Pashinyan Publishes Plan to Reform the Armenian Church

Removing the Catholicos will be the first step: Pashinyan has published his plan to reform the church. "Freeing the Vehapar [Holy See] from Ktrich Nersisyan is, first and foremost, a spiritual agenda, an agenda for our Church, and through the Church, for our state and public, to renew ourselves, to set a moral standard of life in our state.

Because it is difficult, if not impossible, to make the public-moral benchmark dreamed of and bequeathed by Hovhannes Tumanyan, namely 'honest people, kind hearts, high souls,' a statistical average standard if the Church elite itself does not maintain the standard it undertook by its vow and inherited from its ancestors.

Moreover, this is a consequence of non-statehood: empires encouraged the deviation from the 'standard of the vow' in order to keep the Armenian Apostolic Church manageable by using it as a lever and thus hindering the rise of our people.

In this sense, our task cannot be to replace Ktrich Nersisyan with another priest who has broken the vow of celibacy, because that would be a political intrigue and not an agenda of spiritual renewal.

I understand that I am complicating the issue with this, but intrigue has not been, is not, and will not be our goal.

Therefore, I propose the following program. We free the Vehapar from Ktrich Nersisyan. Any married, virtuous priest is appointed as the Locum Tenens of the Catholicos, who, naturally, cannot aspire to the throne of the Catholicos.

New Catholicos elections do not take place until the Charter of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church is approved based on the 'Kanonagirk Hayots' [Armenian Book of Canons], which will be a document in modern Armenian, concise, and understandable to all (currently, there is no modern Armenian version of the volumes of 'Kanonagirk Hayots,' and the thousands of canons included in it were formed over 17 centuries, and due to this fact, the faithful flock, even many clergymen, do not interact with the Kanonagirk, do not know the rules defined in it, and thus the practical significance of the Kanonagirk suffers significantly).

After approving the Kanonagirk, the elections for the Catholicos of All Armenians should take place, during which the virtue of all candidates for Catholicos will be checked.

Moreover, the procedures for checking the virtue of the candidates for Catholicos, the compliance of the candidates, and the conduct of the elections must be approved by the Kanonagirk, which must be adopted by the National Ecclesiastical Assembly or an equivalent format.

Now, about the 'Vehapar to the Veh!' [The See for the Sublime!] movement. It is a movement of the followers of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church. The problem here is that we cannot check the denominational affiliation of anyone appearing in squares or on social networks, nor can we forbid anyone from coming to the square or expressing any position.

But the leaders of the Movement must meet the following criteria previously voiced:

a) be followers of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church (be baptized in the Armenian Apostolic Church);

b) believe in our living Lord Jesus Christ with all their soul;

d) have read the Bible from beginning to end at least once;

e) have observed the Great Lent at least once in the last five years;

f) be people who pray every day;

g) believe that the agenda of renewing the Mother See stems from the interests of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, our people, our state, and is consistent with the holy tradition of our ancestors.

Of course, it will not be easy to check compliance with some of these criteria empirically, but here too the logic of checking through communication operates, which is fully feasible.

It is also understandable that by declaring that I will lead the 'Vehapar to the Veh!' movement, I myself must first meet all the criteria.

And since I have declared that I will lead the 'Vehapar to the Veh!' movement, it means I meet those criteria.

I also understand that with the above-mentioned criteria, I am significantly complicating the formation of the movement's leadership. But it is necessary in order not to deviate from the agenda being primarily spiritual, and our Lord Jesus Christ teaches: 'Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it' (Matthew 7:13-14).

P.S. The renewal agenda should in no way be interpreted as a hint of theocracy. It will not and cannot limit any citizen's freedom. But with it, the public must also send a very clear message that it has the right to full accountability from state, church, and political leaders, including in their personal and public lives. Those who are not confident in this matter should not apply for either spiritual or political leadership," wrote the RA Prime Minister.