Surb-Khach Monastery in Crimea to Remain Under Jurisdiction of Armenian Apostolic Church

UKRAINE-ARMENIA — In view of the recent decision of the Supreme Council of Crimea to transfer the Surb-Khach Monastery to the Ministry of Culture of Crimea as a department of the Crimean Ethnographic Museum, the clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church voiced their position that the monastery should remain functioning and that the museum can be attached to it. The web site www.newsarmenia.ru reports that subsequently, Anatolii Hrytsenko, the head of the Supreme Council of the Crimea, stated during a telephone conversation with the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II that the monastery will continue to be under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian eparchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church without a change of status. RISU’s Ukrainian-language web site posted this story on December 15, 2009.