YEREVAN. – Aravot daily asked Bishop Mikael Ajabahian, the spiritual leader of Armenia’s Shirak Region, about the strip club in Gyumri city and the city mayor Vardan Ghukasyan’s luxurious hotel.  

“Building such hotel in the poor city is an ethical problem, Mikael Ajabahian says. And [National Assembly} NA MP Martun Grigoryan’s cousin’s night [strip] club is immoral. ‘The Gyumri resident has the right to have many things, but, as a Christian, of course he has no right to have neither a night [strip] club nor, even more so, strippers. But, of course, if the matter is looked upon from the non-religiousness platform, there can be everything in the city.’         

According to His Holiness, such objects must not be opened in the city, but even if they are, they will remain idle. ‘They say there is a demand for a [strip] club. [But] there is a demand for [illegal] drugs, too. [So, go and] Sell drugs! This is a spiritual drug.’      

As per His Holiness, we have become so foolish, in terms of morality, that we have filled with immoral objects—casinos and night [strip] clubs—the road leading to the Holy See [of St. Etchmiadzin]. 

And reflecting on [Gyumri] Mayor’s flashy hotel, Mikael Ajabahian again finds that building such luxurious hotel in the city with homeless is a matter of ethics. ‘I am not against a luxurious hotel. Let it be if it would help tourism. Luxury and poverty walk side by side in the whole world. So, this is not the city’s general matter. This is a matter of each person’s ethics,’” Bishop Mikael Ajabahian told Aravot daily.