Undermining the boulder Pashinyan Steps Up Battle with Garegin II

The new year 2026 had barely begun when Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan showed that he does not intend to slow down his fight against the clique of Catholicos Garegin II. Recently, Pashinyan signed a “roadmap for the improvement” of the Armenian Church together with ten bishops. The document includes the following points: the public announcement of a reform programme; the removal of the current head of the church; the adoption of the church charter; and the election of a Catholicos of all Armenians. In short, Pashinyan’s plan leaves no stone unturned in the current state of affairs. At the same time, Armenian media report that the government is ready to assist in drafting the church charter.

To demonstrate that he has the extraordinary energy required to carry out these ambitious plans, the Armenian prime minister also invited everyone to participate in a “pilgrimage” for Christmas. He announced this on his Facebook page: “Dear compatriots, tomorrow, January 6, at 13:30, I invite you all to the procession, which will begin from the yard of the Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator in Yerevan,” he said in a posted video, outlining the route of the procession in detail.

According to him, among other things, the event will celebrate “the holy birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” affirm loyalty to “the sacred tradition of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church,” and express support for the reform of the Armenian Church.

As is clear from the above statements by the Armenian prime minister, he is not only fighting the Catholicosate but also trying to convince all faithful Armenians that his struggle is not directed against the Church itself.

Unsurprisingly, the Armenian opposition felt compelled to respond. This time, the sharpest comment came from the leader of the “Homeland” party, former head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), Artur Vanetsyan. According to him, after numerous failed attempts, Pashinyan realised that he is unable to swiftly remove Garegin II and dismantle the Church. “That is why he resorts to a well-known old method — covering up yet another failure with obscure and illegitimate commissions and coordination councils,” Vanetsyan said.

Here, the former head of Armenia’s intelligence services is, of course, trying to put a brave face on a bad hand. Pashinyan is not so naive as to underestimate the huge challenge represented by Garegin II. From the very beginning, all of the prime minister’s actions have been aimed at eroding the foundation on which this “boulder” stands.

Pashinyan’s struggle with the recalcitrant clerics in some ways resembles the famous Avignon Papacy of the 14th century, when French King Philip IV the Fair, seeking to weaken Rome’s influence over the increasingly powerful centralized French monarchy, succeeded in moving the papal residence from the Eternal City to Avignon in France. Although this period was relatively short in the nearly two-thousand-year history of the Christian Church—lasting only a hundred years—it was long enough to strike Rome a blow from which it never fully recovered. After this event, the popes were never able to regain their former authority and power.

Pashinyan is also seeking to strengthen secular authority. Although Armenia is officially a secular state, the Church not only possesses substantial material wealth but also wields political power through its influence over people’s minds. This influence is exercised not so much by appealing to Christian values as through the promotion of an explicitly secular nationalist discourse. For many decades—and even centuries—the Armenian Church has played a key role in shaping and entrenching within Armenian society an ideology of ethnic exclusivity.

At present, Pashinyan is carrying out a kind of surgical operation aimed at severing the Church from the ideological “firmware” of the Armenian nation. In this context, it can be assumed that the new discourse of the Armenian Church will no longer appeal to “miatsum” or other elements of nationalist ideology, but will be confined strictly to spiritual matters.

However, this has not yet happened. For it to happen, the boulder must be brought down. And judging by Pashinyan’s determination, as well as the fact that part of the senior clergy has sided with him, he has every chance of achieving this goal.