«Ռումինիայում մեր ժառանգությունը ողջ ազգի ժառանգությունն է» - Տաթև Սրբազան Հակոբյան

Tatev Hakobyan's article is devoted to an interview with Der Tatev Srbazan Hakobyan, the 42nd Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Romania, which reveals his life path, pastoral experience, and vision for the tasks of preserving Armenian heritage in Romania.

Biographical Context and the Formation of a Pastor

The interview traces a path from birth in Mosul (Iraq) in 1966, through education in Holy Etchmiadzin and Switzerland, to service in Iraq, France, Holland, and finally, appointment as head of the Romanian Diocese in September 2011. Particularly noted are:

a spiritual calling connected to a childhood vision of the Virgin Mary;
an upbringing in a family that combined patriotism and religiosity;
multilingualism (Arabic, Kurdish, Armenian, Turkish) as a tool for uniting the multilingual Armenian communities of Holland;
the establishment of five new church parishes over seven years of service in Holland.

The Diaspora and the Problem of National Identity

A separate place is devoted to reflection on the specific character of diasporan Armenianness: unlike in Armenia, where national belonging is not called into question, in the spyurk a person "may be born Armenian but later become someone else." The Church is viewed as the key institution that preserves the national character of the community.

Armenian Heritage in Romania: Scale and Problems

The author records a key discovery of the interviewee — the colossal volume of Armenian cultural heritage in Romania alongside the extreme smallness of the community itself:

19 surviving churches and 2 monasteries, over 1,500 ancient books, a richest collection of icons;
yet the community numbers only about 3,500 people throughout the entire country, predominantly elderly;
the loss of the Armenian language and national self-awareness among the descendants of local Armenians;
the forced transfer of part of the cemeteries and five churches to the Romanian Orthodox Church due to the lack of parishioners.

Strategy for the Revival of the Community

Three priority tasks of the diocese are formulated: restoring the national-spiritual character of the community, training successor cadres, and preserving cultural heritage as the foundation for international recognition of the community's history. A concrete project is proposed — the revival of monastic life (Zamcha, Hacikadar) and the transformation of emptied churches into centers of Armenian culture and youth forums of the diaspora.

Conclusion

The key conclusion of the article is that the Armenian heritage of Romania is defined by the author not as the local property of a small community, but as the common national heritage of all Armenians, the responsibility for whose preservation must be shared by the diaspora as a whole — from Sudan to Belarus — since the Armenian Church is one and indivisible along territorial lines.