‘Life Word’ to Approach the Government for Days to Hold Ceremonies in Churches, Says Hrant Shahnazaryan

Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan wrote on his Facebook page: “Very important‼️ A few days ago, I was talking to a young person from a sect. He was from Life Word. He was complaining, saying that 'there are too many sectarians in Armenia, and people cannot distinguish between the sect and the Evangelical Church.' According to him, they are a church, while, for example, Jehovah's Witnesses are sectarians. I told him very bluntly, 'You are both the same: sectarians who have denied our faith.' But the young man was adamant, trying to convince me that they have not denied anything. 'We go to church, we pray there, participate in various ceremonies...'

He was referring to our Apostolic Church’s temples. And yesterday I learned a shocking piece of news. Attention. In the coming days, the sect called 'Life Word' is going to approach the Government of Armenia, demanding that days be allocated to them during the week so that they can conduct ceremonies in churches. Or they have already applied. From what I understood, we are talking about churches that are state-registered. What do you think the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will answer to the sectarians who brought him to power? The question is rhetorical.

Meanwhile, we are fighting to keep the subject of 'History of the Armenian Church' in schools. Let me say one thing, please understand correctly. As long as this government is in Armenia, it is better that this subject is not taught in schools. Because tomorrow they will not be here, while the generation they have educated will believe for a long time that the 'Life Word' sect and the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church are sister churches. This is a case where ignorance is preferable to delusion.”

News.am has spoken with Armen Lusyans, spokesman for the ‘Life Word’ sect, who denied this statement. “This information is absolutely false and does not correspond to reality. Why should we approach the Government of Armenia to ask for hours in the Apostolic Church when we have our own church,” the spokesperson clarified.

Armen Lusyan also emphasized that they are not holding gatherings due to the pandemic. “We are a law-abiding church and follow the epidemic rules. While there are restrictions on public events, we do not hold church gatherings,” the spokesperson stressed and described the circulating rumors as provocations. He believes there is a specific intention behind this information being spread. “All of this is a provocation by those who are spreading this false information,” concluded Armen Lusyan, spokesman for the ‘Life Word’ sect.