Clergy are citizens of Armenia and must act within the law. If all citizens are obliged to pay income taxes, then clergy are also obliged, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated at a press briefing on Thursday, answering a question from Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to him, there should be complete transparency in the issue of taxes in Armenia. “Why should they not pay? We [i.e. the Armenian authorities] say that we are ready and obliged, and we have been expressing this readiness for eight years now that we are ready to return the taxes formed and collected as a result of the activities of the Armenian Apostolic Church in full, including with a view to ensuring financial transparency. Why, for example, should coffee imported for the [Armenian Apostolic] Church, a product that does not have a purely ritual significance, not be taxed, while in other cases it should be taxed? And why we, the followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church, don’t know, for example, how much turnover the sale of candles provides, what happens to that money afterwards?" he added.

As per Pashinyan, the current status of Armenia’s clergy is conditioned by the fact that they be financially and otherwise dependent on one person. "And why shouldn't there be a code of ethics for a clergyman? We, as a society, must answer the question: is it normal and acceptable for us for a person holding the position of Catholicos [of All Armenians] to have children?" the premier asked.

He added that the citizens of Armenia must answer that question. "The clergy are a very important part of the church, but the church is first and foremost the people, the faithful followers. And Ktrich Nersisyan [i.e. the birth name of Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II] is certainly not a church," Nikol Pashinyan concluded.