PM Pashinyan Proposes Coordinating Group to Organize New Catholicos Election

YEREVAN — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated in a Facebook post that concrete steps must be taken to liberate the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and organize new Catholicos elections. He emphasized the need to create a coordinating group.

According to Pashinyan, members of the coordinating group can include “followers of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church who genuinely believe in our living Lord Jesus Christ, have read the Bible from beginning to end at least once, have observed Lent at least once in the past five years, pray daily, believe that the renewal of the Mother See is in the best interests of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, our people, and our state, and who uphold the sacred traditions of our ancestors.”

Pashinyan noted that the group may include both men and women, laypeople and clergy. “In the case of celibate clergy, it is mandatory that they have not violated their vow of celibacy,” he added.

“I will personally take responsibility for selecting the first 10 members of the coordinating group based on discussions around the criteria mentioned above. Going forward, the group itself will determine the procedures for expansion, its structure, and other relevant matters,” the Prime Minister wrote.

The day before, Civil Contract (CC) party deputy chairman Vahagn Aleksanyan also said on public television that a commission or group must be formed by followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church to “liberate the Catholicosate from oath-breakers and desecrators” and that a new Catholicos must be elected. Aleksanyan did not rule out that Prime Minister Pashinyan himself could lead the process. When asked how and by what methods, he replied briefly: “With love and without violence.”

When questioned about whether the state has the right to intervene in church affairs, Aleksanyan responded that it would not be the state participating in the process, but rather the followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

For over 10 days, Armenia’s Prime Minister and the ruling Civil Contract party have been actively criticizing the Catholicos and other senior clergymen. Nikol Pashinyan has questioned the clergy’s—particularly Catholicos Karekin II’s—faithfulness to their vow of celibacy and has even asserted that the Republic of Armenia should have a decisive voice in the election of the Catholicos of All Armenians.