The entire law enforcement and judicial system of Armenia is engaged in carrying out illegal anti-church instructions, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin has noted in a statement it released Friday.

“News websites serving the [Armenian] authorities have circulated recordings of phone conversations allegedly attributable to His Grace Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan. In the context of the authorities’ actions unleashed against the [Armenian Apostolic] Church — including, in recent days, the detention of dozens of clergymen and the taking of two clergy to imprisonment — it is already evident who is behind this latest act.

In these days, the entire law enforcement and judicial system [of Armenia] is engaged in carrying out illegal anti-church instructions. The purpose of circulating such expressions allegedly attributable to the Catholicos of All Armenians [Karekin II] is to discredit and incite enmity toward the [Armenian Apostolic] Church and [its] clergy. The violation of the confidentiality of telephone conversations is itself a crime and a separate topic to which, we hope, the law enforcement bodies will give an appropriate response,” reads the statement by the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.