Etchmiadzin hierarchy breached the constitution.

Vaհe H Apelian 

Much has been said about the turmoil between the State of Armenia and the Armenian Apostolic Church. We all know by now that the chasm transcends the principal individuals. Although naturally, the prime minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government, and Catholicos Karekin II and his clerical administration play decisive roles in the matter, which, more than anything else, is a breach of Armenia’s constitution.

The latest amended constitution of Armenia in 2015, which ushered the country from presidential to parliamentary form of governance, specify that the “religious organizations shall be separate from the State.” That provision is specified in the Article 17 and it reads as follows:

Article 17. The State and Religious Organizations

1. The freedom of activities of religious organizations shall be guaranteed in the Republic of Armenia.

2. Religious organizations shall be separate from the State.

The constitution also recognizes the special status of the Armenian Apostolic Church and calls it a holy church and a national church. The constitution places on the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church an extraordinary trust for the preservation of national Armenian identity. Those provisions are spelled out in Article 18 of the Armenian Constitution which reads as follows:

Article 18. The Armenian Apostolic Holy Church

1. The Republic of Armenia shall recognize the exclusive mission of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, as a national church, in the spiritual life of the Armenian people, in the development of their national culture and preservation of their national identity.

2. The relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church may be regulated by law.

A serious breach has come about between the State and the Church relations as prescribed in the Armenian Constitution. Who brought about that breach of the constitutional contract? Was it the church? Or was it the State? I am sure each has its own opinion. 

As far as I am concerned, it was the Etchmiadzin church hierarchy that breached its constitutional contract. It started with Catholicos Karekin II. After Armenia was defeated and capitulated in the disastrous second Artsakh, or the catastrophic 44-Day War, Catholicos called for the resignation of the prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, whom the citizens of Armenia had elected in December 2019.  The prime minister resigned but remained a candidate, The citizens of Armenia reelected him in June 2021 general election. The catholicos did not rescind his call for the PM’s resignation, even after December 2021 general election in which the citizens of Armenia, with an overwhelming majority (54%),  voted for Nikol Pashinyan over its combined opposition forces that hardly mustered half of the winning party’s votes. On the contrary. Catholicos Karekin II qualified his call pontifical – Hayrabedagan. That is to say open ended and remains in force until the PM’s resignation is brought about. Not only the Catholicos did not rescind his call, he gave approval to his high-ranking church officials, Archbishops Achabahyan and Galstanyan, to wage an outright insurrection against the democratically elected government calling it a holy struggle, Srpazan Baykar,– Սրբազան Պայքար. Archbishop Galstanyan in turn, during the insurection, gave a two day ultimatum to the PM Nikol Pashinyan to resign, under the force of his holy strife.  But that is a breach of the constitution.

 It is also becoming evident that an endemic corruption has taken hold in the Etchmiadzin hierarchy. It does not surprise me. An institution, be it a church, that disregards the constitution and takes matters into its own hand,  is bound for corruption. 

But I look at it in this context as well. After the fall of the Armenian Cilician Kingdom in 1375, Armenia declared intendance on September 21, 1991. We have been running our own state for the past 34 years, 2 months, and 7 days, to this day. It is expected that a new state such as ours, will have its trials and tribulations that we need to overcome. I am confident that we will. The collective wisdom of the citizens of Armenia will see that the constitution is observed, as long as the democratic process is maintained. 

 The Armenian Apostolic Holy Church in Armenia, may emulate  its two progenies, the Armenian Catholic Church and the Armenian Evangelical Church that render inordinately much service to the Armenian nation  and stand by the government the people of Armenia have elected.

But we should also refrain from a false narrative that is being postulated and circulated.

That false narrative is an out of context narrative goes this way. I quote from Horizon weekly, “At a moment when Armenia is still reeling from historic losses, forced concessions, and a humiliating erosion of state sovereignty, the government of Nikol Pashinyan is intensifying its attack on the one national institution that has carried the Armenian nation through statelessness, genocide, dispersion, and exile.” 

 It is a false narrative because sovereignty of a state cannot be upheld without observing the principles, the law and order spelled out in its constitution. At his moment, Armenian statehood is threatened no less, if not more, from internal hegemony, than external. 

And finally, what of an Armenian state, if it does not uphold the principles of democratic order it prophesies and does not observe  its constitution?