The daily Joghhovurd of Armenia writes as follows, in particular: For the authorities, especially for [PM] Nikol Pashinyan, the number-one agenda item continues to be “removing” the Catholicos [of All Armenians, Karekin II] from the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

Pashinyan’s team will continue in every possible way to discredit the Catholicos and his close clergy by constantly summoning them for questioning until the pressure reaches the Catholicos himself.

We learned from government sources that they have “revealed” a serious omission on the part of the Catholicos: that during his 26-year reign he last convened the National Ecclesiastical Assembly in 2017, whereas he should have done so every few years. According to our sources, during these gatherings all clergy discuss the [Armenian Apostolic] church’s internal and external issues.

It is this assembly that elects the Catholicos of All Armenians, adopts decisions on key national-ecclesiastical matters, hears the reports of the Catholicos, the Church Representative Assembly, the Supreme Spiritual Council, and the commissions he forms, and, when necessary, makes decisions.

And although this is purely an intra-church matter and an internal governance issue, Nikol Pashinyan has decided to consider it as a new pressure tool—demanding that the Catholicos explain why the assemblies have not been held since 2017. In short, pressures on the [Armenian Apostolic] church and the Catholicos, especially in the context of intra-church issues, will increase further in the coming period.