After the removal of Ktrich Nersisyan [i.e. the birth name of Catholics of All Armenians Karekin II], the second—A—point of the roadmap for the renewal of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church that I proposed concerns the fact that the church’s new charter must address the rules of integrity of the clergyman of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church and the guarantees for their adherence, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated during a live broadcast on Facebook.

“This is extremely important, because today, in essence, there are no rules for the clergy’s integrity in the Republic of Armenia. That is, we do not know what standards, according to church order, a clergyman must meet in his daily activity and life.

Moreover, this applies both to married and celibate priests. I believe that the episcopal class, the clergy class should also discuss and reach a decision on one matter: whether the institution of celibacy is preserved or not preserved. If it is preserved, whether it is an absolutely mandatory condition for being a bishop, or whether there can be both celibate and married bishops.

In addition to this, if the institution of celibacy is preserved, it must also be clearly clarified what this means, because in recent months we realize that there are attempts to give various interpretations, and there must be very clear answers to the questions.

In any case, I believe that in these matters the clergy themselves should discuss and decide. The problem here is that whatever they discuss and decide, these rules must be publicized and accessible to the public. And secondly, there must also be mechanisms to ensure the adherence to these rules of integrity, compliance with them.

It must be clear which violation of which rule of integrity in the code of conduct that leads to incompatibility with spiritual service, which are the ones that may have milder consequences.

In addition, the public also must also know, in cases where there are specific issues related to a clergyman’s integrity, in case of having facts, in which body those facts can be raised with and where answers to questions can be obtained.

Moreover, this applies both to individuals and to the public, because there are many questions that need answers,” the Armenian PM added, in particular.