Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has sent a congratulatory message to His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, on the occasion of his birthday. The message runs as follows:

“Your Holiness,

Please accept my sincere congratulations on your birthday!

I wish you robust health, fruitful life and prolific activities in your high mission as the Chief Shepherd and Pontiff of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Conceived and established as an all-national spiritual structure by virtue of decisions taken at a state level, the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church emerged as one of our people’s most important institutions; it is one of the pillars of our national consciousness.

Those crucial decisions ushered in a turning point in the history of the Armenian people, because the Armenian Apostolic Church became the citadel of our identity in times we had no statehood: the church communities were the ones to cherish our national dream and aspiration to reinstate the Armenian statehood. Our present statehood is the embodiment of that dream. And, consequently, each of us is bound by duty to foster and strengthen it by making a personal contribution to the cause of its further development, which is impossible without faith.

The Supreme Patriarch has a key mission to strengthen people’s faith in God, in statehood, in national values, in their own power and in the future, as well as to promote citizens’ rights and respect of civic duties.

May the Lord give you strength to fulfill this supreme mission!

With filial reverence,
Nikol Pashinyan.”