Father Vahram Melikyan, who heads the information service at the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, today told Hetq that he has no clue as to Catholicos Garegin II’s position on the resurfacing on the walls of the Gandzasar Monastery in Artsakh.

(Hetq covered the story two days ago in an article entitled “Gandzasar Wall Resurfacing Renews: Artsakh and Armenia Officials Appear Indifferent”)

Father Melikyan told Hetq that he would call Artsakh Primate Parkev Martirosyan later in the day to see what’s going on at Gandzasar.

When we asked if Catholicos Garegin II had been following the resurfacing work at Gandzasar that recommenced twenty days ago, Father Melikyan responded that such matters were the responsibility of the local diocese.

“It’s not the job of the Catholicos to get involved in issues of individual churches or monasteries,” Father Melikyan said.

Later, when we tried to reach Father Melikyan by phone to see what he had heard from Artsakh, our calls went unanswered.

It’s not clear where Archbishop Parkev Martirosyan, Primate of the Artsakh Diocese, stands on the Gandzasar issue.

We called the diocese today but no one answered.

It seems that those with a vested stake in the matter are either otherwise preoccupied or just not to be found.