In Armenia, Catholicos's case referred to court, he may face prison

Catholicos Garegin II of All Armenians. Photo: Radar Armenia

The Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia has referred a criminal case to court against Catholicos Garegin II of All Armenians  and six bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC). The charges stem from the hierarchs' refusal to comply with a ruling of a secular court that intervened in matters concerning the defrocking of clergy, reports Radar Armenia.

Investigators submitted the case materials to the Court of General Jurisdiction of the Armavir region. The Catholicos and a group of senior clergymen were charged with obstructing the enforcement of a court order. As a preventive measure, the head of the AAC and the other defendants in the case were banned from leaving the country.

The criminal prosecution began due to a conflictinvolving Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, the former head of the Masyatsotn Diocese. In January 2026, a decree by Catholicos Garegin II relieved him of his position; however, Saroyan refused to comply and continued to consider himself the ruling bishop. The hierarch was subsequently defrocked, but he appealed to a civil court and obtained interim measures. In effect, the secular court declared the internal canonical decision of the Church unlawful.

The investigation claims that Garegin II and several bishops obstructed the enforcement of those court measures. In addition to the Catholicos, the list of defendants includes Bishops Makar Hakobyan, Hovnan Hakobyan, Mushegh Babayan, Vahan Hovhannisyan, and Archbishops Natan Hovhannisyan and Haykazun Najaryan.

Representatives of Etchmiadzin, however, stressed that matters concerning the appointment and defrocking of clergy fall exclusively within the Church’s canonical jurisdiction and cannot be reviewed by secular courts.

The defense of the Catholicos described the criminal prosecution as unlawful and politically motivated. If found guilty, the hierarchs could face penalties including actual prison sentences.

As the UOJ reported, human rights advocates declared that the Church in Armenia is being persecuted.

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