began with a speech by RA First Deputy Minister of Justice Grigor Muradyan, followed by speeches by Dr. Tom Samuelian (Dean of the Department of Law at the American University of Armenia), Artak Zakaryan (Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations) and Tigran Mesropyan (RA Management Academy, political scientist).

The final session included a discussion on “The Role of the Church in Social Life in Armenia: Challenges and Perspectives”. The participants of the discussion touched upon relations with religious minorities, the need for exchange of experiences, approaches and viewpoints through combined efforts, as well as the prevention of processes infringing upon the rights of the Mother Church.

After the conference, Head of the Inter-Church Relations Department of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Prelate of the Artik Diocese, Father, Bishop Hovakim Manukyan expressed gratitude to the gathered for participating in the conference and underlined that such events held through the exchange of experiences will contribute to the development of dialogues. Highly appreciating and summing up the results of the two-day conference, the participants attached importance to the ongoing nature of such conferences, reports the press office of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.