Prime Minister claims to personally lead "liberation" of Armenian Church

Nikol Pashinyan Photo: Photo host brics-russia

On July 8, 2025, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, stated that he would personally lead the "liberation" of the Armenian Apostolic Church, accusing its leadership of being seized by an "anti-state group". He published the corresponding message on his Telegram channel.

Pashinyan criticized the leadership of the Armenian Church, accusing it of losing spiritual direction and collaborating with hostile forces: "The House of Jesus Christ, the place of the descent of the Only Begotten, has been seized by the antichrist, a dissolute, anti-national, and anti-state group and must be liberated. I will personally lead this liberation," stated the Prime Minister. He also added that high-ranking hierarchs of the Armenian Apostolic Church have completely lost connection with Jesus Christ and His teachings.

The conflict between the state and the Armenian Church has been ongoing for several years, but it became particularly acute in the spring of 2025. The new round of confrontation was triggered by Pashinyan's statements about the belonging of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.

The escalation of the conflict was accompanied by the detention of clerics. At the end of June, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, leader of the Sacred Struggle movement, and the head of the Shirak Diocese, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, were arrested. They were accused of calling for the seizure of power and undermining the territorial integrity of the country. The hierarchs themselves rejected the accusations as politically motivated.

The Armenian Church reps believe that the authorities are acting deliberately, seeking to subject the Church to state control. According to the hierarchs, such actions not only undermine the authority of the Church but also weaken the moral resilience of the Armenian people during one of the most challenging periods in its history.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Armenian Church warned the authorities of a possible anathema.

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