Bishop Vrtanes comments on the meeting with Pashinyan but does not clarify whether the steps taken against the Catholicos were discussed
Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan, Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, commented two days later on his meeting with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan. His statement was published on the Facebook page of the Artsakh Diocese.
The Bishop noted that he was aware of the criticism surrounding his meeting, especially among Artsakh Armenians. He emphasized that he met with the Prime Minister as a member of the Episcopal Commission of the Mother See and that the meeting “has no connection whatsoever with the Artsakh issue or matters concerning the Artsakh Armenian community.”
At the same time, in his statement, Bishop Vrtanes neither denies nor confirms suspicions that the “ideology” recently put forward by the authorities against the Catholicos of All Armenians was on the meeting’s agenda. He only stated that he “will always stand by my flock in the struggle for its violated rights.” It should be noted that the meeting with Pashinyan caused discontent among the Artsakh Armenian community on social networks; users are perplexed as to why the Diocesan Primate met with a Prime Minister who had previously called for the dissolution of the Artsakh Diocese.
Let us recall that on November 27, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced a meeting with eight clergymen. Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan was among them.
However, the latter’s statement does not clarify what specific issues were discussed during the meeting, leaving a number of questions unanswered.