Armenian PM plans to transfer historic churches back to state ownership

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has announced plans to reclaim several churches currently under the administration of the Armenian Apostolic Church but legally owned by the state.

Pashinyan said during a parliamentary session on October 22 that some historic monasteries and churches officially remain on the government’s balance sheet, even though they are used by the church, Caliber.Az reports via Armenian media.

“There is a nuance I would like to highlight. If I’m not mistaken, the Hovhannavank Monastery, along with several other monuments, is still registered as government property. A number of churches were transferred to the Armenian Church for free use. We have all the moral and legal grounds to return these monuments to society,” Pashinyan stated.

The prime minister added that the government would “fully support” clerics such as Father Aram and others who, in his words, are working to “restore genuine spiritual life” in Armenia.

The Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), one of the world's oldest Christian institutions, has long symbolised national identity amid centuries of foreign domination. Since Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's 2018 rise via the "Velvet Revolution," relations with the AAC soured, particularly after Armenia's 2020 defeat in the Karabakh war.

Church leaders, led by Catholicos Karekin II, criticized Pashinyan's peace concessions to Azerbaijan as betrayals of Armenian heritage, fueling accusations of political meddling.

Tensions peaked in May 2025 when Pashinyan accused Karekin of breaking celibacy vows and fathering a child, demanding his resignation and vowing to "liberate" the church's Etchmiadzin headquarters from an "anti-Christian" group.

This sparked a crackdown: Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan was sentenced to two years in prison in September for "threatening power"; Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan and 12 clerics were detained in mid-October on charges of coercion, embezzlement, and electoral interference. The AAC decried it as a "systematic campaign" to silence dissent ahead of the 2026 elections.

By Aghakazim Guliyev