Armenian PM calls for removal of Catholicos Garegin II over moral betrayal

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has called for the removal of Catholicos Garegin II, accusing him of moral betrayal and urging the clergy to unite in ousting the Church leader if he refuses to step down voluntarily.

In a strongly worded Facebook post reported by Caliber.Az, Pashinyan questioned Garegin II’s authority and criticised the Church’s hierarchical system that places the celibate Catholicos above married priests.

“A number of married priests, following orders and pressure from their leadership, tried to dispute my statement from yesterday that all married priests of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church are my brothers because they do not deceive the people or God," the premier wrote.

He then reiterated his support for married priests, including those critical of him: "Dear fathers, I was not asking a question—I was insisting, and I repeat: all married priests of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church are my brothers, including those who make negative statements, because you do not deceive either people or God."

Pashinyan went on to question the elevated status of Catholicos Garegin II, whose secular name is Ktrich Nersisyan, arguing that his moral failings undermine his authority: "But after all, if you do have a child, and Ktrich Nersisyan (Catholicos Garegin II) does, then why does he have a higher status in the Church than you, when he deceives both the people and God, while you do not? When he took a vow to marry the Church and betrayed it, and his high status is based on this vow, which he broke?"

He criticised the principle of celibacy as the basis for the Catholicos’ authority, calling it adulterous and unjust: “Why should an adulterous ‘celibacy’ prevail over you and rule over you, if he gained this right only through a vow of chastity which he defiled?"

In conclusion, Pashinyan acknowledged Garegin II as his brother but rejected his legitimacy as Church leader and urged the clergy to act: “Ktrich Nersisyan is my brother too! But he is not the Catholicos and should leave the Patriarchate. And if he does not leave, then we will remove him together, as brothers, dear married priests!”

To recall, in early June, Pashinyan accused Catholicos Garegin II of fathering a child after having taken his vow of celibacy, a serious breach under the canons of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church.

By Khagan Isayev