The liberal authorities of Armenia has by no means been a ally of the Armenian Apostolic Church deeply conservative (AAC), however when Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made extraordinary accusations in opposition to an unnamed priest, he opened a deep division.
“Your grace, go round along with your uncle’s spouse. What would you like from me?” Pashinyan mentioned.
He additionally accused the supreme religious chief – Catholicos Karekin II – of breaking his vote of celibacy and paternal a baby, asking him to resign. The BBC contacted the church for a remark however didn’t have a solution.
Until now the Church and the federal government had discovered a option to coexist, however the row threatens to divide an already polarized Armenian society further-and affect the results of the elections subsequent 12 months.
It might additionally injury the peace interviews which have the potential to reform the whole area of the southern Caucasus, after the bitter defeat of Armenia in a conflict in opposition to Azerbaijan.
Armenia is believed to be the primary nation to make Christianity the state faith, after its king was baptized in 301ad. Although there’s a separation between church and state by regulation, the Armenian Constitution acknowledges the AAC “as a nationwide Church”.
The Church didn’t face the accusations, however mentioned that the prime minister tried to “silence his voice”. He reiterated that the federal government has no say within the governance of the Church.
If true, the accusation of Pashinyan would make the Catholicos unsuitable for the workplace. Under the statute of the Church, solely the monks who’ve taken a vote of celibacy may be elected Catholics.
For these causes Pashinyan now requires Karekin’s resignation, regardless of not having jurisdiction on the Church. He didn’t current proof however threatened to launch it.
Pashinyan additionally attacked different senior clergymen, together with accusing an archbishop of getting a relationship, with the extraordinary accusation of “deceiving” together with his uncle’s spouse.
The events of the opposition and two of the previous presidents of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrossian and Serzh Sargsyan, gathered behind the church and condemned the transfer of Pashinyan in opposition to it.
The relationship of the federal government with the Church deteriorated after the defeat within the 2020 conflict in opposition to the close by Azerbaijan, when Karekin II joined calls from numerous political factions to resign from the prime minister.
Pashinyan remained in energy and the Church turned an vital anti -government voice.
Recently, Karekin II has requested the precise of return for the Armenians who fled from Nagorno-Karabakh, a area of Azerbaijan who regained in 2023.
The allies of the Prime Minister should not happy with these interventions, as they contradict the place of the federal government within the interviews of peace in progress.
Pashinyan pushes for a fast peace treaty that may see each international locations abandon mutual statements. But the Azerbaijani media seized requests for nationalist opposition as proof that Armenia isn’t prepared for peace.
The Armenian Church has benefited to change into a hub for dissent. With the non-public rivalries between the leaders of the opposition events, it’s attracting these disaffected with the authorities.
Political analysts in Armenia recommend that this may very well be an actual cause for the sudden assault of the federal government to the church chief.
The subsequent common elections have been scheduled for June 2026 and the anti-church marketing campaign may very well be a preventive strike in opposition to the stronghold of the conservative opposition.
The Prime Minister himself related his place to politics: “We have returned the state to the folks. Now we should carry the Church again to the folks”.
When a robust benefactor spoke in help of the Church this week, the federal government shortly moved in opposition to him.
The Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan threatened to “intervene within the marketing campaign in opposition to the Church in our method” if opposition politicians haven’t managed to defend it.
Hours later, his residence was raided and on Wednesday he was accused of “making public calls to overthrow the federal government”. Denies the accusation.
The battle between the political and religious chief of Armenia is a extremely delicate query properly past its nationwide borders, because the Church has lots of of parishes within the diaspora, from Russia and from Ukraine to western Europe, the Middle East and to America.
While the voices on Karekin’s alleged secret household have lengthy unfold tabloids for years, for years extra critical accusations have been made by the parishes of the diaspora.
They mentioned that the managers of the Church had been extinguishing the month-to-month funds and the diocese of micro-managing that loved operational autonomy.
In 2013, the Armenian patriarch of Jerusalem accused Karekin II of not having religious values and of tending solely to its materials properly -being. The Church mentioned that the accusations had been false.
Until not too long ago, Nikol Pashinyan remained largely above the fray. “I’m satisfied that the federal government didn’t put within the inside problems with the Church,” he mentioned instantly after getting into in workplace in 2018. After years of respect for this dedication, the Prime Minister might have modified his thoughts.
Whatever the results of this row, it’s probably that it’s going to deepen the polarization in a society that has already been fractured, not solely by political fights, however by issues of wedge on being allies of Russia or the West and tensions between the residents of Armenia and the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
