Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has once again addressed issues related to clergy on his Facebook page, declaring that clergymen who violate their vow of celibacy cannot continue their spiritual service.

“Mikael Ajapahyan said yesterday: ‘Why do you care whether a celibate priest has broken his vow or not? That’s none of your business. Church canons don’t concern you either.’ It clearly shows that a segment of the high clergy fails to grasp that the Armenian Apostolic Church belongs to the people—each and every one of us. It is the sanctity of the people, the spiritual home of every Armenian.

As a devoted follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church, one who bows before the Church, and as a believer in Jesus Christ, I say: the Armenian Apostolic Church is the home of our soul.

And you are defiling that home by breaking your celibacy vows, among other things. Clergy who break their vow of celibacy cannot continue their spiritual mission. They must leave the home of our soul,” Pashinyan wrote.

*Pashinyan's comments come in response to criticism from clergy following his earlier remarks comparing churches to storage sheds during a cabinet meeting. In a series of Facebook posts, he used language deemed offensive by Church representatives. His wife, Anna Hakobyan, also posted controversial remarks and accused clergy of being “the country’s top pedophiles.”

Pashinyan further stated that the state must play a decisive role in the election of the Catholicos of All Armenians and questioned whether current Catholicos Karekin II had upheld his celibacy vows.

He wrote: “If it turns out that Karekin II has broken his vow of celibacy and has a child, he cannot be the Catholicos of All Armenians, as he would have ceased being a celibate priest from the moment of that violation.”

The Mother See responded by saying such condemnable actions serve the interests of foreign anti-Armenian forces and mirror Azerbaijani propaganda targeting the Armenian people and Church.*