Armenian clergy under scrutiny as government report lists 16 sins

The Public Relations and Information Centre of the Armenian Prime Minister’s Office has published a report titled “On the Crisis That Has Emerged in the Church as a Result of the Actions of the de facto Head of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church and a Number of Senior Clergy, and on Ways to Resolve It.”

According to the report, its purpose is to document the crisis that has emerged within the Armenian Apostolic Church based on an examination of open sources and to propose ways to address it.

The document does not challenge the theological foundations of the Church, its Sacred Tradition or canonical order. On the contrary, it identifies violations of these principles in an effort to protect the Church’s identity and autonomy.

It emphasises that the reforms should be carried out by the Church itself, with the synodal and consultative participation of its hierarchy and faithful, while the state acts exclusively within the scope of its legal powers.

The report draws exclusively on information from open sources accessible within the law, with more than 250 references. Facts and testimonies concerning each area were compared with the Book of Canon Law of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Apostolic Canons, the Charter adopted by the 1945 National-Ecclesiastical Assembly, other canonical documents and relevant provisions of Armenian legislation.

The report documents 16 findings reflecting the essence of the crisis.

They include:

▪️ Violations of the vow of celibacy and impunity for breaches of moral conduct;

▪️ Arbitrary persecution and defrocking of clergy members;

▪️ Financial opacity and misuse of Church property;

▪️ Nepotism in ordinations and clan-based governance;

▪️ Politicisation of the Holy Altar and the spread of external influence;

▪️ A 27-year delay in convening the National-Ecclesiastical Council and the absence of a unified Constitution;

▪️ Divisions within the dioceses of the Armenian Diaspora.

The report proposes a five-step roadmap for overcoming the crisis.

By Jeyhun Aghazada