Armenian Apostolic Holy Church The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

From January 26 to February 01, in the Patriarchal residence of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch in the town of Aatchane, Lebanon; the 17th Meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches was convened. The theme of the 17th meeting was “Theological Basis of the Sacraments of the Church”.

From the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, with the Blessings of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians; His Eminence Archbishop Khajak Parsamian, Patriarchal Delegate of Western Europe and representative of the Catholicos of All Armenians in Vatican, and Very. Rev. Fr. Senior Archimandrite Shahe Ananyan, Director of the Ecumenical Relations Department of the Mother See, as well as, His Grace Bishop Makar Ashkharyan and Rev. Fr. Archimandrite Poghos Tikhjyan from the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia; participated in the meeting.

Within the framework of the one-week works, participants of the meeting met with His Holiness Mor Ignatius Ephrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, (January 27) and His Holiness Mar Ignatius Yusuf III Yunnan, Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church(January 28).

On January 30, five members of the Commission met with the president of the Republic of Lebanon His Excellency Michel Aoun. The official meeting was also attended by the representative of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin His Eminence Archbishop Khajak Parsamian.

The commission decided that the next 18th meeting will take place in Vatican, from January 24 to 30, 2021, in order to discuss issues related to the role and position of the Holy Mother of God in two Churches.