Armenian Phenomenon in the Religious Field
00:00, June 2, 2006 | News | Freedom of thought, conscience and religionIn order to spread the commandments of Jesus Christ the church “Kyanki Khosk” (“Speech of Life”) was created in Armenia 16 years ago. According to the representative of the organization Arthur Tonoyan, it is an Armenian phenomenon in the field of religious organizations in Armenia and exists only in Armenia.
The church is known among the public as charismatic. Church pastor’s assistant on education Arthur Tonoyan says that they do not consider themselves charismatic. “Charismatic” means gifts of Holy Spirit and once it was considered as one of the religious movements. At present, this church is a registered religious organization, which includes elements of Baptist, Pentecost as well as Charismatic directions. The church has 10.000 followers. The mission of the church is the spreading of the Bible, but it does not mean that you can stop people in the street and speak about the Bible. “Preaching in the street is not effective. People will consider me stupid and we will lose the reputation of the church”-comments Arthur Tonoyan and assures they are not afraid of persecution and at the same time they do not look for persecutions. They are busy with spreading the commandments of the Bible. For this, they visit houses, print a newspaper with the title “Kyanki Khosk” and carry out training courses for 200 adults. “There is no training without repentance”-Arthur Tonoyan describes the principles of the church. If the citizen has the intention to be involved in the church, first he must repent and study the Bible. If you study, you already repent and you can become a member of the church. The members of the church “Kyanki Khosk” consider themselves as worldly and heavenly citizens. Their children usually repent when they realize the word of the God regardless of their age. The members of the church have different education and profession and the problem is not in the sphere of their work but in demonstrating a behaviour correspondent to the commandments of the Bible. If they witness illegitimate actions in their workplace and cases which are contrary to the Bible, they explain what kind of guilt it is and the choice of the behaviour is up to that person. They can participate in elections, bring lawsuits against authorities and protect their rights in any instance. At the same time, they are obliged to bless the government as Jesus ordered so. They are not against serving in the army at all, but if people are against they do not criticize them.
The representatives of the church are in good relations with other religious organizations including Armenian Apostolic Church . The members of this church do not mind that the subject “The History of Apostolic Church” is taught at school. If necessary they are ready to meet with all the religious organizations, if they want to. These people consider the representatives of other religious organizations their sisters and brothers. The important thing for them is the spreading of the commandments of Jesus Christ.
Naira Bulghadaryan