YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. At the February 22 special sitting, the RA National Assembly adopted in third reading and completely the bill on relations between the RA and the Armenian Apostolic Church. The bill was prepared by the NA Speaker Tigran Torosian. According to the bill, the Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church as the national church with its center - Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the churches of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and the Jerusalem and Constantinople Patriarchates, and its exclusive mission in spiritual life of the Armenian people, development of its national culture and preservation of its national identity. The bill stipulates the role of the Church in the educational sphere. It is also stipulated that the RA recognizes church weddings and divorces if these were conducted in order envisaged by the agreement signed between the government and the church. The church has the right to receive tax-free donations and presents. Production and sale of items of ritual significance is is also tax-free. According to the bill, the RA recognizes secrecy of church confession. No one may question a church confessor as witness about the facts which he learnt during a confession.

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