Village Hopes Religious Revival Can Spur Economic Improvement

EurasiaNet - Residents of one of Armenia’s most dilapidated villages are hoping a religious revival can improve their economic fortunes.

In early August, the town of Karakert, a churchless Armenian village founded during the 1950s to house factory workers, hosted a mass baptism. Residents, some of whom now refer to the town as “cursed,” hoped that the event could help reverse two decades of decline.

“This is a rebirth,” said Ashot Mnastkanyan, who brought his children Manvel, 13, and Ani, 11, to be baptized at Karakert’s community center. “We came here with so much joy.”

“Today, I felt like I finally became Armenian,” declared newly baptized 55-year-old Laura Manoogyan. Deacon Avedis Zargavak Zhamkochyan, one of several priests who officiated at the mass ceremony, chimed in to correct her: “You were always Armenian, but today you became a Christian.”

The economic crisis precipitated by the Soviet Union’s 1991 collapse devastated Karakert, which is located about 70 kilometers from Yerevan. Men of working age left the town in droves during the early 1990s, going abroad in search of employment. Karakert quickly gained a reputation as being one of the country’s most decrepit villages. With no spiritual center and plenty of hardship, faith among the village’s 4,426 inhabitants slackened considerably during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

But now, many locals believe that religion can help promote an economic revival.

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