“Our prayers at Hovhannavank were called ‘desecration’ by Ktrich Nersisyan in an official statement. That is not desecration. It is that the person occupying the Catholicos’ throne has violated the vow of celibacy and has a child; according to some reports, has children,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a video he posted on Facebook.

“The desecration is that Ktrich Nersisyan [i.e. the secular name of serving Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II,] has led Armenia’s spiritual life into a dead end and, in effect, turned the Catholicos’ activities into exports, imports, money, distribution of money, buying and selling.

The desecration is that we have in the status of Catholicos a person who does not believe in God.

We will continue our prayers at Hovhannavank [church], then also at the Mother See [of Holy Etchmiadzin],” added the Armenian PM.