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On February 28 and March 1, the annual clergy conference was convened in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, on the occasion of the Feast of St. Ghevond the Priest and His Companions. Over 250 clergymen from Armenia and Artsakh dioceses participated in the sessions. The topic of discussion was "Family and the Spiritual pastor".

At the conclusion of the discussions the clergymen issued the following statement:

"We, as the spiritual servants of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church, having discussed the challenges facing the Armenian family, stress with importance the unique values and nation preserving mission of the family, in the life of the Armenian State and society. For centuries the divinely-established commandment of marriage has been the base for the traditional Armenian family – like the features of a chapel – which are faithfulness to the Church and patriotism, family devoutness, and loyalty towards moral and spiritual values. All these have been blessed and sanctified by the great Sacrament of Holy Matrimony along with the concept that, "So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate" (Mathew 19:6).

However, during our pastoral services, we witness the anxiety causing effects existing in public consciousness and behavior, which are due to the weakness of our spiritual life and traditional-moral values, processes of globalization and secularism, and social and economical difficulties. Today the Armenian family is facing moral issues such as the misunderstanding of the concept of marriage and the sacrament of matrimony, the decline of the sense of responsibility towards spouse and also family as well as towards national-spiritual education of the children. The unwanted results of such concerns and condition are adultery, family violence, abortion and other unnecessary actions. The destructive activities of various religious organizations and movements result in distortion of ordinary life of the Armenian family, often bringing sad consequences.

Concerned with all these, we stress the necessity of contributing more active efforts to our pastoral service for the strengthening of our Church and centuries-old family ties with everyday care, with church sacraments and services, with active pre-marital and marital spiritual-counseling services to couples. We exhort all the couples to display more responsibility towards marriage, keeping in mind our God-worshiping fathers, and to accept the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony as an indivisible sacred union of unselfish love, mutual aid and care.

With this in mind, we stress the importance of public collaboration – individuals, social and public institutions, and mass media, for the reinforcement of traditional values of the Armenian family and for the prevention of infringement on family sanctities.

We raise our prayers to Heaven asking our Lord for the peaceful, safe and prosperous life of our country, so that with reverential trust to the Resurrected Christ and with national and spiritual unity, we continue our contribution to the resolution of the current challenges facing the Armenian family. We do believe that all kinds of difficulties facing our social life will be conquered if within us prevails the faith towards God, love and trust towards each other, for the Homeland and the Mother Church, and loyalty towards our national values and the traditions of our ancestors".