Armenian Hieromonk Asokhik Curses Potential Participants in an Invasion of Etchmiadzin

Armenian hieromonk Asokhik has issued a statement in which he pronounced a church curse upon anyone who would take part in an incursion into the territory of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin — the residence of Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II. This was reported by the TASS news agency.

“By the authority of my priestly rank, granted to me, and by the divine commandment which says: ‘If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’ (John 2:23), by the power of this word, I bind and curse all those who, having sold their soul to the devil, this morning or ever shall dare to invade the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, desecrate the Armenian Patriarchate, raise the sword against the clergy and the Anointed One of God — the Catholicos of All Armenians — and trample the sacred things of the Armenian people,” the statement reads.

According to Asokhik, such actions will be regarded as an attack on spiritual authority and sanctity, and all who dare commit them will fall under “the curse of God, the Holy Church, and the Nation.”

It should be recalled that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan publicly declared his intention to lead the process of “liberating” the Armenian Apostolic Church, which he accused of spiritual apostasy.