A court in Armenia has ruled that Bishop Gevorg Saroyan be reinstated in his official position as Primate of the Masyatsotn Diocese following his dismissal by Catholicos Karekin II earlier in January.
The decision was the latest update in the ongoing conflict between the Church and the administration of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
While the court ruled on Saturday that Saroyan’s position be restored, the decision was a temporary measure, with the order being in place only until the end of Saroyan’s court battle against the Church.
Saroyan, who is one of 10 high-ranking clergy members to publicly support Pashinyan’s Church reform agenda, was dismissed earlier in January. The decision cited Saroyan’s ‘abuse of office, failure to fulfil the duties incumbent upon the Primate, as well as instances of coercion and pressure exercised against the clergy of the diocese’.
Saroyan, the council of reform, and Pashinyan refused to accept Catholicos Karekin II’s decision, with Pashinyan claiming that Karekin II was not a legitimate head of the Church and thereby his decisions were not legitimate either.
Following such statements, Pashinyan and Saroyan attended a liturgy at a church in the diocese that had until recently been led by Saroyan.
On the same day, Saroyan dismissed pressuring his subordinates during a press briefing, instead accusing Karekin II of possessing compromising information on all members of the clergy.
In a controversial statement, Saroyan further accused Karekin II of backing the leak of an intimate video allegedly depicting Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan in October 2025. Khachatryan has repeatedly expressed his support of Karekin II, and is one of four high-ranking priests to have been detained in recent months in Armenia.
Ani Ghevondyan
