25 January 2014. Following the meeting of the Council of Religion, the Council of Laity met under the Presidency of His Holiness Aram I. The members reviewed the programmes and budgets proposed by the General Assembly and approved the following priorities for 2014: Construction projects, preparatory activities for the 100th anniversary commemoration of the Genocide, activities of the Committee on Protecting the Western Armenian Language, the programme and budget of the Khatcher Kaloustian Pedagogical Centre.
At the end of the deliberations of the two Councils, the Central Committee met in plenary and highlighted the following concerns: Assistance to the community in Syria to stay and rebuild its life, cooperation between the two Holy Sees of Etchmiadzin and Cilicia on the basis of the decisions taken during the last All Armenian Bishops conference and proposals related to the dioceses of the Catholicosate of Cilicia.
His Holiness Aram I closed the meeting with the following words, “ In humility and without overrating our achievements, our task is to serve our people by recovering the Spirituality of our Church in our daily lives, promoting educational activities, safeguarding our cultural heritage, serving our members in need and promoting ecumenical relations. We lack neither commitment nor faith nor vision. What we lack is finances. I pray and remain confident that our faithful will support the work of our Church as approved by you, their representatives.”
