Catholicos Karekin II warned against attempts to “battle” the leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church on Sunday, as he reconsecrated its main cathedral in the presence of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, reports Azatutyun.
Pashinyan and members of his political team attended the Mass held at the newly renovated Mother Cathedral in Etchmiadzin, despite the strained relations between his government and the Church, which has been accused by officials of meddling in politics.
One of the Church’s senior clergymen, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, led anti-government protests in May and June, sparked by Pashinyan’s controversial territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. The Church’s Supreme Spiritual Council voiced support for Galstanyan and his supporters on May 7, as they marched from the northern Tavush province to Yerevan, demanding Pashinyan’s resignation. In response, Pashinyan and his political allies denounced the Church and threatened to impose new taxes on it.
On May 28, police attempted to physically prevent Karekin II from visiting the Sardarabad war memorial shortly before a delayed Pashinyan-led ceremony was held there, marking the 106th anniversary of the first Armenian republic. The Catholicos and other accompanying clergymen had to break through police cordons to lay flowers at the memorial.
Despite these unprecedented tensions, Karekin II chose to invite Pashinyan and other senior state officials to the reconsecration of the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, which followed its nearly six-year renovation. Former Presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, as well as other opposition figures, were also invited but did not attend, apparently due to Pashinyan’s presence.
“In the course of history, the Armenian Church, with Holy Etchmiadzin at its spiritual center, has repeatedly faced attacks and persecution,” Karekin II said during the liturgy. “Yet, with invincible faith, it has overcome difficulties and challenges.”
“It is an undeniable historical truth: to battle against Holy Etchmiadzin is to battle against the existence and identity of the Armenians, to strike at the heart of Armenian statehood, and to drain Armenian life of its national and spiritual substance. Any attempt to debase the mission of Holy Etchmiadzin is an attempt to weaken our nation, to undermine the foundations of an independent and sovereign life, of which the Armenian Church is the advocate and defender,” he added, in a message seemingly directed at Armenia’s current leadership.
Karekin II also appeared to allude to Pashinyan’s controversial reinterpretations of the country’s history when he urged Armenians to “keep our history free of falsehood and distortion.”
During another religious ceremony held in Etchmiadzin on Saturday, the Catholicos similarly warned that no follower of the Armenian Church must “deny his own history” or “distort his national identity and aspirations.”
Pashinyan’s relationship with the Church has steadily deteriorated since the 2020 war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Karekin II and other senior clergymen joined the Armenian opposition in calling for Pashinyan’s resignation following Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war. They also blamed Pashinyan for Azerbaijan’s September 2023 attack, genocide, and occupation of Artsakh.
The prime minister and his associates have boycotted Christmas and Easter liturgies led by Karekin II for the past three years.
