Lead: Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan supports Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s initiative to amend church canon law, stating there are no hindrances.
Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan, speaking to journalists after a government meeting, addressed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s proposal to make changes to the canon law of the Armenian Apostolic Church. She asked rhetorically: “Why shouldn’t he initiate? Is there anything preventing it? No.” She added that as a follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the prime minister has the rights and opportunities to express his opinion and take initiatives, including this one.
When asked whether she would attend the spiritual gathering organized by Nikol Pashinyan in Echmiadzin to “free the Catholicosate,” Avanesyan replied, “I’ll think about it. I’ll decide when the time comes, and you will know.”
Regarding her suggestion to file a group lawsuit against Archbishop Bagrat for “insulting the public”, Avanesyan acknowledged that it perhaps should have been filed earlier. “Regarding indecent remarks toward the people, many of us—including me—feel offended. The person is in custody; maybe that made us more forgiving. But it turned out he sues easily, and overall, these are attempts to suppress freedom of speech,” she said.
In a Facebook post, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan outlined his envisioned reform at the Mother See: to “free the Catholicosate” from the current Catholicos, appoint a morally upright priest as acting catholicos without eligibility to the throne, and postpone new Catholicos elections until the “canon law” of the Armenian Apostolic Church is confirmed.
