The Church and Philanthropists: Arsen Torosyan's Commentary

Member of the National Assembly's Civil Contract faction Arsen Torosyan wrote:

“The Church and Philanthropists: First, let’s understand what ‘philanthropist’ means. By classical definition, a philanthropist is a person who spends their personal resources for expenses from which others benefit. This can be an individual, a group of people, a community, or even an entire country. Now, let’s clarify when philanthropists and philanthropy are most needed. This happens when the state cannot meet the needs of its citizens, communities, or people. At such times, philanthropists come to the rescue. They finance the treatment of patients, pay tuition fees for students, provide food for the needy, build homes for the homeless, pave roads, and ultimately, they inevitably build churches, often in the name of their relatives.

Of course, these philanthropists often accumulate their wealth against the backdrop of state failures, including through tax evasion. This is particularly relevant when a national state does not exist at all, and the people live under the rule of a foreign empire without fundamental rights and freedoms. The Church also plays a similar role when the state has failed or when an empire is the state. The life of the people living within empires rallies around the Church, which, by the way, is recognized by those very empires—not by coincidence but deliberately, as this makes it easier to govern the population.

The Church is where education, science, culture, and sometimes even justice are formed. The Church often also collects taxes from its community and engages in business; it cultivates land, harvests crops, and establishes industries. The aforementioned philanthropy is often carried out through the Church; for instance, church kitchens for the poor are funded by philanthropists.

So what happens when a national state is created and gradually strengthens to take on more and more responsibilities for its citizens? The state creates an environment for businesses to develop, jobs to be created, collects taxes, constructs roads, schools, kindergartens, medical centers, ensures justice, funds culture, etc. Gradually, the need for philanthropy decreases, although it is still somewhat necessary. Likewise, the necessity for the Church to engage in functions beyond spiritual life diminishes.

Now let’s return to our times and see what is happening. Some philanthropists take pride in their philanthropy, most of which was carried out when the state was failing, when everyone was looting and not paying taxes, and hence the state could not adequately perform its functions. At that time, we had numerous philanthropists. Of course, it later turned out that many of them were ordinary criminals who had plundered and exploited their own people while tossing a few coins to them.

The Church is also dissatisfied with its diminishing role as the state’s role increases. It once again presents a political claim, as during the absence of statehood. This ‘outburst’ of the Church and philanthropists is, in essence, evidence of historical Armenia, from which we are trying to rid ourselves by building a Real Armenia—with its stable state institutions, a growing state budget, and numerous essential commitments taken on by the state.

Note: And when we are recently mocked with questions like, ‘What have you done for the Republic of Armenia, that you do not appreciate the great philanthropist’s deeds,’ even though I reiterate that philanthropy gives no one the right to break laws, I respond that we are building a state for our children, where philanthropy cannot replace the state because the state must solve the overwhelming majority of the problems it faces, while philanthropy can fill the gaps.”