The priest, Aram Asatrian, was stripped of his rank on Tuesday after repeatedly denouncing the top clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church amid Pashinian’s efforts to depose its supreme head, Catholicos Garegin II. He publicly pledged allegiance to Pashinian right after the announcement of the punitive measure.
Asatrian, who has served at the medieval Hovanavank monastery 30 kilometers northwest of Yerevan, again refused to leave it when several clergymen from the regional church diocese went there to hand him a written defrocking order.
“As a priest, you cannot be where it is proper for priests to be,” one of them told him.
“I don’t respect the body that has sent this paper,” Asatrian replied before his two dozen or so supporters forced the priests to leave the church.
They went on to attack, threaten and swear at journalists present there. An RFE/RL reporter and cameraman were jostled by some of Asatrian’s supporters in and outside the 13th century church. A group of police officers standing nearby did not intervene despite witnessing the ugly scenes. Armenian law makes it a crime to obstruct the work of journalists.
Asatrian began challenging the leadership of the Armenian Church more than a month ago. He alleged, in particular, that he was forced to attend opposition rallies held in 2021.
Law-enforcement authorities used the allegations to round up on October 15 13 other clergymen from the church diocese in the Aragatsotn province encompassing Hovanavank. They pressed criminal charges against two of them, notably the diocese primate, Bishop Mkrtich Proshian. Both Proshian and the other jailed priest reject the accusations as politically motivated. After an initial denial, Asatrian, who has been labelled as “Judas” by fellow priests and government critics, admitted giving testimony to investigators before the arrests.
The defrocked priest reaffirmed on Thursday plans to hold a mass at Hovanavank on Sunday. Pashinian similarly reiterated on Wednesday that he will attend it.