Even last year, on November 27, Nikol Pashinyan published a video on his Facebook page, stating that he had met with a group of bishops of the Apostolic Church, and there was only one issue on the agenda of the meeting: the removal of His Holiness the Patriarch from the Catholicosic throne. Among the bishops who met with Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of the Artsakh Diocese Vrtanes shocked people the most. The Armenians of Artsakh were first shocked by the action of the leader of the Diocese, then they were angry and decided to go to him personally and find out why he joined Nikol Pashinyan’s anti-Church and anti-Catholic campaign and came out against the Patriarch.

Of course, none of the Artsakh Armenians received the answer to this question from Bishop Vrtanes personally, but the bishops who met with Nikol Pashinyan received the name “tiradav”.

It seemed that, taking into account the anger of the Artsakh Armenians, the leader of the Diocese of Artsakh would understand all the shame and consequences of his action and return to his original functions, that is, dealing with the spiritual and cultural problems of the Artsakh Armenians and keeping them united, but it did not happen, because weeks after meeting with Nikol Pashinyan, on December 18, 10 “tyrants” went to the Mother See, joining against the Church of St. Etchmiadzin “attacked” several dozen people and former priests who were disorganized.

This step of Bishop Vrtanes upset and surprised the members of the Diocesan Council of Artsakh, although after the meeting with Nikol Pashinyan, he issued a statement stating that “he participated in the meeting with Pashinyan as a member of the episcopal committee of the Mother See, and it has nothing to do with the Artsakh issue and the issues that concern our compatriots.” This statement, of course, angered the Artsakh Armenians even more.

During these months, Reverend Vrtanes did not have any contact with media representatives, he left all phone calls unanswered.

Today, we learned that the members of the Artsakh diocesan council last met with Bishop Vrtanes on December 8, after that several members of the diocese, including the chairman, have nothing to do with him.

Today, there is no connection between the members of the diocesan council and Bishop Vrtanes, the members of the diocesan council mainly work with the Mother See without the mediation of Bishop Vrtanes.

According to our source, Reverend Vrtanes probably realized the serious consequences of his actions while remaining in isolation, and he has to publicly admit that he made a big mistake by joining the false agenda put forward by Nikol Pashinyan.

Let’s remind that last year, on May 26, Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, went to Bern, Switzerland, and participated in the “Religious Freedom” organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Swiss Protestant Church. at the international forum entitled “Preservation of the Armenian spiritual, cultural and historical heritage in Artsakh/Nagar Karabakh”. During the conference, His Holiness addressed not only the issues of preservation of the spiritual and cultural heritage in Artsakh, but also the return of prisoners and Armenians of Artsakh held illegally in Baku. After that, the attacks on His Holiness and the church began, first, the spiritual leader of Azerbaijan accused the Apostolic Church of “inciting war”, then the RA government, led by Nikol Pashinyan, started the attacks, demanding the removal of the Catholicos.

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