Alen Simonyan Denies Persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church

ArmInfo. The Armenian Apostolic Church is not subject to any persecution. This was stated by Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan to reporters, as reported by TASS.

"Where have you seen persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church? If you have seen such persecution, I will join you. Together, we will disperse those who persecute the Armenian Apostolic Church," he said, responding to a question about the persecution of the church in Armenia.

According to the parliamentarian, "certain political elements are trying to pretend that this is persecution in order to protect their personal interests." "In reality, this is not the case. There are criminal offenses, there are moral crimes," he added.

Simonyan has been in Russia on an official visit since February 4.

Let us recall that since May 29, when Pashinyan compared Armenian churches to closets at a government meeting, and his wife, Anna Hakobyan, called clergy the country's main pedophiles, the head of the Armenian cabinet has declared that Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II has violated his vow of celibacy, and therefore, in his opinion, should resign.

In response, he announced the decision to create a special coordination group to remove the Catholicos and has been participating in liturgies celebrated by defrocked clergy. During this period, 10 bishops have joined the demand for Pashinyan's resignation, and four hierarchs who supported the Catholicos on various matters have been imprisoned. As Pashinyan recently stated, rules of integrity apply to everyone, and the Catholicos must also follow them. However, he avoided answering the question directly, even though he was surrounded by bishops whose integrity he had repeatedly doubted and publicly expressed. He also stated that there was no choice—the Catholicos must step down in any case. Meanwhile, according to the Armenian Constitution, the Armenian Apostolic Church is separate from the state and has a special mission.