Armenian official accuses Archbishop Galstanyan of acting as foreign agent amid church-government rift

A senior Armenian official has accused Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan of acting as an agent for foreign powers, further escalating tensions between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the government led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

In a sharply worded Facebook post, Ruben Rubinyan, Vice President of the Armenian Parliament and a close ally of Pashinyan, condemned Galstanyan’s recent claims that external actors had warned him about the potential consequences of Pashinyan’s re-election, Caliber.Az reports.

According to Galstanyan, these forces suggested that Armenia would devolve into a hub for drug trafficking, money laundering, and social decay, including the erosion of traditional family values. The Archbishop also alleged that Armenia could become a “camp of colour revolutions” under Pashinyan’s continued leadership.

Rubinyan responded with outrage: “If the claims of Srbazan [a respectful title for archbishops] are accurate—that he received such information—it implies that he is acting as an agent of influence for external powers. Should this prove true, it is imperative to promptly identify which forces he is serving.”

He went further, implicating the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II, demanding clarity on whether the church leadership is complicit in what he described as a potential “recruitment” effort by foreign entities.

Rubinyan also revisited a previous controversy involving Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan, who in 2022 called for a military coup to prevent Armenia from becoming “Ermenistan” — a pejorative implying loss of Armenian identity. “At the time, I did not take this seriously… but after Bagrat Srbazan’s confession the question arises: maybe Mikael Srbazan too was pushed by ‘external forces’? This needs to be clarified,” Rubinyan added.

The comments point out the intensifying feud between the Armenian government and the church hierarchy. Prime Minister Pashinyan has faced persistent criticism from Archbishop Galstanyan, who frequently challenges the prime minister’s legitimacy and moral authority.

By Vafa Guliyeva