According to the decision of the Church-Representative Assembly dated June 6–8, 2017, the election of the 21 members of the Supreme Spiritual Council (SSC) of the Armenian Apostolic Church is carried out by geographical regions: 2 lay persons from Armenia, 2 from the Eastern Hemisphere, and 1 from the Western Hemisphere. This is noted in a statement which the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin released Thursday.

“Of the 21 members, two—the Vicar General of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese and the Chancellor of the Mother See—are [SSC] members ex officio. Of the remaining 19, 12 are elected, and 7 are appointed by the Catholicos of All Armenians.

For ecclesiastical elected members, the quota has been set at 2 persons from Armenia and 5 from the Diaspora. Thus, SSC members are included according to the size of geographical regions and dioceses.

Taking into account that after 2017 it has not been possible to convene the Church-Representative Assembly for objective reasons, His Holiness the Catholicos, in accordance with Article 7 of the SSC charter, has made a change to the members of the makeup of the SSC. Changes in the SSC makeup have taken place due to changes in the leadership circumstance of the ecclesiastical members, when the new diocesan primates have replaced their predecessors by force of law, as in the cases of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of the USA, the Armenian Diocese of France, the Diocese of Artsakh, as well as the Diocese of Georgian Armenians.

Changes have also taken place taking into account the frequent absences, health issues of certain [SSC] members, and the fact that high-ranking ecclesiastical members of the SSC are deprived of liberty,” the aforesaid statement adds.