Will the people continue to be in a stupor if Pashinyan imprisons Gareg E?

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan crosses all the red lines, exceeding the limits of his powers.

During the past eight years, Pashinyan has violated hundreds of laws and many provisions of the Constitution. Meanwhile, a large number of Armenians ended up behind bars not because of crimes, but simply because of disagreement with him. a fundamental right that should be guaranteed to every citizen in a democratic country.

Pashinyan clarified that the laws do not apply to him. He smugly boasted that he could break any law and no judge could stop him.

Since seizing power in 2018, Pashinyan has viciously attacked the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church and its spiritual leaders. Despite his unchristian behavior, he often quotes Scripture to mislead his gullible followers. According to the Bible (Matthew 4:5-7, Luke 4:9-12, Psalm 91:11-12), the devil also, referring to the Scriptures, urged Jesus to throw himself from the tower of the temple, assuring him that the angels would save him. Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16. “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Although baseless rumors about Katholykos having a child have been circulating for a long time, Pashinyan, who waited seven years after coming to power, exploited the rumor only when his narrow political interests demanded it. For more than a year, he has been abusing his official position, trying to overthrow the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II.

Pashinyan made public appeals, issued personal threats and even used obscene language on his Facebook page in order to force the Catholicos to resign. After the failure of all these attempts, he even resorted to blackmailing 10 high-ranking clerics in order to win them over to his side and turn him against the Catholicos. Under the guise of “reforming” the Church, he formed a “citizen committee” to dethrone the Catholicos. It is simply absurd that someone who is extremely incompetent in governing the country is trying to interfere in the internal affairs of the Church and decide who will be the next Catholicos. It does not concern him at all.

Naturally, all this is a gross violation of the Constitution of Armenia, which stipulates the separation of the state and the church. However, Pashinyan persistently tries to impose his will by establishing an authoritarian one-man rule. In early January, when Catholicos Garegin II and a committee of six bishops deposed Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, leader of the Masyatsotn Diocese, Pashinyan urged him to reject the church’s internal decision and go to court. Then, on January 27, the church administration declared him disorganized.

The court illegally ordered the Catholicos not to depose Saroyan and forbade Garegin II to leave the country, depriving him and the six bishops of the Supreme Spiritual Council of the opportunity to participate in the most important episcopal meeting in Austria. Despite this, the meeting was held, and 25 bishops from around the world expressed their support to the Catholicos of All Armenians, condemning Pashinyan’s government’s prosecution of the Church.

The preliminary session of the trial of the Catholicos and the other six bishops is scheduled for August 7, at 16:00, at the Vagharshapat (Echmiadzin) court. This is an unprecedented phenomenon, when a criminal prosecution is carried out against the Catholicos of All Armenians in the independent Republic of Armenia. During the centuries of rule, neither the Ottoman Empire nor Tsarist Russia ever put any Catholicos on trial. The only exception was the assassination of Khoren I the Catholicos, who was strangled to death by the agents of the Soviet secret services on April 6, 1938.

Taking the Catholicos of All Armenians to court is a clear illegality and gross abuse of authority by Pashinyan’s government. For more than 1,700 years, Armenians around the world have been boasting that Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity. However, their own government now treats the church leadership as criminals.

The only good news is the statement of Catholicos Garegin II that he will not resign even if he is arrested and imprisoned. He will continue to serve as a legitimate Catholicos even in prison.

During the last eight years, Pashinyan’s government has implemented a number of unprecedented anti-church steps.

– In 2018, it canceled the diplomatic passports of the clergy.

– Removed the subject “History of the Armenian Church” from the curriculum of public schools.

– In 2024, he stopped the service of chaplains in penitentiary institutions.

– Terminated the service of clergy in the Armed Forces.

– He plans to confiscate all the buildings and property of the church.

– The security forces conducted a search in the area of ​​St. Etchmiadzin to arrest the archbishop.

– Arrested and detained several high-ranking clergymen on false charges.

– Violating the regulations of the National Assembly, the authorities did not allow the Catholicos to say a word of blessing at the opening of the session on August 2, 2026.

– Collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes and fines from the Church for the purchase of candles by believers, despite the fact that the Church is a non-profit organization and those who buy candles are actually making a donation.

Judge Hakob Manukyan is obliged to drop the charges against the Catholicos and six bishops on August 7, so as not to become an accomplice of Pashinyan’s crimes. Otherwise, Judge Manukyan will become an object of international ridicule when the European Court of Human Rights finally records that his verdict violated the Constitution of Armenia.

Meanwhile, the Armenians of both Armenia and the Diaspora should wake up from the long-term stupor and raise their voice of protest. If they continue to be silent even after the arrest and imprisonment of the Catholicos, then they do not deserve to have either the Church or the Motherland.

Harut Sassounyan
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

Translation by Ruzanna Avagyan

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