Under the difficult conditions of the coronavirus pandemic, the economic crisis and the consequences of the Beirut port explosion, and at the behest of His Holiness Aram I, the Catholicos, a «Lebanese-Armenian Restoration Body» was established on Sunday, 9 August 2020, at 12:30 p.m., in the «Yercho Samuelian-Yeraguyn» Hall of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, under the presidency of the Prelate of the Armenian Diocese of Lebanon, His Eminence Archbishop Shahé Panossian, and with the participation of the heads of the Armenian Catholic and Armenian Evangelical communities, representatives of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party and the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party, and representatives of the Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Armenian Relief Society and the Lebanese Armenian Solidarity Organization.
After a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the explosion, the Prelate said that on Thursday, 5 August 2020, His Holiness Aram I had released to the press a paternal appeal addressed to the Armenian world, reminding Armenians worldwide that the crisis facing the Lebanese-Armenian community is great, and therefore urging that everyone assume a share of duty and responsibility in the work of restoring the Lebanese-Armenian community.
Then His Eminence Archbishop Shahé Panossian presented the Catholicos’s appeal, which stressed that the repair of destroyed or damaged homes is urgent, that attending to the health of our community’s children exposed to the danger of the coronavirus is necessary, that support for our educational institutions is imperative, and that assistance to our communal, religious, cultural, charitable and other institutions is vital. In the appeal, Catholicos Aram I affirmed that the restoration of the Armenians of Lebanon must be carried out through a nationwide effort, with the active participation of our homeland, the diaspora communities and, in general, the children of our people. The Prelate stressed that the axes of the Body’s work should be the repair of homes, churches and community centres, health programmes and educational assistance.
The Prelate stressed that the Body must immediately proceed to practical steps and define an appropriate working style in order to implement rapid, effective and purposeful programmes. His Eminence affirmed that, without prejudiced thinking, without personal preferences and attitudes, we must think together with a positive mind, assess the situation together, identify together the priorities that exist in our life, take initiatives together and share responsibilities together, so that through the quality of our work our people may also feel that we still have the will to live, the zeal to build and create, and the strength to endure and persevere.
Then the representatives of the three communities, the three parties and the three charitable unions formed an executive body, which is to begin work immediately.
It should be noted that Dr. Vazgen Jamkochyan, a member of the ADL Regional Board in Lebanon, joined this Body as the representative of the ADL.
Following discussions, the participants in the meeting stressed that in difficult conditions efforts must be concentrated to the greatest possible extent so that we may collectively overcome the difficulties, meet the needs of our people, keep our institutions strong and restore the Lebanese-Armenian community.
