Heirs of Caucasian Albania Want to Free Themselves from Dictatorship of Armenian Church

Baku/ 17.11.20/Turan: Thanks to the heroic war of the Azerbaijani people, the historical, autochthonous Albanian Christian Church was freed not only from the 28-year occupation, but also from the occupation by the Armenian Gregorian priests.

After the entry of the Caucasus into the Russian Empire, in 1836 the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian government decided to liquidate the throne and the office of the Albanian Catholicos and transfer the autochthonous people of the Caucasus, the Christian Udins, into the bosom of the Armenian Church.

This happened as a result of persistent appeals to St. Petersburg by the Armenian patriarch, as a result of which the decaying Albanian (Caucasian) church was given to the Armenians. From that time on, the violent Armenization of the Albanians began. But there are still visible differences in the shape of the cross, architecture and murals on the temples, according to which the head of the Udi Christian Church in the Caucasus Robert Mobili determines that the Khudavend Monastery, like other 46 temples in the Kalbajar region, were built by Albanians and should be returned to the Albanian church.

R. Mobili is now busy with the complex process of canonization (legalization), or the return to the legal field of the Albanian (Caucasian) Apostolic Autocephalous Church, which existed from the 4th century to the 19th century.

Robert Mobili received his spiritual education at the Kiev Theological Academy, had meetings with church leaders of Ukraine and the Patriarch of Constantinople. Now he is at a difficult stage of ordination, or attaining spiritual dignity. “It is necessary to revive the Canonical territory of the Albanian Church in the Caucasus. When I explained to the Patriarch of Constantinople the position of the Albanian Church, he agreed that it was unfair to subjugate the territory of the Albanians of the Caucasus to the Armenian Gregorian Church. The idea of ​​reviving the Albanian Church is supported by the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt. Our aspiration is unequivocally supported by all Azerbaijani Muslims,” R. Mobili explained.

In an interview with Turan, Robert Mobili said that the goal of the Albanians of Azerbaijan now is to separate the spiritual and material (churches, monasteries) heritage of the Armenian autocephalous and Albanian apostolic churches. Of course, having come to the Caucasus, the Armenians built their own churches, to which the Albanians were then annexed with the help of Russia. Specialists are needed in order to differentiate the material heritage of the two religions. This is possible by analyzing the surviving religious buildings. The stone, inscriptions, lichens, and cement mortar during scientific analysis give information about the construction time of the temple with an accuracy of 30-40 years, R. Mobili said.

He feels the support of the Azerbaijani state. "President I. Aliyev said the state will revive architectural and historical monuments in Karabakh," R. Mobili reminded.

He is worried about the destruction by the Armenians leaving Karabakh of Ganjasar (in the Agdere region, Gandzasar - in Armenian), Khudavend (in the Kalbajar region, Dadivank - in Armenian), Agoglan (in the Lachin region) and other Albanian churches and monasteries. The videos show how the Armenians break out stone slabs from the walls of the temples, carry away religious paintings, stone crosses. Until the Azerbaijani authorities enter these lands, the heirs of the Caucasian Albanians can demand the preservation of these churches through the press, hoping for urgent actions by the Russian peacekeepers.

R. Mobili noted that the Armenian vandals are removing elements, signs of the Albanian church from the temples, leaving there little value elements inherent in the Armenian religion. They do this in order to later declare about the Armenian spiritual heritage that remains in Karabakh and is ostensibly desecrated by Azerbaijan. R. Mobili will raise this problem at the Board of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan.

With the withdrawal of the Armenian population from Karabakh, it is necessary to remove the status of the Armenian Church from Azerbaijan. If we leave it, it will always destroy the religious world of multi-confessional Azerbaijan from the inside, R. Mobili believes.

“The Caucasian Albanians lived for 200 years under the oppression of the Armenian priests. We were armenized. From now on, let the Armenians pray in Albanian temples. Representatives of the Karabakh Armenianized Albanians - participants in the international peacekeeping conferences on Karabakh held in Baku in recent years - did not object to this. With the revival of the Albanian Church in the Caucasus, we will become the owners of the canonical Christian territory,” he said.-0-