The ten bishops and archbishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church who have “pledged allegiance” to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have issued a new statement calling for active measures.

The statement reads as follows, in particular:

“Dear fellow clergy brothers, faithful and believing people:

The dangerous developments taking place around our Holy Armenian Apostolic Church in recent times, about which we have expressed numerous concerns both in our individual conversations with the Catholicos of All Armenians [Karekin II] both at the assembly level and in the public domain, have now crossed the borderline where they can cause irreparable harm to our church, the state, and the faithful people.

The assemblies addressing these concerns have essentially been directed by the Catholicos of All Armenians and have not served to resolve the problems, which once again proves the course of the one-man, arbitrary, and flawed management by Catholicos Karekin II over the years.

The time has come for us—the clergy and the faithful—to be able to be honest with each other and to admit that over the past years our voice has not only been unheard in the church, but we have had no significant, decisive influence in the realization of the church’s mission.

Therefore, the time has come, for the sake of our cherished Holy Etchmiadzin, also the Catholicosate of All Armenians, and our faithful Armenian people worldwide, to express a clear and decisive position regarding the challenges facing our church, not to be constrained before various difficulties and pressures, and, for the love of God, to stop the daily looming collapse of the Mother See.

The current dire condition of the Mother Church also poses a risk to our national and state security interests.

Before history, each of us is accountable for our decisions and deeds.

We call on our fellow clergy brothers and our faithful people, both in Armenia and in the diaspora:

to show a united will, join us, and raise your rightful voice of protest against this destructive, anti-canonical course deliberately leading to undermining the church’s reputation and authority, completely rejecting all efforts and attempts to serve the Armenian [Apostolic] Church to foreign interests.

Dear clergy brothers, faithful people of Armenia, on December 18 of this year at 17:00, come and join us at the spiritual center of all Armenians, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, WITH A JUST CALL TO RETIRE the Catholicos Of All Armenians, Karekin UII, which has now become an urgent necessity. May Almighty God bless our nationwide mission and make real the years-long dream and desire of clergy and the faithful [of the Armenian Apostolic Church].”