YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — The Supreme Spiritual Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church has condemned what it described as “illegal pressures” and “unlawful persecution” targeting the Church and its clergy, according to a statement issued by the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
The Council met from November 4 to 7 at the Mother See in Etchmiadzin under the presidency of Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. The sessions were chaired by Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, Chancellor of the Mother See.
In its official statement, the Council “strongly condemned the blatant illegal infringements and pressures against the rights of the Church and clergy.” It said that the criminal charges and arrests of clerics “are based on unlawful evidence and contradict international standards of fair trial and restriction of personal freedom.”
The Council called on law enforcement authorities “to stop the illegal criminal proceedings and to release the detained clergymen and civilians in the name of justice.”
The statement reflects months of growing tensions between the Church and the State, accompanied by arrests and prosecutions of a number of senior clerics on various charges, including two archbishops and one bishop.
Accusing Karekin II of violating his oath of celibacy by fathering a child, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly urged him to resign, calling for broader church reform. He and his political allies have warned that otherwise the Catholicos, whom they refer to by his lay name, Ktrich Nersisyan, will face a popular protest.
