– In the last decade, church building has been gaining momentum, the sponsors of which are mostly large businessmen and state officials known for shady economic activity. ՈWhat is the purpose of this unprecedented church building?

– First of all, let’s remember our history and try to understand the reasons for such activities in the previous centuries. Perhaps getting to the historical sources will help us understand the present. I think that today’s system is very similar to the Khodja(( The major merchants of medieval Persia)) system of the Armenian community of Persia, or to the Amirah((Major traders of Ottoman Turkey)) system of the Ottoman Empire. Let’s remember that the commercial capital and the church were intertwined in the 17th and 18th centuries. At that time, the church received extensive charitable donations. There was a special profession – “vekilner”((Vekil-Arabic: authorized deputy, in this case financial authority.)), that is, the clergyman who had to put these money into circulation and receive profits, most of which were handed over to the church. In other words, the church was trading at the same time.
Secondly, the church carried out the circulation of bills, for example, the money was given to the Echmiadzin or Turkey’s Izmir church, which for some reason was subjected to Ejmiatsin((From the beginning of the 19th century Etchmiadzin was on the territory of Russia, where the head of the Armenian Church, the Catholicos resided)), not to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, and then presented the bill to the Armenian church in Astrakhan, Russia. That is, it sold securities. In addition, the church received a “wakf” from Persia and the Ottoman Empire, i.e. the status of inalienable territories, which also served as a commodity warehouse and was one of the safest places.
And the third, of course, was the ideological role. The person who built the church seemed inviolable for the society. If we look at the role of the church today, we will see that it has nothing to do nor with the circulation of bills, neither with the trade of securities and hence only its ideological significance remains.
As we have already mentioned, in the Middle Ages, the church builder, the amira or the khodja, became an immanent person for the public and provided that immunity to the church. Today, that function has been preserved and transformed slightly. The problem is that today the large capital is not considered as legitimate by the Armenian public. They are either shady or criminal by origin. In order to legitimize your business activities and justify the means by which you build a business, first build a church, and then your activities become “legitimate” in the public eye.
Since there were no other tools to ensure the legitimacy of business in Armenia in order to justify those actions before the public and the authorities, this form seems to be trying to revive.

– It turns out that church building sponsored, justified the illegitimate capital.

– Well, of course, but the public likes it when the oligarchy deals with charity, not church building. Another thing is the government’s approach.

– It is known that the Church is engaged in very serious financial activity, one of the largest taxpayers, the major clergymen are known for their financial and economic activities, in particular, to remember the famous offshore case.

– This is a typical example of the bill-selling practice. After all, the church receives donations, and today there is a need to put these money into circulation. It is necessary to create an apolitical bill-selling institute, where should be businessmen and managers who will play that role.

– It is also important where the donations and money are invested – in church building or social programs.? If we look at it from this perspective, the church gives priority to church building.

– I can give an example of the Mkhitarian Congregation((I can give an example of the Mkhitarian Congregation, which had invested money into construction, the construction belonged to the mafia, and it was simply destroyed and the Mkhitarian Congregation appeared in a very difficult financial situation.)), which had invested money into construction, the construction belonged to the mafia, and it was simply destroyed and the Mkhitarian Congregation appeared in a very difficult financial situation. All traditional churches in the world have their own financial performance and such cases often happen. Consequently, we can say that certain church money should be insured, it should be governed by people who are associated with the church.

– To what can lead the religiosity of the society?

– We can say that the society is healthy, if its spiritual spheres – art, science and religion – are at high levels of harmonious development. When this harmony is violated and one of the components takes on a dominant role, it is difficult to speak about a healthy society.