UPDATE & ACTIONS
URGENT APPEAL FOR ARTSAKH
Please continue praying for peace in our homeland.
The situation remains critical. Heavy fighting, shelling on civilian structures in Stepanakert and Shushi. Unfortunately, yesterday even the All Saviour, Ghazanchetsots cathedral was bombed.
We pray for peace in Artsakh asking the Lord to protect our people and homeland.
We would like to report that this week we raised more than $10,000 to provide support & relief to Artsakh through our Diocesan efforts. All the funds are transferred by Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to Armenia Fund in Armenia for emergency relief.
I know many of our community members donated through Armenia Fund and Himnadram as well.
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO CONTRIBUTED
We ask you to continue donating generously. Our people need our support.
If you haven’t donated yet or would like to double your support, we encourage you to send your donations to St. Sahag to increase our ongoing relief fund. Please add “Artsakh relief” in the memo line.
You may also donate online at www.saintsahag.org, please select “Artsakh & Armenia emergency relief” from the drop down menu.
Of course, you are welcome to contribute online at https://www.armeniafund.org or https://www.himnadram.org as well.
We also would like to report that we continue our advocacy and outreach efforts to raise awareness on the conflict.
We reached out to our House Representatives and US Senators through our community connections.
Rep. Betty McCollum is going to consult with the foreign affairs committee and hopefully issue a statement soon.
Later today we are going to have a discussion with our friends at Jewish Community Relations Council to discuss a statement from them condemning the attacks. They are also going to reach out Israel’s General Consul regarding the role of Israel in the conflict and particularly military partnership with Azerbaijan.
We have also reached out to our contacts at local media outlets asking for coverage of the events.
An email was sent to all the Orthodox clergy in MN via MN Eastern Orthodox Clergy Association asking for prayers from our Christian brothers and sisters. We also asked all the clergy to include a text from us in their newsletters about the attacks on Armenians with links to support Armenian Christians.
This is a critical moment in our nation’s modern history—one in which we all have a role to play.
Fr. Tadeos Barseghyan
St. Sahag Armenian Church, Pastor