Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has sent a congratulatory message to Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II on his birthday. The message reads as follows, in particular:

"The Armenian Apostolic Holy Church is one of the most important institutions of our people, one of the pillars of our national consciousness, which was created and established as a national spiritual structure due to the decisions made at the state level.

These decisions are turning points in the history of the Armenian people because in the period of the fall of the statehood, the Armenian Apostolic Church became the citadel of our identity, it was the church communities that kept and preserved the dream and drive of our people to have a state again, and our statehood today is the realization of that dream.

And therefore, it is the duty of all of us to preserve and strengthen that dream, to contribute to its strengthening; but all this will not be possible without faith. This is also the mission of the His Holiness to strengthen the citizens' faith in God, statehood, national values, their own strength and future, to encourage the protection of rights and the fulfillment of responsibilities."