– The textbooks on “History of the Armenian Church” have been widely criticized.  There are different reasons for criticism, some criticizing it for human rights, some for poor quality.  Considering that you are a historian, let’s discuss them from a historical point of view. Do these textbooks provide students with sufficient knowledge of the true history of the church, given that religion has a central role in the life of the Armenian people, without which it is impossible to understand our history as well as world history in general?

– The role of education for the sustainable development of the state is invaluable.  And from that point of view, teaching the subject of “History of the Armenian Church” as a discipline in secondary school should answer the question of what knowledge and experience do we want to pass down to generations.  Religion, before the emergence of secular states, was central to the lives of all peoples. This alone cannot explain the introduction of this subject into the school, especially since the Republic of Armenia is also a secular state.  In addition, it should be noted that the historical facts concerning the contribution of the Armenian Apostolic Church to the life of the people have nothing to do with the popular perceptions of past events that dominate us. This is the reason why there are widespread debates in our society on the subject of “History of the Armenian Church”. After all, if there is a problem in conveying our past experience and knowledge to children, we should not try to present only the positive Christian cultural heritage within the subject. At an otherwise mature age, when people also gain the knowledge of what role the Armenian Church has played in the destruction of our statehood, or how closely religion has been in politics in the past and remain today, the Church will be deprived of its power. Such are the internal psychological orientations of people towards falsehood and forgery, and nothing can be done with them except to try to conceal or overlook historical negative heritage.  And we are living in an age of free and uncontrolled diffusion of information, so knowledge must be presented in the most impartial manner without political, religious or other stress.

 – Christianity, Islam and other religions can be viewed as beliefs that are in the personal domain it can also be viewed as civilization, as well as an important component of political history, without which we cannot understand nor our, neither the world history. There is no such distinction in this textbook as in other textbooks in the humanities.  However, the Ministry of Education defines it as a history textbook. You are a historian, let’s try to understand the extent to which this textbook represents history.  It is impossible to separate the history of the Church and the Armenian people from one another.  Moreover, in the absence of statehood, the church carried the political responsibility for the Armenian people, at least as a structure responsible for the millet (a recognized and sponsored community of state religions in Islamic countries).

– Of course, the history of the church has a great place in “History of the Armenian Church” textbooks, though there is also religious, ritualistic, moral and other information.  Naturally, this story repeats the content of the subject in the context of the subject of “Armenian History”, but with a completely different emphasis. It is presented as a constant companion of the Armenian people and state, and sometimes as a major player in its life.  Leaving aside the question of the repetition of the history of our society in general and the history of a social institution, it should be noted that the problems with the textbooks appear in political emphasis. But this is not only a flaw in the subject of “History of the Armenian Church”.  It is also present in other humanities disciplines taught at school.  Political knowledge is very poor in our country, which is lacking in political and legal consciousness. A whole nation has been embroiled in religious conscience patterns for hundreds of years, and now it is very difficult to even change the focus of experts on the interpretation and delivery of knowledge.  Religion is a political phenomenon and is derived from political relations and this political knowledge is not accessible even to the specialists.

– Now the church has no influence, we are a post-religious society, but our political history is not discussed.  At one time the church had no serious alternative to a parallel political project.  Perhaps the problem is deeper, and until then such poor quality textbooks will have no alternative.

– Maybe the problem has another depth.  I simply derive from the principle that the repeated human behavior is the product of certain well-established beliefs and psychology. For example, all historians know that the Armenian Church, led by Catholicos Petros Getadardz,  simply engaged in anti-state activity in the 11th century, as a result of which we lost the kingdom of Ani. Moreover, 20 years later for the restoration of the Catholicosate, the Kingdom of Kars was also sacrificed. Historians are now trying to mitigate the role of Peter Getadardz and the church in these events.  In the textbook of the “History of the Armenian Church”, the Catholicos is assigned the role of an unwilling participant in the events.  Why is that so? When answering, they comment on the dangers of fully revealing the truth.  There is a belief that presenting the Armenian Apostolic Church in a negative light violates the moral and psychological foundations of the nation.  Accordingly, the church is the source of the nation’s morality and the institution of truth.  It is taboo to reflect on his flaws. As we can see, the moral principles of the society are directly linked to religious values.  State laws also reflect the moral principles established by the Church. This steady thinking is exactly what I call religious consciousness.  Probably, in order to have other textbooks, one first needs to bring people into the legal consciousness that the law is what the parties agree on, and that the truth is in all cases the antithesis of lies and falsehood and cannot be impeded.