Armenian PM’s Attack on Church Leader Sparks National Crisis

A fierce confrontation is escalating between the Armenian government and the influential Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), eroding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s public support. Recent polling indicates that over the past year, trust in the Prime Minister has dropped by 8%, while confidence in the Church has surged by 10%, highlighting a significant shift in public sentiment amid the growing political-religious rift.

The conflict has been fueled by top officials, including Parliament Vice Speaker Ruben Rubinyan, who openly called on the AAC leadership to dismiss its head, Catholicos Karekin II. Prime Minister Pashinyan has personally spearheaded the campaign, accusing the Catholicos of violating his vow of celibacy by fathering a child. Despite the gravity of the accusation, no evidence has been presented. Pashinyan has further intensified the pressure by threatening to organize a mass rally in Vagharshapat, the city housing the Church’s administrative center, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, to physically “expel” the Catholicos.

The Armenian Apostolic Church has decried the government’s actions as a direct and unlawful interference in its autonomy. In an official statement, the Church administration condemned the Prime Minister’s rhetoric as an attempt to provoke violence and a “lawless, anti-church campaign.” Defending the Catholicos, Bishop Gevorg Saroyan portrayed him not as a corrupt figure, but as a great leader nicknamed “the Builder” for his contributions, drawing parallels to the revered 7th-century Patriarch Nerses III.

Support for the Church has emerged from various influential quarters. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation “Dashnaktsutyun” party characterized Pashinyan’s calls for a rally as a preparation for serious criminal acts, demanding that the Prosecutor General’s Office open a criminal case against him. Senior leadership from the Tashir Group of Companies, a major business conglomerate, also voiced its defense of the Catholicos, with a vice president stating, “It is hard to believe that Etchmiadzin is about to be attacked not by Mongol-Tatars or Ottoman Turks, but by our own countrymen.”

Recent data from the International Republican Institute (IRI) places the crisis in sharp statistical relief. The Armenian army remains the most trusted institution with 72% approval, but the Church follows with a strong 58% approval against 35% disapproval. In stark contrast, Prime Minister Pashinyan’s ratings have plummeted, with only 38% of respondents expressing trust in him, while 58% do not.

Political analyst Karen Igityan suggests that Pashinyan’s declining popularity is a direct consequence of his campaign against the church. Igityan asserts that the Prime Minister possesses neither the legal authority as a state leader nor the canonical right as a parishioner to initiate the removal of the Catholicos. “Whether he succeeds this time depends on the reaction of the Armenian people,” Igityan noted, adding that the Prime Minister’s actions have fueled speculation among some that he is acting under the influence of foreign powers like Turkey and Azerbaijan.