Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan intends to pursue legislative amendments regulating relations between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the state of Armenia. Pashinyan announced this at Thursday’s press briefing.

Responding to the question of what the purpose was of the recently published report on the Armenian Apostolic Church, which contains references to various sources, but no evidence of Russian influence, as previously claimed—although Russia is mentioned more than 30 times, Pashinyan stated that the references were provided “to show that we [i.e. the Armenian authorities] did not create the crisis, you have created it. We are not the authors of the crisis, as some are trying to present. It exists independently of us.”

According to Pashinyan, the purpose of the aforesaid report is to show the illegitimacy of some bodies of the Armenian Apostolic Church. As per the premier, the Armenian Apostolic Church is occupied, because this church is not the Catholicos or the bishops, but the faithful Armenian people, who today are isolated from the governance of this church.

Also, Pashinyan announced that an investigative committee will be set up on the raised matter, in the person of the bishops as agents of influence. Moreover, the Armenian prime minister considers it necessary to make legislative amendments that “will eliminate the occupation of the [Armenian Apostolic] Church so that the people fully participate in the governance of the Church.”

“Ktrich Nersisyan [i.e. the secular name of Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II] does not decide, but the flock. KGB agents should not appoint priests. And we will go to these solutions, also based on the constitution of Armenia. Relations are regulated by law,” Pashinyan added.

Also, premier of Armenia said that there should be no unpaid priests, and every penny that enters the Armenian Apostolic Church should be accounted for: how much money was received and what it was spent on. Priests should benefit from social guarantees, he added.

“Not to mention the fact that Ktrich Nersisyan must step down [as Catholicos], and the [Armenian] state will use all the levers for this. Who is he to sit in the Mother See [of Holy Etchmiadzin]? He is nobody,” Pashinyan declared, using a series of qualifications that were intended to emphasize the high degree of sacrilege committed by the Catholicos who “seized the [Armenian Apostolic] Church.”

Pashinyan promised that both as the prime minister of Armenia and as a follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church, he will do everything possible to remove Karekin II in his capacity as the Catholicos of All Armenians.