Pashinyan signs a “roadmap for renewing the Armenian Church”

Nikol Pashinyan. Photo: Express

In early January, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a “roadmap for renewing the Armenian Church” together with six archbishops and four bishops. The prime minister posted a video of the signing on his Telegram channel, Oxu.Az reported, citing Sputnik Armenia.

The “roadmap” includes points on advancing the renewal agenda, removing the de facto head of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), electing a locum tenens of the Catholicos, adopting a new Charter of the AAC, and then electing the Catholicos of All Armenians.

Against the backdrop of these developments, the Armenian Apostolic Church decided to initiate the convocation of a National Church Council. Sputnik Armenia reports that this was stated by former Minister of Justice Gevorg Danielyan, a member of the Supreme Spiritual Council.

“A meeting will take place soon – it is not far off. You will all see that the notorious schism that allegedly arose in the Church does not in fact exist. Unfortunately, there are a few individual persons, and we very much hope that everything will fall into place – that they will ultimately come to their senses, understand the situation, be able to assess adequately the pressure being exerted on them, and remain part of the Church,” he said.

Danielyan did not specify exact dates for convening the council, assuring that it would not be delayed, since there are matters of the highest importance that must be discussed at this level.

As the UOJ wrote earlier, Pashinyan called for a “cross procession” in support of “church reforms.”

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