The schism is getting stronger: the prime minister and the Catholicos do not intend to concede

Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II invited representatives of the republic's top political leadership to the rededication ceremony of the Echmiadzin Cathedral. This information was shared earlier this week by local media with reference to their sources in the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC).

The rite of consecration of the Holy World will be held on September 28, the ceremony of the re—consecration of the cathedral - on September 29.

There is no response yet from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Vahagn Khachaturian as to whether they will participate in the ceremony. Meanwhile, Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan has already "decided." He stated that he would not be able to participate in the event, as he would leave at the end of this month on an official visit to Canada.

At the end of August, the Prime Minister's office notified that it had not yet received an invitation from The Mother See of Etchmiadzin for the ceremony of the re-consecration of the cathedral and for the rite of consecration of the Holy World.

In an interview with the opposition newspaper "Hraparak" ("Square"), published on February 14 last year, Garegin II called the complicated relations between the AAC and the government of Armenia "protocol". The interlocutor of the publication then decided not to focus on the mutual irritation between the leadership of the country and the Mother See of Etchmiadzin, choosing just such a diplomatic characteristic. Meanwhile, the history of the relationship between the Pashinyan government and the AAC after the "velvet revolution" of 2018 gives reason to consider them extremely tense, and often even confrontational.

The discord worsened as a result of Armenia's defeat in the 44-day war in Karabakh in the fall of 2020, after which the authorities and the church steadily moved away from each other. Garegin II on December 8, 2020, a month after the end of the war, called on Nikol Pashinyan to resign. Since that time, the Catholicos and the Prime Minister have not communicated at all, avoiding joint participation in official events. Mutual irritation from that moment was transformed into outright personal hostility.

In the aforementioned interview, Garegin II noted that "our meetings with representatives of the government and authorities after the war were protocol within the framework of various events, for example, the inauguration of the president (of the Republic of Vahagn Khachaturian on March 13, 2022)." He did not hide the fact that there are disagreements between the church and the authorities. At the same time, he stressed that the AAC will continue to contribute to the development and security of the country, the strengthening of the Armenian statehood. The Catholicos called for this starting point to perceive the statements and position of the Church on national and public issues.

Garegin II also said that it was the situation in the country that prompted him to organize meetings with former presidents of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. For this reason, both separate conversations and meetings were held with the participation of all the presidents, however, due to differences in approaches, it was not possible to continue discussions in this format, he explained.

"Nevertheless, we continue contacts with the former presidents (of Armenia and Nagorno—Karabakh) and will make every effort in the name of national unity, only thanks to which it is possible to overcome the existing grave challenges," the spiritual leader of the Armenians emphasized then.

The meeting of the Catholicos with the ex-presidents of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan, as well as the former presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan (both have been under arrest in Baku since October 2023 and are currently under arrest in Baku) took place on September 22, 2022 in Etchmiadzin. As a result, it was not possible to adopt a joint statement and this format of communication between former political leaders did not find its continuation.

The complete exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh increased the degree of conflict between the authorities and the leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church. On October 1, 2023, during a nationwide prayer, the Catholicos pointed out "the policy of the Armenian authorities towards Nagorno-Karabakh and the split of the people" as one of the reasons for the loss of the unrecognized republic.

"Today the Republic of Armenia is facing the same threat," he warned.

According to him, security challenges, territorial losses, haste, "manifested in the process of establishing peace under obvious coercion, the way the government (Nikol Pashinyan) communicates with the public created an atmosphere of distrust and caused a righteous uprising, which in this difficult situation can lead to deplorable developments." Garegin II at the same time called on the Armenian authorities "not to sow discord and not to divide people."

A few months earlier, in an interview with journalists on April 20, 2023, answering the relevant question, the Catholicos called his appeal to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign indefinite. The head of the AAC explained that the "paternal covenant" he voiced after the 44-day war was due to an attempt to overcome and solve the crisis that had arisen in the country.

"The situation in the republic remains dangerous and alarming. Incorrect and unacceptable statements are being made regarding the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. We are concerned about the deepening disunity, impatience, the spirit of intolerance of our people," the Catholicos complained.

According to him, there is a lot of work to be done in this regard, and solving problems and overcoming challenges is possible only with the full consolidation of national potential.

Each side of the confrontation understood the "big work" in its own way. In April of this year, the protest movement "Tavush in the name of the Motherland" began, led by the primate of the Tavush diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan (Bagrat Srbazan). The movement chose Pashinyan's resignation as the main demand. The head of government and his associates, in turn, since last spring, began to impute the organization of the protest, its direction and "blessing" to Garegin II. The reason for this was given by Bagrat Srbazan himself.

In May, he named a condition for nominating his own candidacy for Prime Minister of Armenia, local media reported citing their sources. According to them, at a closed meeting with the protest leader on May 18, opposition political forces offered to sign a document confirming his candidacy for the post of head of the interim government.

"The archbishop did not agree, he stated that before agreeing to nominate his candidacy, he needed to receive the blessing of the Catholicos of All Armenians," the newspaper "Zhogovurd" ("People") informed.

The blessing requested by Bagrat Srbazan from Garegin II was the trigger for the authorities. Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference on May 7 that the Catholicos is actually heading a political movement, the ultimate beneficiary of which is former President Robert Kocharyan. From that moment on, the AAC began to fend off the attacks of the authorities against it by making a number of statements.

The unfounded accusations of the head of government against the Armenian Apostolic Church that it is an "agent of influence" both in the past and today are reprehensible. This was stated in a statement issued on May 23, adopted following a meeting of bishops and heads of dioceses chaired by Garegin II.

Nikol Pashinyan had previously said that his government had previously officially proposed to the Armenian Apostolic Church to introduce a taxation system and then return all the money collected to it in order, according to him, to ensure transparency of the financial activities of the Armenian Apostolic Church. However, the church leadership rejected this proposal. At the same time, the prime minister expressed confidence that within two to three months "the issue" of the AAC and "other agents of foreign influence" will be resolved.

"Various representatives of the Armenian government, including the Prime Minister, in these days of public revolt against unilateral territorial concessions in Tavush, under the guise of delimitation and demarcation (of the border with Azerbaijan), again launched attacks on The Holy Armenian Apostolic Church, throwing in various false statements and false theories related to the historical mission and current activities of the church," said the response statement published by the Mother See of Etchmiadzin in social networks.

It was noted that "unfounded accusations" are voiced in the context of non-payment of taxes by the church, while official statistics directly record the fulfillment of its tax obligations established by the legislation of the republic.

"It is especially reprehensible that the head of government unreasonably and deliberately accuses the Armenian Church of being an "agent of influence" in the past and now. We regret that the current government inappropriately touches upon problems in church—state relations, including using the tools of threats, pressure and disinformation. It is necessary that the representatives of the Armenian government, realizing their responsibility to the people and the motherland, think about the historical role of the church in creating the motherland and preserving the nation, which is also enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, and revise the adopted policy," the AAC said.

The Mother See of Echmiadzin strongly condemns attempts to attribute to the Armenian Apostolic Church the organization of rallies in Armenia, it was emphasized in the statement adopted following the meeting of the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church on June 13 chaired by Garegin II. The leadership of the AAC called it reprehensible that the authorities and their supporters consistently disseminate such information. Thus, these individuals are trying to justify their anti-church position, one of the manifestations of which was the "provocation" against the Catholicos and clergy at the Sardarapat memorial complex on May 28, the AAC claimed.

By "provocation" was meant an unsightly incident that happened then. On May 28, the Mother See of Etchmiadzin published a full video of the events that took place on the territory of the Sardarapat memorial complex in the Armavir region of Armenia, when law enforcement officers did not allow the Catholicos and the clergy accompanying him to the complex. At first, the police did not allow the head of the AAC to drive up by car to the parking lot at the memorial, so Garegin II and the clergy accompanying him set off on foot. However, they were blocked by the ranks of policemen. After a short commotion, the Catholicos and his entourage were nevertheless allowed to proceed to the memorial and lay a wreath. The statement of the AAC after the incident stated that the ban on entering the memorial and violent actions "are another episode of shameful and anti-national activities of the authorities."

The incident occurred before the Prime Minister's visit to the Sardarapat memorial complex. The next day, on May 29, Nikol Pashinyan himself commented on the incident. According to the head of the Armenian government, the Catholicos drove up to the venue of the protocol events, although he was not invited. The police only tried to clarify whether the Catholicos had arrived in order to "continue the provocative actions of his supporters and members of the political movement he led (meaning the Tavush for the Motherland movement led by Bagrat Srbazan)."

"And when they received assurances that the visit was purely of a protocol nature, they provided the Catholicos with access to the memorial," Pashinyan said.

At the same time, he recalled that before the incident, the movement "headed" by the Catholicos tried to interfere with protocol events with the participation of the political leadership of the republic.

It can't go on like this indefinitely. The extremely unhealthy situation in relations between the authorities and the AAC requires mutual steps towards reconciliation. As can be understood from the above invitation of Garegin II to representatives of the country's top political leadership, the church demonstrates its openness to ending enmity.

How will Pashinyan respond? Apparently, his reaction will be conditioned by the expected new wave of protest under the flags of "Tavush for the motherland". The movement took a break in the summer and promised to return to the political scene with renewed vigor this fall. However, so far there has been no intensive protest struggle on his part. If Bagrat Srbazan, who has received the "blessing" of Garegin II, starts street actions of civil disobedience again and starts rallies with the same demand for Nikol Pashinyan's resignation, the invitation of the Catholicos to take part in the ceremony of the re-consecration of the Echmiadzin Cathedral will be ignored by the prime minister.

A compromise is also possible in the form of representation of the authorities at the event in the person of the country's president Vahagn Khachaturian. Thus, Pashinyan can leave the door to reconciliation open, while at the same time continuing to demonstrate the unacceptability for him of involving the AAC in anti-government political processes.

In any case, there remains a situation where none of the parties intends to settle the conflict in such a way that its actions will be regarded as a manifestation of weakness and even "loss of face." Garegin II will not abandon his "paternal covenant" regarding the resignation of the current prime minister, and Pashinyan will not abandon the authorities' curtailment of the course towards the harsh depoliticization of the AAC and squeezing protest sentiments out of it. The confrontation is likely to continue at least until the next parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to take place in June 2026. The further vector of relations between the political and spiritual authorities in Armenia will depend on their outcome.