Russian church opened in rebel Azeri region
A Russian Orthodox Church has been opened in the Armenia-occupied
Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh region of Azerbaijan.
Father Philipp, an official of the Moscow Patriarchate, told Interfax-Religion on Thursday that the Orthodox Church hopes the church in Upper Garabagh will promote peace in the region.
"The Russian Orthodox Church has always been sad about the Garabagh conflict and made efforts to find and propose to politicians ways of settling it in a peaceful way together with Azerbaijani Muslims and Armenian Christians," the cleric said.
The development of the Upper Garabagh parish "has always been regarded by the Russian Orthodox Church as a means of bringing another peace factor on the long-suffering land of Upper Garabagh, not as a means of taking anyone's side," he claimed.
The Baku and Caspian region diocese has protested over opening the church in the occupied Azerbaijani territories without asking it for authorization.
"Since the Upper Garabagh region is attributed to the Caspian diocese, a formal permission should have been obtained from it to open any church there. But no such appeals had been made," Father Konstantin, the spokesman for the diocese, told the Baku-based ANS TV channel.*
Father Philipp, an official of the Moscow Patriarchate, told Interfax-Religion on Thursday that the Orthodox Church hopes the church in Upper Garabagh will promote peace in the region.
"The Russian Orthodox Church has always been sad about the Garabagh conflict and made efforts to find and propose to politicians ways of settling it in a peaceful way together with Azerbaijani Muslims and Armenian Christians," the cleric said.
The development of the Upper Garabagh parish "has always been regarded by the Russian Orthodox Church as a means of bringing another peace factor on the long-suffering land of Upper Garabagh, not as a means of taking anyone's side," he claimed.
The Baku and Caspian region diocese has protested over opening the church in the occupied Azerbaijani territories without asking it for authorization.
"Since the Upper Garabagh region is attributed to the Caspian diocese, a formal permission should have been obtained from it to open any church there. But no such appeals had been made," Father Konstantin, the spokesman for the diocese, told the Baku-based ANS TV channel.*
Here we are to serve you with news right now. It does not cost much, but worth your attention.
Choose to support open, independent, quality journalism and subscribe on a monthly basis.
By subscribing to our online newspaper, you can have full digital access to all news, analysis, and much more.
Subscribe
You can also follow AzerNEWS on Twitter @AzerNewsAz or Facebook @AzerNewsNewspaper
Thank you!