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THE POLITICAL AND THE RELIGIOUS
March 13 2013
Both good and bad things are written about Raffi Hovhannisyan's hunger
strike. By the way, contradictory though it may seem, there is a grain
of rationality in both sides' arguments. And that ambiguity is caused
by the fact that we don't completely understand the logic of the
politician's behavior. The whole problem is that Raffi Hovhannisyan
combines, coalesces a religious and moral struggle with a political
one. From the perspective of many of us, including me, religion is
a personal, individual, and intimate business, one shouldn't show
off one's religious sentiments in the square. If I read the Bible
correctly, it also mentions that a prayer, a fast, or candle-lighting
should not be for show. As opposed to that, political activities
cannot but be public, because a politician tries to make known his
ideas and programs to the masses. Two years ago, in the spring when
Freedom Square "belonged" to Levon Ter-Petrossian, the latter would
criticize Raffi Hovhannisyan, as far as I can tell, using arguments
like those. Perhaps the first president's words were too harsh,
perhaps it shouldn't have been a reason for not saying hello to Mr.
Hovhannisyan at the time, but separation of the spiritual and
the secular, the physical and the metaphysical that Ter-Petrossian
suggested is acceptable at least to me. Really, if Raffi Hovhannisyan
is on a hunger strike, since now is the period of Lent, and he wants
to purify himself, as he says, then he should do such things at home,
not informing anyone about his self-sacrifice. If, however, he is on
a hunger strike to make Serzh Sargsyan resign and is ready to die,
in case of a failure, as he also states, then it is purposeless,
inappropriate to talk about Lent and self-purification. However,
one should take into account that in the Diaspora, there is no clear
separating line between the political and the religious, which exists
here, in our mentality. In the Diaspora, to its credit, the church has
played a huge role in preserving the Armenian identity, to organize
Armenian communities in different countries and governing them to
a certain extent for decades. As a result of all that the attitude
toward religion, church, and its institutions is different here,
in Armenia, and in the Diaspora. I for one, as hundreds of thousands
of residents of Armenia, am not interested whether the Catholicos of
All Armenians will come to the president's inauguration or not. He is
a part of the system for us; his presence or blessing has the same
significance, as that of any Republican MP. Raffi Hovhannisyan's
attitude is different. Probably this is the difference. ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/13/152922/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
March 13 2013
Both good and bad things are written about Raffi Hovhannisyan's hunger
strike. By the way, contradictory though it may seem, there is a grain
of rationality in both sides' arguments. And that ambiguity is caused
by the fact that we don't completely understand the logic of the
politician's behavior. The whole problem is that Raffi Hovhannisyan
combines, coalesces a religious and moral struggle with a political
one. From the perspective of many of us, including me, religion is
a personal, individual, and intimate business, one shouldn't show
off one's religious sentiments in the square. If I read the Bible
correctly, it also mentions that a prayer, a fast, or candle-lighting
should not be for show. As opposed to that, political activities
cannot but be public, because a politician tries to make known his
ideas and programs to the masses. Two years ago, in the spring when
Freedom Square "belonged" to Levon Ter-Petrossian, the latter would
criticize Raffi Hovhannisyan, as far as I can tell, using arguments
like those. Perhaps the first president's words were too harsh,
perhaps it shouldn't have been a reason for not saying hello to Mr.
Hovhannisyan at the time, but separation of the spiritual and
the secular, the physical and the metaphysical that Ter-Petrossian
suggested is acceptable at least to me. Really, if Raffi Hovhannisyan
is on a hunger strike, since now is the period of Lent, and he wants
to purify himself, as he says, then he should do such things at home,
not informing anyone about his self-sacrifice. If, however, he is on
a hunger strike to make Serzh Sargsyan resign and is ready to die,
in case of a failure, as he also states, then it is purposeless,
inappropriate to talk about Lent and self-purification. However,
one should take into account that in the Diaspora, there is no clear
separating line between the political and the religious, which exists
here, in our mentality. In the Diaspora, to its credit, the church has
played a huge role in preserving the Armenian identity, to organize
Armenian communities in different countries and governing them to
a certain extent for decades. As a result of all that the attitude
toward religion, church, and its institutions is different here,
in Armenia, and in the Diaspora. I for one, as hundreds of thousands
of residents of Armenia, am not interested whether the Catholicos of
All Armenians will come to the president's inauguration or not. He is
a part of the system for us; his presence or blessing has the same
significance, as that of any Republican MP. Raffi Hovhannisyan's
attitude is different. Probably this is the difference. ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/13/152922/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia