Russian Orthodox Church accuses Armenian government of ‘engineering schism’ within Armenian Church
The Russian Orthodox Church has said it is ‘deeply concerned’ by the ongoing confrontation between the Armenian government and the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The statement was made during a meeting on Wednesday at the Moscow Armenian Church between Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chair of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate and Archbishop Yezras Nersisyan, the Primate of the Diocese of Russia and New Nakhichevan.
Archbishop Yezras is the brother of Catholicos Karekin II.
On behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church, Anthony of Volokolamsk described the ongoing confrontation as an attempt by the Armenian authorities ‘to grossly interfere in church affairs’ and said any attempts ‘to engineer a schism among believers’ would be ‘unacceptable’.
He also ‘expressed support’ to Archbishop Yezras.
According to the Russian Orthodox Church’s statement, Archbishop Yezras briefed the Russian side on ‘the current state of affairs’ in the Armenian Church and expressed gratitude to the Moscow Patriarchate for ‘the solidarity’.
Ruben Rubinyan, the Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament from the ruling Civil Contract party, called the meeting ‘the latest mission of a KGB agent’.
‘Ktrich Nersisyan [Karekin II] is not only destroying the Church from within, but is also using his agent brother to invite foreign churches to interfere in the affairs of our centuries-old independent and autonomous Church’, Rubinyan wrote in a Facebook post, reiterating demands for the removal of Karekin II.
According to the declassified documents of the Armenian National Security Service provided to Civic.am in late December 2025, Archbishop Yezras was recruited by the Soviet Union’s KGB and cooperated with the agency from 1986–1988.
Archbishop Yezras has since called the allegations ‘fake’.
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‘No prosecution’ of clergy
Tensions remain high between the Armenian government and the Armenian Apostolic Church, as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has doubled down on efforts to remove Catholicos Karekin II from his post. Armenian officials, including Pashinyan, have nevertheless denied there is any confrontation or persecution.
Mirzoyan was asked about their government’s ‘persecution of clergymen’ at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Wednesday, with UK MP Edward Leigh claiming that ‘a third of the [Church’s] bishops’ had been arrested in Armenia.
Mirzoyan called these claims ‘a rumor’.
As of January, four high-ranking priests have been arrested on various charges in Armenia.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
‘I’m afraid your information is not completely true to say the least. There is no persecution of clergymen in Armenia’, Mirzoyan said.
Instead, Mirzoyan suggested that some clergy had called for the ‘violent removal of a democratically elected’ Armenian government and made ‘public calls for assassination of some of the leadership of Armenia’.
Mirzoyan added that ‘everyone, all the citizens of Armenia must abide by the law’.
A day after Mirzoyan’s remarks, Pashinyan again denied there was any confrontation between his government and the Church.
‘There is a person [Karekin II] who has usurped the authority of the Church and who, under no circumstances, can hold that position, and we will take all permissible and lawful measures to remove him from a place he does not deserve’, Pashinyan said.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
