Armenian PM criticises Catholicos Garegin II, says Church "in ruins" under him Updated

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sharply criticised Catholicos Garegin II during a Q&A session with Cabinet members in Parliament, asserting that he does not need a church leader who will obey him personally, but one who resists influence from foreign intelligence services.

Responding to accusations from “Hayastan” faction deputy Anna Grigoryan, who claimed the government seeks a church subordinate to the Prime Minister, Pashinyan said, said he does not need a Catholicos that would obey him, Caliber.Az reports per Armenian media. 

“I do not need a Catholicos who will obey me. I need a Catholicos who will not obey a senior lieutenant of a foreign special service and will not report to lieutenants of a foreign special service on a daily basis. I have no such aspirations.”

He further criticised the state of the Armenian Apostolic Church under Garegin II, claiming it “has been reduced to ruins” and pointing to the absence of a universal choir in churches as evidence that proper liturgies are not being served.

Addressing opposition lawmakers, Pashinyan said, “You are not faced with the situation that when the narrow elite is a millionaire, a significant part of priests lives on the verge of poverty. Armenian churches are in ruins, proper service is not provided, priests live in poverty, and spiritual life is absent.”

He also accused Catholicos Garegin II and his supporters of using the Church for personal gain. 

“For them, the church was, is and wants to remain just a tool of fraud. We will not allow this. Ktrich Nersisyan [the secular name of the Catholicos] must leave — there is no alternative. Even senior and junior lieutenants, captains, majors, even generals of foreign special services will not save him,” Pashinyan added.

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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan intensified his criticism of Catholicos Garegin II, saying the spiritual leader and his close circle were acting against the interests of the Armenian Apostolic Church and following “anti-church logic.”

Pashinyan said he believed that no institution had been harmed more than the Church by the continued presence of Garegin II, whose secular name is Ktrich Nersisyan, at the head of the First See, Caliber.Az reports via Armenian media. 

He asserted that a process for his removal had already begun and insisted that the Catholicos “must leave,” describing it as a necessity rather than a matter of personal choice.

The prime minister also argued that public debate and controversy surrounding the Church were healthy in a democratic society. He said that his own impressions from numerous meetings with Garegin II had convinced him that the Catholicos’s continued leadership was causing what he described as “catastrophic” damage to the Church.

The dispute comes amid growing tensions between the Armenian government and the Armenian Apostolic Church. Pashinyan has repeatedly urged the Catholicos to resign, accusing him of violating his vow of celibacy and raising concerns about alleged corruption. 

Several senior bishops have also publicly called on Garegin II to step down, citing issues of governance and the Church’s credibility.

By Sabina Mammadli