Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has once again denied accusations that his administration is carrying out an anti-church campaign.

He delivered a speech outside a church in downtown Yerevan after leading a procession he described as a pilgrimage on Christmas Day, from Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral to the Holy Mother of God Church.

He said that the government has never acted, is not acting, and can never act against the Church, since the government is a follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

“Today we reaffirm ourselves as the first state to have adopted Christianity, and today’s march symbolized that we have finally begun to walk the path set out by our Savior, Jesus Christ,” Pashinyan said.

He continued, “In the order of the Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, the following sentence is heard many times: ‘Let us pray to God for peace.’ Something very meaningful has happened, because for a very long time we have all prayed to God for peace. But finally, the moment has come when we have realized that alongside praying to God for peace, we ourselves must create that peace through our decisions, actions, and steps.”

“With peace already having been established in the Republic of Armenia, the people today were marching to tell the Savior, Jesus Christ, that they are finally following His message,” Pashinyan said.

“We are creating peace, and not only praying for that peace, but also calling ourselves to peace. We reaffirm ourselves as the first state to have adopted Christianity. The Armenian people became Christian by the decision and decree of King Tiridates the Great, which, of course, was guided by Jesus Christ and His apostle—our first Patriarch, Gregory the Illuminator.

The real Armenia is reaffirming itself as a bearer of Christian values, as a state founded upon Christian values,” Pashinyan said.

According to the Prime Minister, it is highly symbolic that the key symbols of the people who adopted Christianity are located within the internationally recognized territory of today’s Republic of Armenia: Khor Virap, where Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned, and the Mother See of Etchmiadzin, built at a site revealed by Jesus Christ through a divine vision.

According to Pashinyan, the Christian pillars of Armenians today also symbolize the Republic of Armenia, carrying a very powerful message.

He again accused Catholicos Karekin II of the Armenian Apostolic Church of illegitimately holding office.

“Today we also state that from this Christian and state milestone we must renew ourselves, confront the path we have taken, and make decisions. We are facing a situation in which some are trying to use our holiest of holy—our Armenian Apostolic Holy Church—as a point of leverage to act against the Republic of Armenia. They claim that the government is acting against the Church, but today we have gathered here to say that the government has not acted, is not acting, and can never act against the Church, because the government is a follower of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church.

As the Prime Minister elected by the people of the Republic of Armenia, I say that we will not allow anyone to use the Church as a foothold to act against the Republic of Armenia,” he said.

Pashinyan said that those who have brought the Church to the point where such an idea could even occur to some have, according to the Church’s own canon law, become schismatics.

“Today, the de facto head of our Church and his upper circle—the narrow group he has formed—are operating with a sectarian mindset, which means that we must liberate the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church from schism and return it to the people. The clergy have a key and critically important role; they are the pillars of the Church. However, the Church belongs to Jesus Christ and exists for the people. The Church is the place where a person communes with Jesus Christ.

But today, unfortunately, Jesus Christ has been pushed to the margins in our Church. Our Savior has been isolated. The good news, however, is that our Church is already emerging from this isolation. You saw that the previous day, together with ten bishops, we made a decision and signed a statement announcing the launch of reforms in the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church,” Pashinyan said.

He urged people to stand behind those bishops and to support the clergy who stood by their state in a difficult moment.

“For a long time, we had abandoned our Church to face schism; we had abandoned Jesus Christ in His Church to face that schism. Today’s march was about the fact that we have returned, and that we will no longer abandon our Church, its clergy, or our Savior Jesus Christ. I ask forgiveness and absolution from our Church and its many clergy for having abandoned our Church, its servants, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But the Church and the state are now together,” the Prime Minister said.

Pashinyan called on the people to attend the liturgies and ask the clergy to join the reform agenda of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church.

He again urged clergy to refrain from mentioning the name of Karekin II because he is illegitimate.

“I urge that during the liturgies, the name that should not be invoked from the altar be omitted, until the moment when we have a Catholicos truly elected in the name of Jesus Christ, by the people, and by the national church assembly—legitimate in his calling, worldview, and spiritual character,” he said.

Pashinyan has previously stated that Catholicos Karekin II is illegitimate, alleging that he violated his vow of celibacy by fathering a child. Karekin II and several clergymen have accused Pashinyan of waging an anti-church campaign. Pashinyan has denied this, describing himself as a “devoted follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church” who is fighting against those who have “desecrated the Church’s sanctities.” The Pashinyan administration has also accused Karekin II of being a foreign agent. The Catholicos has denied the accusations of illegitimacy. 

Earlier in December, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan presented a plan he described as a “roadmap for reforming” the Armenian Apostolic Church after Catholicos Karekin II steps down—something the latter has so far refused to do.

The roadmap envisions the election of a locum tenens following Karekin II’s removal. It also calls for the adoption of a new Canon Law, which would address, among other issues, rules and guarantees related to the integrity of clergymen and the financial transparency of the Church. Ultimately, the plan envisions the election of a new Catholicos in accordance with the provisions of the new Canon Law, to be adopted by an authorized church body.

Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1238951