On Monday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan suggested that the head of the Armenian Church, Karekin II, has a child. It was the latest episode in an ongoing conflict between Pashinyan and the church, following his insinuation that the Armenian state ‘must have’ a decisive say on the election of the head of the church.
‘If it turns out that Karekin II has indeed broken his vow of celibacy and has a child, he cannot remain the Catholicos of All Armenians’, Pashinyan wrote.
He elaborated that from the moment the ‘fact’ of him having a child existed, Karekin II ‘could no longer have been a celibate priest’.
Pashinyan claimed that he raised the issue, suggesting that in it he saw ‘a threat to spiritual security’ as a follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church, while as prime minister, he saw ‘a threat to national security’.
Over the past several days, Pashinyan has made multiple posts on this issue — skipping only on his birthday, which fell on Sunday.
Up until Monday afternoon, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin did not make any official response to Pashinyan’s statements and accusations, only separate priests making statements.
On Monday, the church held a meeting and is expected to issue a statement.
Just days before directing his accusations at the head of the church, Pashinyan made another controversial statement on Friday, declaring that the Armenian state 'must have a decisive voice in the election of the Catholicos of All Armenians' and that candidates 'must undergo an integrity check’.
‘This issue must be resolved once and for all’, Pashinyan concluded.
Aside from these posts attacking the church, Pashinyan has repeatedly been posting quotes from the Bible, one of which read as follows — ‘Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before me. For there is no truth in their mouth; their heart is full of emptiness’.
The Armenian government and the church have been facing renewed confrontation following Pashinyan’s statement that churches have been turned into ‘storerooms’ during his cabinet meeting on 29 May.
Afterwards, Pashinyan, his wife Anna Hakobyan, and other members of the ruling Civil Contract party accused clergymen of breaking their vow of celibacy, as well as paedophilia.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
The first physical confrontation
Pashinyan’s posts were widely criticised online, by rights advocates and also opposition both for his harsh language, for his intervention in church affairs in a secular state and ‘war’ against the church.
Following the launch of the campaign against the church, clashes broke out on Sunday between a priest, church supporters, and Pashinyan’s supporters.
The incident was sparked by a Facebook post from Father Paren Petrosyan, the priest of the 10th-century Marmashen Monastery in northern Shirak province.
In the post, which OC Media could not find on his Facebook page as of Monday, he warned that he would 'throw them out in a very rude manner' if supporters of Pashinyan and those ‘uttering inappropriate remarks’, attempted to enter the church or its grounds under his pastoral care.
The warning was directed at those 'afflicted with the sickness of Nikol[’s] ideologies,’ and exhibited ‘anti-church, anti-Christian behaviour, along with expressions of hatred and cynicism’ toward clergymen.
'Enough is enough — you have gone too far, and you have filled the cup of patience’, the post concluded.
In response, Pashinyan’s supporter Gnel Sargsyan announced in his Facebook post that on Sunday noon we would be at Marmashen Monastery to light a candle.
‘If by tomorrow this whore’s son does not very quickly face consequences for his rhetoric and threats, then I will not be responsible for my actions’, Sargsyan wrote, tagging the Armenian police.
Sargsyan live-streamed his visit to the monastery, which featured a heated exchange between the priest, other church supporters, and Sargsyan himself, during which Sargsyan was heard cursing and verbally insulting his opponents.
The antipathy between the government and the church’s leadership became more open in the aftermath of Armenia’s defeat in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, when the head of the church joined calls for Pashinyan’s resignation.
In April 2023, Karekin II again reaffirmed his call for Pashinyan to resign, prompting Pashinyan state that ‘if the church wants to carry out political activities, Armenia is a democratic country’.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
