During the international conference on “The Armenian World on the Internet” launched by the RA Ministry of Diaspora and Yerevan State University at YSU Rita and Vardges Balian Hall, the participating field-related experts touched upon the Internet and the Armenians on the Internet. Touching upon the official website of the Armenian Catholic Church, Deputy Superintendent of the Surb Tiramor Monastery of Zmmar, Archimandrite Mashtots Zahterian also stated that the website has been hacked by extremist Islamists and is not running for the time being. Talking about the major role that the Internet plays in our days, the archimandrite also presented the activities that the Zmmar Monastery has carried out and how they are shown on the Internet.

“Established more than five years ago, the website of Zmmar has various sections where one can learn about our mission on the Internet. The introduction presents the congregational, priestly, ecclesiastical titles and titles of clergymen, prayers, illustrated pages, memorable moments, festive ceremonies and a chronology. As for our congregation, visitors will see a historical background. I wouldn’t like to provide a historical background. You can read all about that on our website in a month. We have our rule book for the patriarchal see that presents the rules of our lives, our meetings and our patriarchal vicar, who is also the elder of the monastery and congregate member of the administrative council. Those who wish to contact any one of the congregates of Zmmar must visit the congregation’s website and click on the Congregate Members section where they will find the address, telephone number, position and place of service of the congregate of their choice. In addition to the congregation, the (Theological Seminary and the Place of Offering are also important since that is where the future clergymen undergo training. We have also prepared two special pages for them, including the small Saint Mikayel Theological Seminary, which we refer to as a Place of Offering, as well as the large seminary of the Blessed Ignatios Maloyan where students study philosophy and theology. On those pages we post sermons, studies and all that they present at the seminary. Of course, the Zmmar Monastery is also a shrine where one can see the chapel of the Immaculate, a place for pilgrimages for people from all corners of the globe. The opening ceremony of the Large Amphitheater dedicated to the Blessed Archbishop Maloyan martyred in Mardin is presented in the news section. There is also information about the rituals that are held in the monastery and the prayers that are said. The Zmmar Monastery is also a large cultural center because it has a library with more than 100,000 books and a room full of nearly 2,000 preserved manuscripts, 200 of which are in foreign languages. We have valuable samples, a museum with a rich collection, the residence of the patriarch, a chapel, a part for antique books and a reading room set to open in early October. The Zmmar Monastery has special cellars dating back to the 1800s and is known for its variety of tasty and delicious wines. To appreciate that, we have created a special website that has been hacked and isn’t running. Whoever visits our website can have an overall picture of the history of the congregation of Zmmar Monastery, the patriarchate, the spiritual life of clergymen within the monastery, the New Place of Offering and the Theological Seminary. The chronology page of our website is full of news. For instance, it features information about the visit of Armenia’s new Ambassador to Zmmar Monastery and other news. I immediately posted news about this conference on our Facebook page yesterday. Before that, I had already posted news about the official ceremony at the Amphitheater. Our task is to spread the news or information on time. I wish no website is hacked like our website has been hacked because we will need to redo all that we have done over the past four years in just a couple of months. Of course, the design will be new. When the website is hacked, everything is hacked. The only thing that remains is the writing, but the page is lost. On that day, when we opened the website, we saw the flag of the Islamists on the first page and one of their prayers. We worked for two days to try to retrieve our page. Information about all major historic events is posted on the Special Memorable Moments page. The website of the patriarchate started running in 2005, presenting the history of the Hierarchical See of the Church and the history of the dioceses in other countries, the history of the Mekhitarist Congregation and the history of the educational institution of the Congregation of Armenian Catholic Sisters of Immaculate Conception. It also presents all the institutions that operate under the auspices of the authorities and the patriarchal diocese, meaning the school, the orphanage, the medical clinic, choirs, the Women’s Union, the Youth Union, the Zharangavorats School, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses and more. I would like to state that the “Nran Dzayn” (Voice of Pomegranate) weekly religious program started airing in 2007, but unfortunately, it was only broadcast for a year. The program featured news and various materials devoted to religious topics. Our desire is to see these programs and program series be ongoing. I would like for a major means of communication like the Internet and safe websites to make this world more accessible for us and connect hearts. May the Internet serve as an eternal bridge between Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora! May we be able to present our culture and spiritual values to the world the right way through the Internet! Most of those values are kept within Armenian churches. We need to appreciate and implement them,” Archimandrite Mashtots Zahterian particularly stated during the interview.

The conference served as the best and desired platform in terms of society, science and information. Through that platform, the participants of the conference were able to present their activities on the Internet, establish cooperation and exchange experiences that helped them find more innovative and effective methods for working on the Internet.

Karine Avagyan

Source: Hayern Aysor