The First Blow to Pashinyan: The Church and the Nation Will Never Yield
A fact worth recording: since 2018, the first defeat of Nikol Pashinyan in his struggle against the Armenians occurred in the processes initiated against the Church.
The initiation of a criminal case against the Catholicos is evidence of that defeat: the agenda of his dismissal was replaced with criminal prosecution. Prior to launching an open attack on the Church, Nikol Pashinyan had not left any self-imposed task unaccomplished.
In fact, the failure in the struggle against the Church may become the beginning of his own end.
Of course, we are in no haste to fall into euphoria or to celebrate victory. However, on the eve of the elections, it is extremely important to realize that through combined efforts it is possible to secure the final defeat of the incumbent authorities.
History offers many examples of rulers obsessed with power who initiated a struggle against the Church, only for it to become the starting point of their overthrow.
It is important to bear in mind that we are dealing not only with Nikol Pashinyan and Serzh Sargsyan. In their persons, we are confronting the Western and Turkish special services. Consequently, they will not surrender easily in their struggle against the Church.
The confrontation with the Church is not confined to public statements by spiritual leaders. Many clerics operate under the direction of Mikael Minasyan [the former Ambassador to the Vatican and Serzh Sargsyan’s son-in-law]. They have not yet openly opposed the Catholicos, preferring to present themselves as supporters, but this is merely a tactic.
They will come out against him as soon as they are certain that the Catholicos’s dismissal is achievable. Otherwise, they will continue their subversive activities from within, under the guise of supportive rhetoric.
Among the clergy associated with Minasyan is the recently appointed Primate of the Masyatsotn Diocese, Father Ruben.
In recent days, the so-called associates of “Mishik” (Mikael Minasyan), represented by Father Ruben and the former Ambassador of Armenia to Italy, initiated the creation of an organization called the “All-Armenian United Alliance,” which, despite its appealing slogans, is in fact aimed at undermining the unity of the opposition.
Father Ruben is the same individual who publicly supported Minasyan’s associate, who slandered the Catholicos in 2022, claiming that he was a “Russian agent.”
It was that same person who attempted to persuade seminary students that Armenia would form a more advantageous alliance with Persia if the Russians had not entered the region, and so on.
It is hoped that the Church will take measures against those who act against the Catholicos from within.
Perhaps the time has truly come for the bells of all churches in Armenia and the Diaspora to ring — not as a political call, not in the interests of any party, but as an alarm to awaken the people, to rise and defend the Armenian Apostolic Church from Pashinyan’s outrage. This is no longer a political matter, nor can it be viewed as the Church’s interference in policy. It concerns a threat to the very existence of the national spiritual institution, which has become an existential issue for the Armenian people. When the pillars of centuries-old religion and identity are under threat, silence amounts to complicity. If ever there was a moment for the bells to ring as a pan-national tocsin, that moment is now.
