Archbishop Mikael Adjapahyan, the head of the Shirak Diocese, has filed a lawsuit against former priest Stepan Asatryan, known as Father Aram.

Information about the case was published in the Datalex judicial information system.

According to the claim, Archbishop Mikael demands a retraction of statements he says defame his reputation, and has also requested monetary compensation, Aysor.am reported.

The case has been assigned to Judge Emin Abgaryan of the Civil Court of Ararat and Vayots Dzor.

At the same time, it became known that the court has returned the statement of claim along with the attached documents, indicating that violations in the filing must be corrected within three days.

Earlier, Stepan Asatryan had demanded that the decision by Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II to defrock him be declared invalid and that he be reinstated in his pastoral position.