Fr. Vrtanes Baghalyan, pastor of St. John Church in Byurakan, voiced strong opposition to what he called anti-church repression, warning that neither diaspora primates nor most Armenian priests would obey a government-appointed Catholicos. He spoke to reporters in the courtyard of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, as reported by Panorama.am .
“If even a Catholicos is arrested and replaced at the order of the Prime Minister, the diaspora diocesan leaders will not comply. I can say confidently that most priests in Armenia won’t comply either, including myself,” he stated.
According to Baghalyan, the current pressures against the Church are orchestrated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, the spiritual leader of Muslims of the Caucasus.
“The arrests of Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, and Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan were no coincidence,” he added, calling them devoted leaders of the Church.
He also rejected any concept of a “dishonorable peace” amid the continued imprisonment of Artsakh’s military and political leadership in Baku and the unresolved fate of its holy sites.
“We don’t want, nor are we prepared to accept, any dishonorable peace imposed under these conditions, or unconstitutional interference by the authorities in Church affairs,” he said.
Baghalyan criticized Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent actions, stating: “Was he receiving bishops and archbishops in government buildings as an ordinary believer? Of course not. Was he, as a believer, sending police into Etchmiadzin? Or allowing Stepan Asatryan, a known traitor and informer, to act on his own at Hovhannavank? Certainly not.”
The arrest of Archbishops Mikael Ajapahyan, Bagrat Galstanyan, and Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan has raised alarm within the Church amid growing political-religious tensions.
Previously, a group of senior bishops and archbishops accused Catholicos Karekin II of covering up the conduct of Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, citing leaked videos. They also claimed Karekin II had broken his spiritual oath. Prime Minister Pashinyan later met with the signatories and supported their stance.
