Truth is Violated, Justice is Robbed: A Letter from Bishop Bagrat from Yerevan-Center Prison

30 years later… Today marks the 30th anniversary of my ordination… in one of the prisons of 'free and independent' Armenia. I could not even imagine in my worst dreams that I would reach this point. However, given the current disaster—a disaster in all respects—I could not envision being anywhere else. Since 1988, as a 17-year-old, I have fought for a free, independent, sovereign Armenia, proudly walking alongside my liberated Artsakh.

Bishop Bagrat has written a letter from the 'Yerevan-Center' penitentiary, located at the National Security Service building: “In 1995, having been ordained before the Holy Altar of Holy Etchmiadzin in memory of Archbishop Bagrat Vardazaryan, who was martyred in KGB prisons, I pledged to serve for the glory of God and for the benefit of my beloved people, whom I have loved more than my own life. I have humbled myself and pledged to glorify my risen and victorious Lord in all circumstances and situations. I have acted, making mistakes, with sins, collapses, and trials, considering all those to be mine, and mine alone. I have regarded every smallest success as belonging to God and His gift. Whether I have succeeded or not, my judge is God and history.

Today, through retrospective scrutiny, I live with a stolen biography and honor, shattered dreams and distorted visions, a beloved homeland of lost Artsakh, and the reality of a mutilated and being-mutilated Armenia—amidst the disgrace of our brothers in enemy prisons, with our heads bowed before the blood of thousands of martyred brothers and fathers, overwhelmed with uncertainty regarding the return of children lost in the abyss, and before our wounded friends, unresponded to, in a heavy burden of a misled and deceived nation’s psyche. Truth has been violated, justice robbed, love decayed, faith wounded, and hope shattered.

Despite all this, our will has not perished, our unshakeable faith endures, and our aspirations, ambitions, and dreams cannot be killed as we strive to recreate and renew the life and progress of our Mother—Mother Armenia, and that surely and inevitably 'the sins will melt away, the demons will be chased away, the offenses will be erased, the shackles will be broken, the chains will be shattered, the wounds will heal, the corruption will cease, the sorrow will lessen, the darkness will flee, the horror will depart, the fog will be rejected, the gloom will be dispelled, the darkness will disappear, the night will go, the anxiety will disperse, evil will diminish, and despair will be chased away… God's almighty hand will reign.'”

O Lord, like 30 years ago when, as a 24-year-old, I cried out fully stripped before You, today, as a 54-year-old guided by Your most caring hand through many paths, I repeat: 'The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?' Praise be to You, Lord, for everything, for I am at peace with my fathers and brothers and my sister, being on the path of imprisonment and the cross, remaining with You, rather than having a share with the deniers. I have entrusted my soul to You and do not regret it—My God and my King, My Life and My Redeemer, My Hope and My Trust—Jesus Christ, Your God of all. Indeed, I believe wholeheartedly and live in the Victory of Spiritual Armenia, of the Temple, and of the Tricolor. And that Victory has no alternative,” wrote Bishop Bagrat.