Vahram Hovyan Expert at the Center for the Armenian Studies, “Noravank” Foundation The Evangelical Armenians take special place among the Armenians living in Russia. While speaking about the current condition of the Armenian Evangelical community in Russia our observations mainly cover its number, geographic dispersion, organizations, inter-confessional relations and other issues. So, correspondingly, the current condition of the community can be generally characterized in the following way: 1. It stands out for its scantiness, 2. Despite this, it is spread over the Russian regions where many Armenians live, 3. There are some problems but tendency for expansion and development can be observed and it is manifested in growth of the number of the organizations broadening of the geographic dispersion, diversification of the organizations 4. It is not isolated from the local Armenian Apostolic and Catholic communities and form with them the Armenian community in Russia. Number and Geographic dispersion The Armenian Evangelical community in Russia is mainly centered in two biggest centers where the Armenians live – Moscow and Krasnodar region. There is no precise statistics regarding the exact number of the Armenian Evangelicals in separate population centers and in country in general. There is certain data which allows generalizing the number of the Armenian Evangelical community in Russia and its geographic dispersion. The data about the number of church members of the Armenian Evangelical churches as well as information about the organizations are used as a source. 1. Data about the number of church members – In late 1990s the Armenian Evangelical community in Moscow has about 40 church members and the community in Sochi – 351. Statistics shows that the number of the church members of the Evangelical churches constitutes about 15-20% of the number of the members of the community in general2. Thus, we can state that the number of the members of the Armenian Evangelical community is about 230 people and in Sochi – about 200 people. 2. The observation of the organizations shows that the following tendencies can be observed in the Armenian Evangelical community in Russia: Quantitative growth tendency – steady growth of the number of the Armenian Evangelical organizations in Russia comes to prove that despite current restrictedness the number of community tends to increase. Thus, the first Armenian Evangelical organization was established in 1993, the second one in 1997, the third one in 2001 and the forth in 2010. The growth of the number of the Armenian Evangelical organizations observed over the recent period can mostly be conditioned by the growth of the local Armenian Evangelical community. Tendency for widening geographic dispersion – The fact that the Armenian Evangelical organizations are spread over Moscow, Sochi, Khosta and Saratov3 proves that despite the restrictedness in terms of number, the Armenian Evangelicals are not centered in one definite place but are spread all over the places where the Armenians live. Though there is no exact data one can say that most of the Armenian Evangelicals are centered in Moscow and Big Sochi. Firstly, most of the Armenians in Russian live in Moscow. The number of the Armenians there is about 500 thousand4. Besides, the Armenian Evangelical church is the first Armenian Evangelical representative organization in Russia. And Big Sochi, despite the fact that it is prominent for a big number of the Armenians living there (about 100 thousand5), stands out by the fact that there are two Armenian Evangelical organizations, which allows supposing that a considerable part of the Armenian Evangelicals lives there. As for Saratov, it not only yields to Moscow and Sochi in term of the number of the Armenians living there (the number of the Armenian population of Saratov is about 20 thousand people6), it has only one Armenian Evangelical organization which is not a church but a brotherhood and which was founded in 2010. All those circumstances as well as the fact that the Armenian Evangelical community in Saratov has no reverent, comes to prove that the community is newly formed. All the aforementioned allows assuming that in terms of numbers the Armenian Evangelicals of Saratov yield to the Armenian Evangelicals of Moscow and Big Sochi. There is a small number of the Armenian Evangelicals in other cities too (e.g. in Krasnodar); they do not have representative structures and are obliged to attend other protestant churches. Thus, the Armenian Evangelicals are a part of the Protestant community of a given population center but they preserve some kind of autonomy. There is no statistical data about such communities. Summing up, we can say the following about the number and dispersion of the Armenian Evangelical community in Russia: 1. The community is small (the number of the members of the community does not exceed 1000). 2. Despite the scarcity of the community it is spread all over the population centers where most of the Armenians live (Moscow, Sochi, Khosta and etc). 3. The community demonstrates tendency for both quantitative growth and broadening of its geographic dispersion. Organizations The organizations of the Armenian Evangelical community in Russia were established in the post-Soviet period. Today there are four Armenian organizational structures, which are all of clerical and church character, working in Russia. They fall into 2 groups: churches (3) and Evangelical brotherhood (1). Churches – 3 Armenian Evangelical churches working in Russia are situated in Moscow, Sochi and Khosta. The first one is the Armenian Evangelical Church in Moscow. It was founded in 1993. Today it is headed by Rev. Masis Hakobyan. The next Armenian Evangelical Church was founded in 1997 in Sochi and the third one in 2001 in Khosta. The shepherd of the Armenian Evangelical churches in Sochi and Khosta is Rev. Sasun Karakhanyan. Evangelical brotherhood – The only Evangelical brotherhood is the Armenian Evangelical Brotherhood in Saratov, which was founded in 2010. It is headed by Vahan Frankyan, Our observation shows that besides clerical and church organizations the community has no other structures (e.g. educational and etc). The clerical and church organizations, besides community ministry, also undertake organizational and governing functions of the community, thus taking the role of the managing structure. Ant their spiritual leaders in fact are community leaders. The restrictedness of the number of the organizational structures of the Armenian Evangelical community in Russia can be explained by the following circumstances: 1. After the Soviet atheist period the Armenian Evangelical community in Russia has just began regeneration and it has not managed to overcome the aftermaths of the Soviet past. Time and means are needed for that. 2. Unlike the countries of the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Iran and etc), where the religion takes a bigger role so the religious organizations undertake a wider range of functions, Russia is a secular state where educational, social, health and other issues are dealt by secular organizations. Meanwhile, religious organizations and structures are mainly dealing with the clerical and church issues of the community. Despite the positive tendency, which has been observed recently, there are some issues to be resolved in the Armenian Evangelical community in Russia as for its organizations. 1. Shortage of the church organizations – Four clerical and church organizations currently working in the Armenian Evangelical community in Russia are not enough to satisfy the needs of the community. There are communities which have no church (e.g. in Krasnodar). In Moscow, which is considered to be one of the modern megalopolises, one church may be situated far from the Evangelicals living in different parts of the city. Those Armenian Evangelicals who cannot satisfy their spiritual and church needs in the Armenian Evangelical churches are obliged to either visit other Protestant churches or use the buildings of those Protestant churches to carry out their ceremonies. E.g. in Krasnodar the Armenian Evangelical community satisfies its spiritual and church needs by means of the local “Vipania” church. “For 10 years Armenians have been serving here” 7. The communities which has their own clerical and church organization of course stand closer to their national roots as the availability of such organizations allows arranging religious rites and ceremonies as well as other events in Armenian, in correspondence with the national habits and traditions. 2. The issue of the spiritual figures – Though all four Armenian Evangelical organizations have heads and three of them – the heads of churches in Moscow, Sochi and Khosta, are Reverends, nevertheless, the issue of the spiritual figures of the Armenian Evangelical community in Russia can be considered resolved only partially as there are still some problems in this aspect either. 3. The absence of one common Armenian Evangelical church – As we can see from the characteristics of the organizations the Armenian Evangelical community in Russia has no common organizational structure which would unite all the Armenian Evangelicals in the country and would become their managing organization. Nevertheless, with some reservations, the Armenian Evangelical church in Moscow can be considered the center of the community on the following assumptions: It is the first Armenian Evangelical organization established in Russia (1993). The organizations working in the capital has some advantages as compared to the Armenian organizations in other cities. Most of the Armenians of Russia are living in Moscow which allows assuming that most of the Armenian Evangelicals also live there. 4. Official registration – Though there are Armenian Evangelical representative organizations in the places where Armenians live in Russia, there is no Armenian Evangelical Church as such, which means that the Armenian Evangelical Church in Russia is not officially registered, i.e. it has no corporate status. This is probably the reason of absence of the common Armenian Evangelical body. The Law of the Russian Federation Concerning Freedom of Conscience and Concerning Religious Associations passed in 1997, classifying religious organizations in two groups – local and centered, demands 15 years of living at the given place for registering local organization8. Meanwhile, as we can see from the dates of the establishment of the Armenian Evangelical organizations, not all of them can meet these requirements. As for the centered organization, according to the aforementioned law, it can be registered in case if there are at least three local organizations of the same confession9. However, the Armenian Evangelical Community in Russia, represented by its organizational structures, is a part of the Armenian Evangelical Union of Eurasia which headquarters is in Yerevan. Thus, on this assumption, with some reservations, we can state that for the Armenian Evangelical communities in Russia, which have no common leader, the center is the Armenian Evangelical Union of Eurasia. Inter-confessional relations The Armenian Evangelicals in Russia, being a part of the Armenians of Russia in general, are not detached of the local Apostolic and Catholic Armenians but quite the opposite they form an integral whole – the Armenian community in Russia. Peace prevails in the inter-confessional relations. At least there is no information about the encounters on the confessional grounds. The factors which condition inter-confessional peace are the high level of the national self-consciousness, adherence to a common Christian religion, secularism, as well as common problems, such as preservation of the Armenian language and culture, facing challenges put forward by the Russian social and political environment (terrorism, political tempests, inter-ethnic encounters, chauvinism), resolution of nation-wide issues (recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Artsakh issue and etc). Nevertheless, on the institutional level, there are still serious problems in the inter-confessional cooperation. The Armenian Evangelical community does not have such an experience of cooperation with the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic communities as establishment and running of common organizations, holding of common events and etc. It is necessary to pay serious attention to boosting inter-confessional cooperation on the institutional level as it is crucial for the consolidation of different confessional strata of the Armenian in Russia. 1 ???????? ?., ???????? ?., ???????????? ???????????? ??????? (???????? - ??????), ??????, 1999, ?? 149: 2 Such a conclusion is based on the analysis of the statistical data of the Armenian Evangelcial communities in the Middle East, which are presented in K. Atalanian’s work. See ????????? ?., ????????? ??? ?????????????? ?? ???????????? ?????????, ??????, 1952, ?? 357? 3 ???? AMAA Directory 2011: Armenian Evangelical Churches, Institutions, Organizations, Pastors and Christian Workers Worldwide, p. 16http://www.amaa.org/Directory%20for%20website.pdf 4 ??? ??????? ????????????, ??????, 2003,p. 462? 5 Ibid, p. 473? 6 Ibid, p. 481? 7 ??????????? ?., ????????? ???????????? ? «???????»//???. ?9 (135), 31.08.2006, ?. 2. Reference made according to ?????????? ?. ?? ????????, ???????? ??????????? ????????????????? ????????? ????????? ????????????, ??????, 2010, ??165? 8 ????? ? ??????? ??????? ? ??????????? ????????????, ?????? 8, ?. 2 ? ?????? 9, ?. 1 http://pravbeseda.ru/library/index.php?page=book&id=571 9 Ibid, Article 9, part 1. “Globus National Security”, issue 6, 2011 Return Another materials of author ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN BULGARIA[07.11.2011] ARMENIAN EVANGELICAL COMMUNITY IN EGYPT[20.01.2011] ARMENIAN PROTESTANT COMMUNITY IN IRAN[22.10.2010] ARMENIAN EVANGELICAL COMMUNITY IN SYRIA[24.09.2010] ARMENIAN EVANGELICAL COMMUNITY IN BULGARIA [26.07.2010]

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