YEREVAN. - The information spread by representatives of NGOs that there are 300 thousand followers of different sects in Armenia is untrue, father Artenyan told a press conference on Saturday.

The priest argued that based on these incorrect data, society began to express indignation with Armenian Apostolic Church and accuse it of inaction.

“AAC is doing everything it has done for centuries. I am not suggesting that the Church has no disadvantages but we try to do everything possible to meet the spiritual needs of people,” said the priest.

According to him, the announced number of followers of various sects is greatly exaggerated and there is no official information at all.

“Some NGOs have decided that there are 300-350 thousand sectarians in Armenia. At the same time they claim that all these “sects” do not belong to apostolic faith.

 That is, these 300 thousand people include Catholic Armenians, Yezidis, Assyrians, Russians, Greeks and followers of other churches, which the AAC does not consider sects. According to official statistics, 180 thousand Catholic Armenians and 40 thousand Yezidis live in Armenia. Therefore, the number of sectarians makes about 100 thousand people,” he said.