Visit to the City of Tashir

On October 21, His Grace Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan, Primate of the Diocese of Artsakh, visited the city of Tashir in the Lori region.

With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Hovnan Hakobyan, Primate of the Diocese of Gugark, and through the organization of the "Tashir" Charitable Foundation, a meeting was held between Bishop Vrtanes and the Armenians of Artsakh at the Tashir Cultural Center. The event was attended by Armenians from Artsakh who had settled in Tashir and nearby villages.

Present at the meeting were Reverend Father Levon Davtyan, spiritual pastor of the Tashir community, Ashot Avanesyan, founder and director of the "Munq" Tech School, and sociologist Hayk Trunyan, PhD.

During the meeting, Bishop Vrtanes engaged in a discussion with the attendees to gain a better understanding of the living conditions of Artsakh Armenians residing in the area.

An interesting incident occurred during the gathering. Hayaser Avanesyan, a resident of the village of Tblghu in the Martakert region, approached Bishop Vrtanes and handed him a set of keys. It was revealed that Hayaser was a friend of Gor Baghdasaryan, who had been among the defenders of Gandzasar Monastery in the 1990s. During the evacuation in 2023, Gor had taken the keys to the monastery with him. At the meeting, Hayaser entrusted the keys to Bishop Vrtanes, expressing hope that one day everyone would return to their homeland in Artsakh and reopen the doors of the ancient monastery with those same keys.

At the end of the day, Bishop Vrtanes visited a displaced family from Artsakh residing in the village of Lernahovit to personally assess their current social conditions.