“RELIGION IS ONLY AN INSTRUMENT IN THEIR HANDS…”

Whatever divine being may be at the heart of world religions, they all shape a way of thinking and serve people's spiritual enrichment. They have always influenced both the individual and society as a whole, shaping certain behavioural and moral standards, not to mention the most important, and often key role of religion in the system of international relations and the creation of a world order.

It is profoundly regrettable that in all the landmarks of the history of mankind there have always been forces wishing to stir up antagonism and set up a direct clash between the world's two most widespread religions - Christianity and Islam. And in this game there has been no shortage of apologists both among Christians and Muslims.

In this context the actions of the Armenians, who by means of falsifying historical facts and with their inexplicable indifference to the Christian world itself gave themselves the title of the ethnic group that was allegedly the first to declare Christianity (Georgian branch) as official state religion, is of special interest. Claims that the Armenians adopted Christianity in 301 AD are also placed in doubt by many respected world theologians, including Armenian. They are inclined to believe that this could not have occurred earlier than 314 AD. "The date of this event is traditionally believed to have been 301 AD, however, judging by the latest research, this occurred no earlier than 314 AD," the Armenian historian S. Ter-Petrosyan believes.

As far as the date of the declaration of Christianity as state religion is concerned, one needs to take account of an historical document - the Edict of Milan, which was signed by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in 313 AD, which declared that Christianity should be taken under state protection, guaranteeing its right to exist. Common sense dictates that before the emergence of this Edict, the Armenian ruler, in direct vassalage to Rome, could not have elevated Christianity to the status of state religion. Besides, science has long since known that at the end of the second century, i.e. more than a century before the Armenians, Christianity became the official religion of the Aramaic-speaking Edessa Kingdom (Osroene).

Orthodox theologians also advanced numerous quite reasonable claims against the Armenian Church. According to them, the Armenians carried out a secret "Gregorianization" in the Caucasus, with the support not only of the Russian Tsar, but also the Arabian Caliph. The height of this juridical shaping of the falsifications of the Armenian Church was the moment when the Armenians, re-settled by Russia to Karabakh, persuaded the Russian tsar to sign in 1836 a decree, on the basis of which the Albanian Church was abolished, and its temples, property and documents handed over to the Armenian Church. Incidentally, the Armenian Apostolic Church is often called Gregorian thanks to the Charter of the Armenian Church, which was approved by the Russian Tsar Nicholas II. It is precisely in this document that the Armenian Church is called Gregorian. But before this it had to wage an acute struggle with its elder brothers in Christ (the Catholic and Orthodox Churches) which suspected their younger colleague of heresy and trickery.

The point is that the Council of Chalcedon (IV Ecumenical Council, convened in 451 by the Byzantine Emperor Marcian by consent with Pope Leo I) recognized only Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Anglicism and Lutheranism as the official currents of Christianity. The Monophysite Armenian-Gregorian Church was seen as heretic. After the council, the emperor published strict laws regarding monophysites: incarceration in a monastery or exile; burning their writings, execution for distributing them, and so on.

It is not known what the fate of the Armenian Gregorian Church would have been but for the Seljuk Turks who defeated the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071. It was precisely after this battle that the danger that had threatened the Armenian Church was removed. After this the rancorous Armenian Church, thanks to its artful designs, began to cleverly make use of the authorities in its struggle against other currents of Christianity in the Ottoman Empire. But when at the end of the 19th century a serious struggle for the territory of the Ottoman Empire broke out between the strong of this world, the Armenians and the Armenian Church did not miss the opportunity to carry out their outlandish idea of creating a "Great Armenia".

By manipulating feelings of "Christian solidarity", the Armenians and the Armenian Church offered the countries of the Triple Entente as much help as they could in dismembering the Ottoman Empire. And the tactics they used were astounding in their cynicism and incredible simplicity. What were these tactics? Among the population of Eastern Anatolia passions were roused by means of an uprising, and among the Muslims by means of attacks on their villages, which provoked them into attacking the Armenians. Eventually, a civil war flared up in this region. The propaganda offices of Armenian revolutionary committees in the West started to depict the measures taken by the Ottoman authorities in their attempt to stop the bloodshed between the Christian and Muslim population as the annihilation of Armenian-Christians, and the European powers then had a pretext to intervene with the object of putting an end to the carnage. In other words, interference from the Christian West was a most important factor in the policy of the "Armenization" of Eastern Anatolia, and terror was seen as the one option that would provoke intervention. 

The countries of the Triple Entente and the US, pursuing their own geopolitical objectives, were only too keen to grab at the bait of "Christian solidarity" offered by the Armenian community and the Armenian Church. Although the well-known French philosopher and sociologist Charles Fourier, in his book "The Theory of the Four Movements and General Destinies" (1808) warned of the falseness and the hidden motives of the religious feelings of the Armenians and the Armenian Church. "Secrecy and crafty knavery are profoundly inherent in the Armenians and their arguments are as hypocritical as they are convincing. Habituated to despotism, humiliation and perjury they suffer no hindrance to prevent their attaining their end; in their hands religion is only an instrument for cementing their interests and their deceit. In Russia they conform to the Greek ritual, in Persia to Mahometanism, and so on and so forth," Fourier wrote. 

Representatives of the Armenians, the Armenian Church and experts, skilfully playing the card of "Christian brotherhood", give their own assessment of the political processes and offer various options of their development, hoping to gain substantial dividends. But attempts to present themselves as avid defenders of the interests of the Christian world often border on the ridiculous. For instance, they claim that contemporary conflicts in the Islamic world have come about, among other things, with the aim of ejecting the Christian population from these countries. For example, the events in Syria and Lebanon, first and foremost, pursue the aim of destroying and banishing the Armenians from the Near East because they say it is the Armenians who are the main opponents of a normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. One Armenian expert, Suren Saryan, analyzing the civilization problems of the Old Continent assesses some of the events taking place there as a jihad (!) against Europe. In a veiled manner the author urges the Europeans to no more nor less than embark on a new crusade against the Islamic world. At the same time, stressing that it is precisely crusades that helped to consolidate Europe as a single civilized entity.

The purpose is more than obvious - to use any event to set the Christian and Muslim worlds against each other and thus reap maximum dividends for the Armenians. This is more than eloquently shown also by a statement by one of the leaders of the separatist regime in Nagornyy Karabakh, A.Gulyan, which he made at the end of June this year during a meeting with members of a delegation of the world religious organization "Young Christian Association". According to Gulyan, the Armenian community in Nagornyy Karabakh has never regarded the Karabakh conflict from the religious point of view, but it could not understand why the Christian countries not only remained indifferent to the fate of the Christians in Nagornyy Karabakh, but at times by their statements defend the positions of the opposing side. "For example, the position of that apology for democracy - Christian Europe - in relation to any electoral process in Nagornyy Karabakh is expressed in a call to abstain from voting. I do not think that by losing Christian Karabakh Christian Europe will win," Gulyan says.

Another and quite fresh example of calls for so-called "Christian solidarity" by the Armenians is a statement by the Armenian ethnic autonomy of Hungary. Expressing "pain and emotion" on the unexpected severing of inter-state relations between Armenia and Hungary because of the extradition of R. Safarov to Azerbaijan, the head of this organization, N. Akopyan, notes: "The time has come to explain to the world that you cannot leave a Christian people with 5,000 years of history to the discretion of such a wild state and society which makes a hero out of a cowardly, hide-by-night murderer who is incapable of fighting face-to-face."

Such provocative statements by the Armenians are not surprising. What is surprising is the ardour with which some European politicians peck at such provocations, coming out with ridiculous proposals about "Christian solidarity". One of them was the Slovak political "figure", one of those closest to the incumbent Slovak president, Frantisek Miklosko, who after an illegal visit to the occupied Azerbaijani territories tried to "expostulate" with Christian Europe: "You only have to visit Nagornyy Karabakh once to understand the absurdity of the opinion that Nagornyy Karabakh could reject independence. I regret that the EU did not agree with this opinion and did not recognize the elections in Nagornyy Karabakh. It is paradoxical that Christian Europe has forgotten its Christian foundations. In this sense Nagornyy Karabakh is throwing down a gauntlet to Europe." Most probably, to Miklosko and other uninitiated and perplexed people like him, a book by a lawyer from Arkansas, a former judge and practising Christian, Samuel Weems: "Armenia: The Secrets of a 'Christian' Terrorist State" could be a good educational manual. In this fundamental work Weems writes: "The tiny country of Armenia, using its fellow-countrymen scattered all over the world, has for many years been applying various efforts to build a Christian world against Islam and the Muslims." The irrefutable proof quoted by the American lawyer enables every Christian to be personally convinced "how the Armenians are using their church to carry out a policy of terrorism", "how the Armenians have conducted a policy of genocide in relation to the Muslims of Karabakh" and "how those who fought on the side of Hitler are revered in today's Armenia". But the most interesting thing is that the dust-jacket of Weems' book carries the exhortation: "Every Christian and every taxpayer in America should read this book!" Those who at the instigation of the Armenians and the Armenian clergy are trying with astonishing ardour to turn the religious factor into an instrument of political speculation should particularly heed this call. And this is extremely dangerous for the whole of mankind. Surely the recent outrages linked with the provocative film "Innocence of Muslims" are evidence of this danger?

AT FIRST HAND

"Secrecy and crafty knavery are profoundly inherent in the Armenians and their arguments are as hypocritical as they are convincing. Habituated to despotism, humiliation and perjury they suffer no hindrance to prevent their attaining their end; in their hands religion is only an instrument for cementing their interests and their deceit. In Russia they conform to the Greek ritual, in Persia to Mahometanism, and so on and so forth."

Charles FOURIER, French philosopher and sociologist  

"The tiny country of Armenia, using its fellow-countrymen scattered all over the world, has for many years been applying various efforts to build a Christian world against Islam and the Muslims."  

Samuel WEEMS, a lawyer from Arkansas("Armenia: The Secrets of a "Christian" Terrorist State")