Armenian bishops say Catholicos tries to hide video evidence

· November 28, 2025

A group of senior clergy — archbishops and bishops — issued a statement accusing the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, of attempting to cover up and block any action regarding the misconduct of Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, after the video evidence surfaced.

They assert that “Karekin II has been unfaithful to the oath he took at his consecration as Catholicos.” The announcement was shared on the Facebook page of the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, Arayik Harutyunyan, who noted that “the bishops showed courage by documenting this grave desecration of our Church.”

According to the statement, on November 5 this year, the Catholicos had established a commission to investigate the videos attributed to Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, and to present conclusions. The commission formally asked the Armenian Investigative Committee’s relevant division to conduct an expert examination of the videos and verify their authenticity. On November 25, the Investigative Committee provided results confirming that the videos indeed depict Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan.

The commission, on the same day, officially submitted these conclusions to Catholicos Karekin II, in accordance with the canonical law of the Church. However, he dismissed the expert findings.

More than a month has passed since the publication of the videos. The bishops express deep concern and puzzlement over Karekin II’s attitude, which “harms the Church’s authority, despite repeated formal attempts by the commission and bishops to draw the Catholicos’s attention to the matter.”

Given that the Catholicos is trying by all means to hide Archbishop Arshak’s sacrilegious act, thereby becoming a patron of sacrilege, the bishops, exercising their episcopal authority, declare that “Karekin II has been unfaithful to his consecration vow to lead the Armenian Church with straight doctrine.”

They consider his behavior incompatible with canonical law and theology of the Armenian Church, dangerous for the very womb of the Church. They call on their fellow bishops, the faithful and devoted children of the Church worldwide, to join “the vital effort of cleansing the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin from the sacrilegious clergyman and those who cover up his guilt by strongly condemning Karekin II’s wrong path.”

The statement was signed by: Archbishop Hovhannes Terteryan; Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan; Archbishop Abraham Mkrtchyan; Archbishop Arakel Karamyan; Archbishop Sion Adamyan; Archbishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan; Bishop Anoushavan Zhamkochyan; Bishop Armash Nalbandyan; Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan; Bishop Artak Tigranyan; Bishop Serovbe Isakhanian; Bishop Gevorg Saroyan; Bishop Narek Avagyan.