Armenian Catholicos of Cilicia offers to mediate in ‘shameful’ feud between church and Yerevan
Armenian Catholicos Aram I of Cilicia has offered to mediate between the Armenian Church and the government in their ongoing conflict.
Aram I’s statement was published by the Armenian Orthodox Church’s website on Wednesday.
‘It is a shame, a thousand shames! The current unhealthy and anti-national atmosphere created in the life of our beloved Homeland, Armenia’, said the Catholicos of Cilicia. ‘Unfortunately, the words of the Armenian language are not enough to describe my pain’.
Aram I is the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon, the see responsible for Armenian communities in the Middle Eastern diaspora, functioning autonomously from the Mother See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia.
‘The atmosphere that has recently emerged within the two nation-building and patriot-building structures of our nation, Holy Etchmiadzin and the National Assembly, is deeply shameful and condemnable to me’, he said.
Aram I goes on to say that ‘mistakes, omissions, polarisations, and confrontations […] need to be discussed through specific processes and in a calm atmosphere, so that appropriate solutions can be reached’.
He noted that he has not visited Armenia for about six years, and that he had ‘thought a lot’ about visiting to help ‘calm the storm that has been created’, but decided against it due to ‘unfounded and ongoing statements’ made in parliament that ‘distort our moral, spiritual, and national values, as well as the arrests that are taking place’.
‘However, I remain committed to coming to the Homeland at any time and consulting with Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, and other responsible officials, so that we can seek viable solutions to get Armenia out of the difficult situation it has created.’
Tensions between the Armenian Church’s Holy See in Etchmiadzin and the government have been at an all-time high for months, with the two exchanging insults and accusations since late May, when Pashinyan claimed that churches in Armenia were being turned into ‘storerooms’.
The accusations further escalated, with Pashinyan, his wife, Anna Hakobyan, and senior members of the ruling Civil Contract party regularly accusing high-ranking clergy, including Catholicos Karekin II, of breaking their celibacy vows. Pashinyan has since regularly demanded that Karekin II admit that fathered a child.
In June, at least 15 were detained as part of an alleged coup plot against the government, including two high-ranking clergymen — Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan.
The authorities claim that Galstanyan’s anti-government movement, Holy Struggle, spearheaded the plot to overthrow the government. He was arrested on 25 June for allegedly plotting ‘terrorist attacks and a coup d’état’.
Ajapahyan, who was wanted for making public calls for usurping powers, surrendered himself to the authorities on 27 June, after police attempted and failed to apprehend him at Etchmiadzin Cathedral as supporters of the church prevented them from reaching the archbishop.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
