Media: Armenian authorities seek allies within the Church to pressure the Catholicos

The political pressure on the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholicos of All Armenians by Nikol Pashinyan’s government is taking new forms. According to the Armenian newspaper Zhokhovurd, the authorities are looking for loyal clergymen to create internal opposition to the current head of the church, Garegin II.

Citing government sources, the newspaper claims that the Prime Minister has already managed to secure the support of the head of the Ararat Patriarchal Diocese, Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan. According to the newspaper, the possibility of convening a bishops’ meeting, where the issue of the Catholicos is to be raised in a closed format, is currently being discussed.

In order to give the process a semblance of legitimacy, the first stage is planned to consider the cases of those bishops and clerics who are suspected of violating their vows of celibacy or who have questionable reputations. Several members of the clergy have already been targeted, and sources say the initiative to suspend their ministry will come from the church itself.

Recall, earlier we reported that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated the continuation of the campaign aimed at removing Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II from the throne. The head of the government stressed that the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church (AAC) should return to a «pro-state and state-oriented direction,» which, in his opinion, is impossible without the departure of the current Catholicos. Pashinyan called the initiative a «spiritual and apolitical agenda» but linked it to state security issues, accusing the Church of a centuries-old «imperial logic» that continues under the current Catholicos.