Karekin II’s brother says no judge would sentence catholicos, threatens excommunication

Catholicos Karekin II’s brother, Archbishop Yezras Nersisyan, cast doubt that any judge could be found in Armenia who would sentence Catholicos Karekin II, who has been under investigation since February. He additionally threatened any judge who would sentence the catholicos with excommunication.

‘This person will be excommunicated, and the people will curse his entire family’, Nersisyan told the Russian state-run media outlet TASS on Wednesday.

He further argued that the Armenian authorities ‘will go even further to achieve their goals’, which, as stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, include removing Karekin II from his position.

Armenian authorities barred Karekin II from leaving the country as part of a criminal case opened in January regarding the firing of a pro-Pashinyan priest from his position as a head of a diocese. Formal investigations against Karekin II began in February.

Nersisyan is the head of the Russian and New Nakhichevan Diocese of the Church. According to the declassified documents published by the Armenian National Security Service (NSS), Nersisyan was recruited by the Soviet Union’s KGB and cooperated with the agency from 1986–1988.

Amid the confrontation between the government and the Church, Nersisyan received a state award from Russian President Vladimir Putin in November 2025, which was perceived by critics as evidence of his ties to the Russian authorities.

Following this, the Russian Orthodox Church, during a meeting with Nersisyan, described the ongoing standoff as an attempt by the Armenian authorities ‘to grossly interfere in church affairs’ and said any attempts ‘to engineer a schism among believers’ would be ‘unacceptable’.