Armenian Church clash: Archbishop says sacrilege ignored at top

Archbishop Arakel Karamian, Primate of the Diocese of Kotayk, has stated that Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II declined to take action against Bishop Arshak despite what he described as a “sacrilegious” incident.

According to Archbishop Karamian, church representatives had spent a month urging the Catholicos to address the matter, Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media.

“For a month we spoke with and tried to persuade the Catholicos (Garegin II — ed.) that the issue with Bishop Arshak had to be resolved — a sacrilegious situation had occurred. We did not even say that he should be defrocked; we only suggested that, if possible, his service be temporarily suspended for, say, 5–6 months, so that he could step aside, repent, correct himself, and then return to the Church,” he said.

Karamian noted that subsequent inquiries confirmed the validity of the concerns raised. “Later, all the facts were clarified and confirmed to be true. After this, the Catholicos said: ‘The results of this investigation mean nothing to me. I cannot remove Arshak. Removing Arshak means destroying the Armenian Church,’” he added.

To recall, senior Armenian bishops issued a statement addressed to Catholicos Garegin II, accusing him of attempting to shield a top church official embroiled in a scandal involving the circulation of explicit video material.

In their statement, the bishops said an expert examination had confirmed the authenticity of the footage allegedly featuring Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, the head of the Catholicos’ office.

They asserted that Ktrich Nersisyan (Garegin II) was seeking to conceal what they described as a “sacrilegious act” by Khachatryan. The bishops also claimed that the Catholicos had violated the vow he made upon his ordination to lead the Armenian Apostolic Church with “straightforward teaching.”

The group appealed to the church’s faithful to “cleanse” the First See of Holy Etchmiadzin of what they called sacrilegious figures and those complicit with them, and said they strongly condemned what they described as the Catholicos’ misguided course.

The scandal comes amid escalating tensions between the Armenian Apostolic Church and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government.

The feud intensified in May 2025, when Pashinyan accused Catholicos Garegin II and senior clergy of moral misconduct and conspiring with opposition-linked oligarchs to undermine the state.

Three archbishops were subsequently detained on incitement charges, prompting protests and criticism from the World Council of Churches.

Pashinyan has framed his campaign as an effort to “liberate” the Church from corruption, promoting a “New Armenia, New Catholicos” initiative for leadership elections.

By Vafa Guliyeva