Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, during a parliamentary Q&A session, said he plans to attend a liturgy conducted by defrocked priest father Aram Asatryan at Hovhannavank Monastery and "will receive communion from father Aram."
Responding to a question about his decision, Pashinyan explained that one of the core ideas behind his "the Cathedral to the Catholicos" initiative was the difficulty of living a truly spiritual life in Armenia today. “While we speak of the need for a value-based society, the epicenter of those values—our spiritual domain—is polluted,” he said, as reported by Radar Armenia.
He emphasized that recent developments convinced him that Hovhannavank is precisely the place where spiritual harmony can be found. "I want to join the community led by spiritual pastor father Aram Asatryan," the Prime Minister stated.
He noted that Hovhannavank, like many other religious and historical monuments, is under the government's balance sheet. “Many churches have been transferred for use to the Armenian Apostolic Church free of charge. But where spiritual life is absent, and instead we see intrigue, manipulation, groups of ‘fake priests,’ then both the moral and legal grounds exist to return such sites to the public,” Pashinyan added.
The Prime Minister also asserted that the current Catholicos had violated his vow of celibacy and had himself been defrocked. “If a defrocked cleric defrocks someone, then it means father Aram was, on that day, newly anointed by the church—by the people. I will go and receive communion from father Aram,” he said.
Earlier, the Mother See's Information Department announced that Catholicos of All Armenians had defrocked Father Aram Asatryan, removing him from the clergy and designating him as Stepan Asatryan. In response, Asatryan stated that he would still celebrate mass on Sunday, which Pashinyan confirmed he would attend.
