Archbishop Galstanián does not limit himself to haranguing the crowds, but pushes them to attack the palaces of power. Many believe that Patriarch Karekin II himself is behind the escalation, who denounces the “continued policy of unilateral surrender” in relations with Azerbaijan. For his part, Prime Minister Pashinián affirms that the bishops are “agents provocateurs” who want to lead to war “as in the times of Byzantium.”
Yerevan () – The Armenian Apostolic Church has adopted an explicit political position of confrontation with the government of Yerevan, with the risk of an increasingly violent radicalization of the street protests, led by the Archbishop of Tavush, Bagrat Galstanián, who repeats tirelessly that “we will not leave the streets until victory”, that is, until Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian resigns.
Galstanián does not limit himself to haranguing the crowds, but pushes them to attack the palaces of power, as has happened in recent days, trying to lock the prime minister and the deputies in the headquarters of the National Assembly and then force them to appear before the “people’s court” chaired by himself. The police have begun to use force to disperse the protesters, although so far no one has touched the revolutionary archbishop. However, Pashinián and the supporters of the majority in the government use arguments increasingly incendiary attacks against ecclesiastical opponents.
According to numerous statements by members of the Civil Agreement party, behind the bishop and the escalation of the demonstrations would be the same patriarch of the Armenian Church, Katholikos Karekin II, along with the entire ecclesiastical leadership of the “Holy Ečmjadzin”, the historic headquarters. patriarchal on the outskirts of Yerevan. Precisely in this religious-administrative center, the Higher Spiritual Council, the synodal body of the katholikos, meets in an almost permanent session, which has issued a declaration by the bishops in which it expresses its explicit support for the “popular oppositions”, although it distances itself from the most violent actions of recent days, in which members of the clergy did not participate.
The text denounces the “continued policy of unilateral handover of national territories, justified by demarcation agreements,” which has caused a wave of indignation and concern “both in the country and in the diaspora, giving rise to the mistrust that today leads to demands the resignation of the prime minister. Pashinián responds to these accusations by attacking “all those who are using Artsakh refugees for their own mercantilist interests”, provoking riots in the streets. To Galstanián, who challenged him to show his face, the prime minister responded with a very emotional speech in Parliament: “Of course we met, do you think the Prime Minister of Armenia has problems talking to anyone? If he had considered it useful meeting the bishop, I would have already put him in a police van.
The prime minister directly accused Karekin II of having “blessed” the riots and clashes with the police, prompting indignant responses from the bishops, “we condemn the attempts of the men in power to transfer responsibility for the popular protests to the Church… “On the contrary, they try to justify their anticlerical behavior, as has happened recently on several occasions.” Reference is made to the “Sardaparat” memorial case of May 28, when the police tried to exclude the Katholikos from the official ceremonies to remember the 1918 battle of the Armenians against the Turks.
The Armenian Church had last year urged the government to lead to the end the battle against the Azeris for Nagorno Karabakh, from where the army withdrew to avoid a total war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Now Pashinián calls the bishops “agents provocateurs” who want to lead to war again, but affirms that “we will solve this problem in two or three months.” Recalling events from the distant past regarding the Byzantines, in which the Church played a crucial role in military operations, he maintains that “today all this will not be repeated,” because the Russians are fomenting the conflict using the Church, as the patriarchs from Byzantium and the emperors.
The rereading of history is a characteristic of the wars of the third millennium. If Putin in Russia tries to restore the glories of the past, Pashinian insists on proposing a new Armenia, which is not an imitation of the ancient or medieval one, and the religious dimensions are decisive to evaluate this perspective. As the Armenian Prime Minister states, citing the letters of Saint Paul, “I want to make a solemn declaration: if the Church’s relations with the government are bad, then so will the Church’s relations with God.”
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