"We will use all levers": Pashinyan announces legislative measures to remove Garegin II

The Armenian authorities intend to employ legislative and other mechanisms to secure the departure of Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II from his post.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this at a briefing in the government.

According to him, a special commission will be created for this purpose, which will deal with the provisions of the scandalous report on the Armenian Apostolic Church prepared at the authorities' request. Based on the results of its work, legislative changes are expected to be introduced.

"An investigative commission will be created that will go through all these points. As a result of this, there must be legislative changes under which the seizure of the Church must be ended. And the faithful congregation must become a full participant in the governance of the Church," Pashinyan said.

The document titled "On the crisis that has arisen in the Armenian Apostolic Church as a result of the activities of the de facto head of the Church and a number of high-ranking clergymen, and the ways to resolve it" was presented on September 24, 2026, by the Center for Public Relations and Information of the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia.

Pashinyan stated that believers should receive a more significant role in the governance of the Church, including in the appointment of rectors. According to him, such an order corresponds to the traditions of the AAC, unlike "making decisions through KGB agents."

At the same time, the prime minister emphasized that the authorities intend to act on the basis of the Constitution, according to which the relations between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the state are regulated by law.

Separately, Pashinyan touched upon the issue of the Church's financial transparency.

"Believers must know how many kopecks came into the Church, how much was spent and why," he said.

The prime minister also again demanded the departure of Garegin II from the post of Catholicos of All Armenians.

"Who is he to sit in our holy of holies," Pashinyan declared.

Relations between the Armenian authorities and the Armenian Apostolic Church sharply escalated after Pashinyan's critical remarks addressed to the clergy and his initiative to change the procedure for electing the Catholicos.

Amid the conflict, the heads of three dioceses were arrested — Archbishops Bagrat Galstanyan and Mikael Ajapahyan, Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, as well as the head of the chancellery of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Arshak Khachatryan.

A new round of confrontation occurred at the end of November 2025, when a group of AAC hierarchs called on Garegin II to voluntarily renounce the throne. In January 2026, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed with ten bishops the so-called "road map for the improvement" of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Later, the Investigative Committee of Armenia opened a criminal case after Garegin II's decision to defrock one of these bishops — Gevorg Saroyan (secular name Arman Saroyan).

On August 20, 2026, the Armenian government approved a program of activities through 2031, in which the goals concerning the AAC include the removal of Garegin II and the adoption of a new charter of the Church.

Source: Sputnik Armenia