Nikol Pashinyan initiates large-scale reform of the Armenian Apostolic Church and change of its leadership

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan initiated a deep reform of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), proposing to oblige the organization to pay taxes and change the current leadership. The statements were made during the presentation of the pre-election program of the ruling Civil Pact party, Armenia Today reports.

The head of the government stressed that the church cannot exist outside the law or in the status of a “state within a state” and accused the AAC of excessive politicization. Nikol Pashinyan said that the clergy has ceased to limit itself to spiritual sermons, actively interfering in political processes. In this regard, the Prime Minister proposed to introduce a system of mandatory declaration and tax obligations for the Church, promising to return 100% of the paid taxes in the form of state funding.

In his speech, the Prime Minister paid special attention to criticizing the top leadership of the AAC. Pashinyan emphasized that “the Church is the people, not Ktrich Nersisian” (lay name of Catholicos Garegin II), and declared the need to change the Catholicos. His proposed “roadmap” of reforms includes the adoption of a new charter with mechanisms of financial transparency and open elections of the head of the church, in which “the voice of God should be expressed through the people.”

In the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the authorities’ initiatives were sharply criticized. Church representatives called Pashinian’s proposals an inadmissible interference of the state in the internal affairs of a religious organization. It is worth noting that these tensions are taking place against the background of earlier decisions of the authorities to ban the ministry of representatives of the Armenian Church in prisons and colonies.

As it has been reported, scandal erupted in Armenia over the decision of the authorities to limit the access of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) clergymen to penitentiaries. According to the official statement of the AAC Press Chancellery, the actions of the Ministry of Justice are considered as a gross interference in the internal life of the Church and an attempt to disorganize its pastoral ministry.