Armenian deputy speaker urges Catholicos Garegin II to step down

Armenian deputy speaker Ruben Rubinyan has called on Catholicos Garegin II to resign, claiming he is not willing to serve as the spiritual leader of all Armenians.

Rubinyan accused Garegin II of acting in a way that undermines national unity, Caliber.Az reports.

He highlighted an incident during a visit to Georgia last year, when his delegation—including opposition figures Vaagn Aleksanyan, Shirak Torosyan and Artsvik Minasyan—was denied access to the Armenian Church of the Holy Cross in Akhalkalaki.

Rubinyan said the head of the Armenian diocese in Georgia refused to meet them and instructed that no other priests be present.

He added that he had recently learned Garegin II had unlawfully appointed the same diocesan head to the Supreme Spiritual Council, further demonstrating, in Rubinyan’s view, that the Catholicos seeks to represent only a portion of Armenians rather than the whole nation.

“Garegin II does not want to be the Catholicos of all Armenians and should therefore step down,” Rubinyan stated.

Tensions between Armenia’s secular leadership and the Armenian Apostolic Church have intensified since the country’s political crisis after the 2020 Karabakh war. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been one of the most prominent critics of Catholicos Garegin II, accusing him and senior clerics of political interference, corruption and undermining national unity.

Pashinyan has publicly demanded reforms within the church, called for early elections for the position of Catholicos and described Garegin II and his circle as followers of “schism and sectarian thinking.” 

In mid‑2025, Pashinyan went further, accusing Garegin II of violating the church’s vow of celibacy—a serious canonical issue—and arguing this disqualified him from serving as spiritual leader, intensifying the dispute over the church’s direction and leadership. 

Internally, several bishops have also publicly called on Garegin II to resign voluntarily and supported organisational reforms aimed at electing a new Catholicos, while the church’s press office has asserted that the Catholicos will not step down, rejecting calls for his resignation as unjustified.

By Aghakazim Guliyev