Baku hindered the entry of Armenian clergymen to Dadivank for no reason. In one of our editions, we reported that the servants of the Armenian Apostolic Church were preparing for a covenant to Dadivank, but now Azerbaijan is making up imaginary excuses to ban Father Atanas and Nerses from joining the brothers.
“It is one thing to have an agreement; it is another to have a process. The circle is tightening around the monastery. They always cause problems, and it does not take much wisdom and effort to understand what the purpose is,” says Father Nerses Harutyunyan, AAC servant.
The purpose is much simpler. The millennial Armenian past of Artsakh disturbs a country without a history all the time. The Azerbaijani media presents the Armenian Dadivank as an Albanian Church named Khudavenk.
“It was called Dadivank, Dado monastery and Khutavank. Khutavank is an Armenian word meaning monastery on a rock. The Azerbaijanis took the Armenian version, changed an unsuccessful name, maybe imitated it in their own language. This is the famous Khutavank in our historiography. Dadivank has nothing to do with Aghvank (Caucasian Albania),” says Caucasus expert Alexan Hakobyan.
The news spread on Azerbaijani social networks that the Armenian clergymen have finally left Dadivank, where they are waiting for Udi Christians, has nothing to do with reality.
“At the moment we have 6 clergymen - three monks, three deacons, and Russian peacekeepers, who supervise the protection of the Armenian clergy and monastery,” says Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan, Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Since May, Azerbaijan has been obstructing the visit of Armenian pilgrims for various reasons. According to the head of the Artsakh Diocese, one of the reasons is the coronavirus, the other is the poor condition of the roads.
“Every week the Russian peacekeepers want a list, we provide the lists of both the clergymen and pilgrims, but the time comes when they call and say it is forbidden,” says Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan.
Despite the Azerbaijani ban, the servants of the Armenian Apostolic Church continue negotiations with the Russian side to go to Dadivank to serve their.
