By Xandie (Alexandra) Kuenning
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has suggested that the choirs in all Armenian Apostolic churches perform the national anthem prior to Sunday morning services. The proposal comes amidst increasing tensions between the government and the Church ahead of the 2026 parliamentary elections.
Pashinyan first wrote a short post on Facebook on the evening of Sunday, December 7, with his suggestion, writing that the Armenian Apostolic Church was established “by the state, by state decision” in AD 301.
On the morning of December 8, he followed up with a short video during which he discussed his reasoning further, pointing to a specific passage in the liturgical text.
“There is such a passage in the text of the liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and with it the priests, in fact, start the liturgy: ‘O Council [sic — Mystery], deep, inaccessible, without beginning, who adorned your upper state, the order of the fiery ones, in the veil of unapproachable light, with unsurpassed glory.’ In other words, we are talking about the upper state, about the state. And the sounding of the national anthem before the liturgy will establish the connection between the upper and inner states,” Pashinyan argued.
He added that the presence of the Armenian state flag at the entrance or inside churches should also be discussed, noting it was an “accepted practice” in a number of other countries.
