Pashinyan and a group of bishops Present church “Reformation”
Program Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and ten bishops demanding the Catholicos’s resignation have issued a joint statement. According to the statement, the first phase of the program involves the “promotion of the reformation agenda.”
Following this, the program plans for the election of a Locum Tenens for the Catholicosate, followed by the adoption of a new charter for the Church.
The statement notes that “mechanisms for the preservation of rooted principles, financial transparency, and ensuring the integrity of the clergy” must be established, as well as the election of the Catholicos of All Armenians.
A coordinating council will also be formed to handle the organizational aspects of the program’s implementation.
The statement was adopted at the Prime Minister’s residence. According to the Prime Minister, today’s Christmas Eve Liturgy at Saint Sarkis Church, as well as the Christmas Liturgy expected at Saint Gregory the Illuminator Church on January 6, will be important milestones on the path to implementing the program.
The statement was signed by Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America; Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan, Vicar General of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese; Archbishop Abraham Mkrtchyan, Primate of the Diocese of Vayots Dzor; Archbishop Arakel Karamyan, Primate of the Diocese of Kotayk; Archbishop Sion Adamyan, Primate of the Diocese of Armavir; Archbishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of the Baltic States; Bishop Anushavan Zhamkochyan, Dean of Saint Gregory the Illuminator Mother Church; Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan, Primate of the Diocese of Artsakh; Bishop Artak Tigranyan, Dean of Monasteries of the Mother See; and Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, Primate of the Diocese of Masyatsotn.