Armenian Bishop: In Our Country, Defending the Church Has Become a Crime

ETCHMAIDZIN — On June 29, 2025, at the Saint Etchmiadzin Catherdal, Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan led prayers for the release of imprisoned clergy and for the strengthening of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the face of ongoing persecution by the Pashinyan government. During the service, he addressed the faithful with a statement regarding the escalating campaign by Armenian authorities against the Church, as reported by News.am.

"The authorities' anti-clerical campaign is advancing, marked by increasingly novel and unprecedented actions," Archbishop Nathan said. "We painfully remember the events that took place at the Primatial See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Our brothers—Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan—were illegally arrested."

According to Archbishop Nathan, defending the Church in Armenia has essentially become a criminal act, and the clergy urgently need the prayerful support of the faithful.

The Archbishop emphasized that the pressure on the Armenian Apostolic Church has become systematic, involving criminal prosecutions, arrests, and large-scale searches.

On June 25, during widespread raids and arrests, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, head of the Tavush Diocese, was detained. The court later ordered his two-month imprisonment.

On June 28, the Yerevan court also ordered the two-month detention of Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, head of the Shirak Diocese, who faces charges of "public calls for the usurpation of power." His lawyer, Ara Zograbyan, maintains that the case is baseless and politically motivated.

These events unfold amid an intensifying conflict between Armenian state authorities and the Armenian Apostolic Church. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has accused Catholicos Karekin II, the head of the Church, of participating in a conspiracy—an allegation the Catholicos firmly rejects as slander, and for which Pashinyan has not provided evidence.

The arrest of Archbishop Ajapahyan on June 28 has further escalated the crisis, as he now stands accused of inciting the overthrow of the government. The Church’s leadership continues to call for prayer, unity, and steadfastness in the face of what it perceives as a politically driven campaign to silence the voice of the Armenian Church.

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