Moscow Patriarchate alarmed by state threats to Armenian Apostolic Church

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has declared the removal of Catholicos Karekin II as an objective in a series of reforms for the church initiated last month.

The Russian Orthodox Church expressed concerns at government interference in the life of the Armenian Apostolic Church and attempts to “engineer a schism” among its believers.

Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, who heads the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Relations, visited the Armenian Apostolic Church in Moscow on Wednesday, expressing support for its leaders amid what he described as a serious intervention by the Armenian authorities in church life.

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has declared the removal of its supreme head Catholicos Karekin II as an objective in a series of reforms for the church initiated last month. The controversial move gained support from a small number of Armenian bishops. Christian avocacy organisations have criticised Pashinyan’s measures against the church, but they have also prompted internal church divisions.

On Tuesday, the church’s Supreme Spiritual Council defrocked Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, who had initially supported Pashinyan’s reform plan. Karekin II dismissed him from the leadership of the Diocese of Masyatsotn in early January and Bishop Gevorg appealed the decision to an Armenian secular court, which ordered his reinstatement as a temporary measure.

A meeting of the Supreme Spiritual Council at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin on 27 January condemned the bishop’s engagement with civilian courts and “the slanderous accusations” he had made against the Catholicos as well as the Church. It examined what it described as a canonical offence committed by the former Primate of the Masyatsotn diocese.

“It was noted that by challenging the patriarchal directive, which released him from his position as diocesan head and ordered his return to the Mother Monastery, he effectively violated his vow of obedience,” the statement said.

US Vice-President J.D. Vance is due to travel to Armenia and Azerbaijan later this month. In December, a group of Catholic and Armenian Apostolic leaders urged Pope Leo to appeal for the release of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan, who were arrested during the 2020 and 2023 wars between the two countries. In January, Azerbaijan released four prisoners.