Every morning for the past ten days, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has started his day with a post on social media about whether Catholicos-Patriarch Karekin II has an illegitimate child. On the morning of June 9, the prime minister published his latest post about the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholicos of All Armenians, his 18th post on the subject in the past 11 days.
Pashinyan claims that Karekin II has broken his monastic vow of celibacy and has a child. He adds that if the Catholicos tries to deny this, he will present evidence: “Karekin II has violated his voluntary vow of celibacy and has a child. This is a fact, and if Karekin II tries to deny it, I will prove it in the necessary format. Accordingly, according to the canon of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Karekin II cannot be a bishop, an archbishop, cannot be elected, and cannot be Catholicos. Ktrich Nersisyan (the secular names of the patriarch, ed.) must vacate the patriarchate.”
“As a believing follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church, as a person who reverently treats every valuable, relic, icon and stone of our spiritual heritage, I declare: The Holy Armenian Apostolic Church must elect a new Catholicos, whose morality will be checked and confirmed before the election. I call on the believing followers of the church to unite around the cause of vacating the supreme throne in a Christian and loving manner, and for the election of a truly holy cleric as Catholicos of all Armenians.”
Two hours later, the prime minister published a suggestion as to why the Catholicos did not answer his question about whether he had a child or not, whether he had broken his vow, and what Karekin II’s silence meant: “To remain silent means to agree and to descend from the holy throne yourself. To tell the truth also means to descend. To lie leads to the same,” he wrote.
The attack on the Catholicos began on May 29, when during a regular government meeting, Pashinyan said that churches had been “desecrated, turned into back rooms,” that is, into basements, places for collecting garbage. The reaction of the clergy was relatively moderate. Bishop Arshak Khachatryan, head of the Holy See’s office in Echmiadzin, even stated ironically that it was positive that the prime minister had finally realized his responsibility for the protection of holy places.
The next morning, Pashinyan published a post that shocked Armenian society: “Dear bishop, go away, continue to fuck your uncle’s wife, what do you have to do with us?” The comments on the post expressed bewilderment that such a text could have been written by the prime minister. There were even suggestions that his account had been hacked. Minutes later, however, Pashinyan published a new post: “Is it necessary to face the question: how many of our bishops have remained faithful to the vow of celibacy?”
During the day, Pashinyan made four more posts, all related to the violation of the vow of celibacy by clergy. At the end of the day, Pashinyan went even further, stating that the Republic of Armenia should have a decisive role in the election of the Catholicos, and candidates should pass a morality check. However, this statement contradicts the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, according to which the church and the state are separated and the government has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of the church.
On the same day, Anna Hakobyan, Pashinyan’s wife, also published a post accusing the clergy of pedophilia, a crime punishable by the Criminal Code: “The country’s main pedophiles go crazy at the word basement. Well, that’s how it should be — after all, basements are the dark corners of the lives of fanatics in black robes. It is in them that depraved acts take place that no longer even arouse the anger of the believing people. The people, long reconciled, are dragging the country’s main perverted maniacs on their backs.”
On June 2, the Armenian Apostolic Church officially responded to Pashinyan’s words. After a meeting of the Supreme Spiritual Council, a statement was published: “Nikol Pashinyan’s statements grossly violate basic human rights and offend the religious feelings of believers. This hostile behavior towards the Church is clearly dictated by political goals and is an attempt to belittle the authority of the Armenian Church in the country and internationally, to silence its voice and reduce its public influence. The behavior of the Prime Minister and his anti-church actions have destructive consequences and pose a threat to Armenian statehood and the unity of the people both in the homeland and in the diaspora. These reprehensible actions serve the interests of external forces hostile to Armenia and coincide with the slanderous campaign of the Azerbaijani propaganda machine.”
Illustrative Photo by Doctor Unface: https://www.pexels.com/photo/historic-armenian-church-in-marmarashen-32578309/
