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  • Modest Holy Cross Mass Attracts Few

    MODEST HOLY CROSS MASS ATTRACTS FEW

    Asbarez
    Monday, September 20th, 2010
    AKHTAMAR

    With no cross atop its dome, no belfry or tolling bells and a makeshift
    altar, the much-touted and controversial Mass took place Sunday at
    Holy Cross Church, officiated by the Istanbul Patriarchate's Archbishop
    Aram Ateshyan.

    Thousands of Armenians who had planned a pilgrimage stayed away from
    the scheduled Mass after Turkish officials refused to place a cross
    atop the dome and the general sentiment that the Mass was a propaganda
    ploy by the Turkish government.

    The Holy See of Etchmiadzin and the Great House of Cilicia boycotted
    the event, the latter citing the blatant political charade by the
    Turkish government and the former citing the absence of the cross in
    a reversal of an earlier decision to send a delegation.

    With bell chimes broadcast through a loud speaker, several hundred
    parishioners and Turkish government officials gathered at Holy Cross
    for what was originally seen as a historic Mass in a historic church.

    Most of the parishioners attending the Mass were Armenians from
    Istanbul, according to Turkish media reports.

    No high-level Turkish government officials attended the ceremony and
    the church, which was deemed too small, was filled with local officials
    and guests, while most parishioners gathered outside the church to
    witness the Mass, which was the first held at that church in 95 years.

    "Turkey failed to reach its objective because of its missteps
    in recent times," said Giro Manoyan the political director of the
    Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

    Manoyan pointed to recent Western media reports and cited CNN and
    BBC reports, which clearly stated that Turkey intentionally avoided
    opening Holy Cross as a church since in fears that Armenians would
    lay claims on lands and territory.

    He urged the Armenian church leaders in Turkey to press for more
    religious ceremonies at Akhtamar, because, as Manoyan explained,
    by granting permission for Sunday's Mass, the Turkish government
    claimed the Holy Cross church as its property.

    Manoyan also called on Armenian authorities to clarify to the
    international community that the Turkish government's "permission"
    for the Mass was done more as a gensture-appeasement-to its national
    minorities than it was a concession to Armenia.




    From: A. Papazian
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