Critics slam Pashinyan’s church reform plans

PanARMENIAN.Net - Lawyer Yervand Varosyan, commenting on the Armenian Apostolic Church reform declaration signed at the Prime Minister’s residence, stated that this act “officially confirms in writing that the attack against the Armenian Apostolic Church is a political process.”

“The only interesting part of this entire show and its meaningless, disjointed text is that it was officially signed by the Prime Minister himself. Perhaps vanity prevented him from remembering he claimed to speak as an ordinary believer in this campaign, or maybe the staffer drafting the text was too nervous to omit the title... Regardless, this written and official act confirms that the attack on the Church is a political process and that the state is directly interfering in Church affairs,” Varosyan wrote on Facebook.

Eduard Sharmazanov, member of the Republican Party of Armenia’s executive body and former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, also criticized the declaration, questioning why the head of the executive branch was meddling in Church matters and issuing messages from his official residence.

“What happened to the principle of separation of Church and state? In this ‘bastion of democracy,’ church reform programs are now being announced from the Prime Minister’s residence. International organizations, are you watching? Soon you’ll be praising Pashinyan’s supposed democratic credentials. And apparently, he has solved all of Armenia’s other problems: freed 240 square kilometers from Azerbaijani occupation, returned prisoners of war, ensured the safe return of Artsakh Armenians, and now he’s reforming the spiritual sphere too,” Sharmazanov wrote.

Arthur Vanetsyan, head of the Homeland party and former Director of the National Security Service, described the declaration as an unconstitutional act.

“The so-called Church reform we just witnessed is a textbook example of a constitutional order being undermined, something law enforcement must address,” Vanetsyan said.

He emphasized that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, having failed in multiple previous attempts to quickly remove the Catholicos and dismantle one of the oldest Armenian spiritual-national institutions, is now resorting to a well-known tactic: masking failure behind vague and illegitimate committees and coordinating councils.

According to Vanetsyan, by establishing these bodies, Pashinyan is formally launching the process of splitting the Armenian Apostolic Church and, as de facto head of government leading the so-called coordinating council, bears full responsibility for the consequences.

“Our Apostolic Church has overcome even more difficult trials and struggles. Тhis one too, it will undoubtedly endure with honor.

That is why I sincerely ask our Catholicos to call upon the faithful to stand unwaveringly with our Holy Church and, at the very least, remove the traitorous bishop from office,” Vanetsyan said.