Priest baptises new recruits in Nagorno-Karabakh скачать в хорошем качестве

Priest baptises new recruits in Nagorno-Karabakh

(2 Nov 2020) As fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces continues to rage over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, young ethnic Armenian recruits in the region seek the church's blessing before heading to the battlefield. On Monday, priests from one of the cathedrals of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Nagorno-Karabakh carried out the ritual of baptism on several dozen newly recruited servicemen to spiritually prepare them for battle. "The baptism cleansed us and helped us forget about the horrors of the war," Tigran Kagramanyan, an 18-year-old recruit, told The Associated Press. In the religious rite, the recruits were washed with holy water and oil and were blessed by two priests. "We came here to inspire, but it is us who are inspired, looking into the eyes of these young guys, who fully understand the situation and are nonetheless ready to take on this martyrs' death,'' said Aristakes Hovhannisyan, one of the priests. According to Nagorno-Karabakh officials, 1,166 of their troops and 45 civilians have been killed as the fighting enters its sixth week. Azerbaijani authorities haven’t disclosed their military losses, but say the fighting has killed at least 91 civilians and wounded 400. Over 130,000 residents have been displaced since the fighting flared up, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF reported. Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. The latest outburst of hostilities began on 27 September and has left thousands dead, marking the worst escalation of the decades-old conflict between the two ex-Soviet nations in over a quarter of a century. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...