Pashinyan’s Attacks on the Church Risk Instigating Civil War in Armenia — By Harut Sassounian

With his approval ratings plummeting ahead of the June 2026 parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is targeting the Catholicos of All Armenians. He is wrongly assuming he can court public favor, disregarding the fact that the most Armenians, at home and in the Diaspora, remain devoted to the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Last week, Pashinyan announced he intends to replace Catholicos Karekin II with a more compliant cleric, citing clerical celibacy as justification. The Prime Minister escalated his assault on the Catholicos and the Armenian Church through incendiary Facebook posts. Here are some examples:

1. He urged his followers to go and ‘liberate’ the Catholicosate and elect a new Catholicos: “The sacred Armenian Apostolic Church must elect a new Catholicos, whose moral conduct will be verified and confirmed before the Catholicosate elections. I call on the faithful followers of the sacred Armenian Apostolic Church to come together to liberate the Seat of the Catholicosate with love and in a Christian manner and elect a truly holy clergyman as Catholicos of All Armenians.”

2. “The sacred Armenian Apostolic Church will be returned to Jesus Christ and the Armenian people. Ktrich Nersisyan [inappropriately referring to Karekin II by his lay name] must vacate the Seat of the Catholicosate.”

3. He proposed to “take active steps to liberate the Seat of the Catholicosate and organize new Catholicosate elections by creating a ‘Coordinating Group’ to manage the organizational issues of the mentioned agenda.” Pashinyan described the qualifications of the future members of the “Coordinating Group” as follows:

a) “Believe wholeheartedly in our living Lord, Jesus Christ”;

b) “Have read the Bible in its entirety at least once”;

c) “Have observed Great Lent at least once in the past five years”;

d) “Pray daily”;

e) “The members of the ‘Coordinating Group’ may include men, women, laypeople and clergy. Celibate clergy must not have violated their vow of celibacy.” Pashinyan added: “I will select the first 10 members of the ‘Coordination Group,’ based on conversations evaluating their alignment with the stated criteria. Thereafter, the Group will determine its expansion procedures, structure and other matters.” He invited those interested in joining the Group to email their name, phone number, and profession to: nikolpashinyan@gmail.com.

Meanwhile, Anna Hakobyan, the Prime Minister’s partner, who had shamelessly described Armenian clergymen as “the country’s chief pedophiles” and “black-vested maniac perverts,” made the surprising revelation she will be moving to China for the next two years to study Chinese Philosophy at Beijing Normal University. This was announced last week by the charity My Step Foundation, founded by Hakobyan where she now serves as Executive Director after previously chairing its Board. It is not known if she will leave her four children behind for two years.

Hakobyan is often mistakenly referred to as Prime Minister Pashinyan’s “wife” and Armenia’s “First Lady”. She is neither his wife (since they are not married) nor First Lady as that title is reserved for the President’s spouse. Yet, Hakobyan travels around the world as First Lady at Armenian taxpayers’ expense and is escorted by government bodyguards, while representing Armenia in international meetings and conferences.

To show that Pashinyan is violating Armenia’s Constitution, let us review Articles 17 and 18. Article 17 mandates church-state separation: “Religious organizations shall be separate from the State.” Most people misinterpret this provision thinking that the clergy have no right to be involved in political affairs. That is not correct. As Armenian citizens, the clergy enjoy the same rights and obligations as all other citizens of the country, such as voting and participating in political matters. The state may intervene only if laws are violated.

Article 18 of the Constitution grants the Armenian Apostolic Church a special status: “The Republic of Armenia recognizes the exclusive mission of the sacred Armenian Apostolic Church, as a national church, in the spiritual life of the Armenian people, in the development of their national culture and preservation of their national identity.”

No one should be surprised if the Prime Minister decides to delete Articles 17 and 18 from his revised version of the Constitution next year.

By urging his followers “to converge” on Etchmiadzin and “liberate” the Catholicosate from Karekin II, Pashinyan risks instigating a civil war. The Church’s millions of faithful vastly outnumber his supporters. Should the Catholicos call on Armenians to come to Etchmiadzin and defend the Catholicosate, a violent confrontation could erupt on holy ground.

Nearly every Diocese at home and abroad has issued written statements condemning Pashinyan’s intervention in the church’s internal affairs. To make a definitive decision on this controversy, Karekin II plans to convene in the near future the “National Ecclesiastical Assembly” — the highest body of the Armenian Apostolic Church — comprising the Catholicos of All Armenians, Catholicos of the Holy See of Great House of Cilicia, Patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople, Bishops and Primates of the Church from around the world, members of the Supreme Spiritual Council of Etchmiadzin, and delegations from all Dioceses.

By targeting the Catholicos — cheered by Azerbaijan’s Sheikh al-Islam and Azeri media — Pashinyan appears oblivious to the damage he is inflicting on his own popularity in the 2026 elections, and bolstering Karekin II’s public support. Most Armenians, faced with a showdown between a faltering politician and their spiritual leader, will naturally side with His Holiness. The public will demand the resignation of the Prime Minister, not the Catholicos.