Armenian bishop: In our country, defending the Church has become a crime

Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan. Photo: armenianchurch

On June 29, 2025, in Etchmiadzin, Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan served a prayer service for the release of the clergy and the strengthening of the Church in the face of persecution. During the service, he addressed the faithful with a statement about the persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church by the Armenian authorities, News.am reports.

The Director of the Department of External Relations and Protocol of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan, stated:

“The government’s anti-church campaign is advancing with increasingly new, unprecedented actions. We painfully recall the actions taken at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Our brothers – Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and Archbishop Mikael Adjapakhyan – were illegally detained.”

According to him, in Armenia, defending the Church has effectively become a crime, and the clergy needs prayerful support.

The hierarch said that the pressure on the Armenian Apostolic Church is systematic and accompanied by criminal prosecutions, arrests, and mass searches.

Earlier, on June 25, during large-scale searches and arrests in Armenia, the head of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, was detained. A court ordered him held for two months.

On June 28, it became known that the head of the Shirak Diocese, Archbishop Mikael Adjapakhyan, was also ordered by a Yerevan court to be held for two months. He is charged under an article on “public calls for the usurpation of power.” According to the hierarch’s lawyer, Aru Zograbyan, the case is baseless, and the court’s decision is illegal and politically motivated.

Against this backdrop, a sharp conflict continues between the Armenian authorities and the Armenian Apostolic Church. Prime Minister Pashinyan accuses Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II of involvement in a conspiracy, while the Catholicos himself rejects these accusations as slander.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Archbishop Mikael Adjapakhyan was arrested in Armenia.

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