Head of the Audiovisual Unit of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, Rev. Fr. Archimandrite Bedros Manvelian participated in the international conference on “The Armenian World on the Internet” held on 25-26 August by the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia and Yerevan State University with a speech entitled “The Mission of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia through the Internet”.

 In an interview with Hayern Aysor following the conference, he talked about the programs and initiatives that the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia carries out to promote preservation of the Armenian identity and spiritual upbringing in the Armenian Diaspora.

 “The Internet is present in our lives and can be felt at every level. For the Armenian people, the so-called issue of the Internet is a pressing issue since this culture is directly linked to the identity of Armenians and to our efforts for shaping a human being and an Armenian, and we see the impact of the Internet everywhere. The Armenian Church is not only the guarantee for spiritual life, but also plays a major role in the preservation of the Armenian identity, especially for Diaspora Armenians. Therefore, as the national and spiritual center of the Armenian Diaspora, the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia has done and will continue to do a tremendous job on the current platforms for craftsmanship and will follow the requirements.

The Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia attaches great importance to activities on the Internet since that will help present Armenians actively through the Internet.

The Catholicosate has its official website at www.armenianorthodoxchurch.org, which operationally sheds light on the activities of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos and the Catholicosate.

 Foreign users, including Turks and Azerbaijanis also follow the Catholicosate’s activities on the Facebook page of the website. They even post comments on the page. This means that we Armenians need to show a pan-Armenian approach and be more powerful on the Internet.

The brilliant evidence of our efforts was the implementation of two major initiatives that were carried out under the supervision of the Supreme Patriarch this year.

The first was the meeting/discussion on “Social Media and their Impact on Armenian Identity” held in January.

 During the very effective discussions, the participating youth expressed their concerns about the positive and negative impacts of the Internet.

The second major initiative was the one-day youth congress entitled “Social Networks and Armenian Youth” held in July, gathering nearly 100 young Armenians from different dioceses around the world. During the congress, the youth talked about many issues, including the idea of preserving the Armenian identity on the Internet in this era of globalization.”

Gevorg Chichyan