Pashinyan attends sermon by defrocked priest in escalating feud with Armenian Church
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended a controversial Sunday liturgy led by defrocked priest Aram (Stepan) Asatryan, in what critics described as an unprecedented escalation of the government’s confrontation with the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The ceremony took place at Hovhannavank Monastery in Aragatsotn province and was declared ‘illegal and spiritually destructive’ by the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, which had stripped Asatryan of his clerical status just days earlier.
The service drew senior government officials, including the defence, economy, and health ministers, as well as ruling Civil Contract MPs and governors. Tight security surrounded the site, with police vehicles lining nearby roads and the police chief personally overseeing operations.
During the liturgy, one attendee who shouted that the defrocked cleric ‘has no right to serve mass’ was silenced and removed from the church.
Soon after, Asatryan publicly thanked Pashinyan for what he called ‘keeping his mouth open’.
‘When they silence us, they silence God’s word’, the former priest declared from the altar.
‘Mr Prime Minister, your presence here keeps that mouth open’. His words were followed by applause from the crowd.
The Mother See issued a scathing statement, calling the liturgy ‘a soul-destroying initiative’ and accusing the prime minister of attempting to ‘split the Church’. Several priests from the Aragatsotn Diocese said they were summoned for questioning by the Investigative Committee on the same morning but refused to appear, alleging that the authorities were trying to leave the province ‘without liturgy’.
The defrocked priest had been at the centre of tensions since his dismissal on 21 October, when Etchmiadzin accused him of ‘defaming the church and its clergy’ and repeatedly violating canonical orders. Asatryan rejected the decision and continued to conduct services, defying the church hierarchy and prompting physical altercations in the monastery earlier in the week.
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Before the Sunday mass, Pashinyan posted a video message describing the service as marking ‘the practical start of the liberation of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin’.
‘Each of us must make our choice’. he said, addressing both laypeople and clergy. ‘I love you all and pray for you all’.
At the end of the day, Pashinyan announced that there will be another gathering in the same church next Sunday.
Following the event, Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan defended the prime minister’s attendance, calling it ‘a symbolic act of renewal’.
‘Today’s service shows that thousands can return to the church when it is freed from corruption’, he said. Civil Contract’s deputy chair, Vahagn Aleksanyan, also rejected accusations of political interference: ‘Do we not have the right to attend mass and receive communion? I don’t understand this division’.
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