Father Takhmazian’s case is currently under review by the disciplinary commission of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. He previously said: “I join the just voice of Father Aram, for I can no longer remain silent. In Father Aram’s words I see the voice of truth, not a call for rebellion. Yet the voice of justice is punished, while the blasphemous darkness under a priest’s robe is welcomed.”
In the past two weeks, Pashinian also attended Sunday services at the Hovhannavank Monastery in Ohanavan, led by Stepan Asatrian, formerly Father Aram, who has been defrocked by the Mother See. The Church has prohibited Asatrian from performing religious rites and described the Sunday liturgies he conducts as a “soul-destroying enterprise.”
The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin has accused Pashinian of attempting to “split the Church” by supporting defrocked and splinter priests.
Following four days of sessions, the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church issued a statement on Friday condemning what it described as “illegal pressures” and “unlawful persecution” targeting the Church and its clergy.
The statement comes amid months of growing tensions between the Church and the State, which have included arrests and prosecutions of several senior clerics, including two archbishops and one bishop.
Pashinian has repeatedly accused Catholicos Garegin II of violating his oath of celibacy by fathering a child and has called for his resignation and broader church reform. He and his political allies have warned that, otherwise, the Catholicos, whom they refer to by his lay name, Ktrich Nersisian, could face popular protest.
Last Sunday, Armenian law enforcement authorities arrested Garegin II’s brother and nephew on suspicion of obstructing the election campaign of a pro-government candidate in the Vagharshapat community, which includes Etchmiadzin. Critics of Pashinian condemned the arrests, describing them as part of the government pressure on the supreme church leader. The community is set to hold a closely contested local ballot on November 16.
Pashinian’s detractors have also claimed that he is targeting the Church “to please Azerbaijan,” which has consistently criticized the Armenian Apostolic Church and its supreme leader over their stance on the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians and their former leaders currently jailed in Baku. Pashinian and his allies have rejected these allegations.