Armenian Government Makes Removal of Catholicos Karekin II an Official Policy Goal

Armenia’s government has made the removal of Catholicos Karekin II an official policy goal, putting its escalating confrontation with the Armenian Apostolic Church into the government’s five-year program.

The 2026-2031 program, approved by the Cabinet on Thursday and set to go before parliament, outlines a process that would begin with Karekin II leaving office and ultimately lead to the election of a new Catholicos of All Armenians.

The government says the measures are needed to protect Armenia’s “spiritual security” and prevent “attempts by external forces to turn the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church into a foothold for hybrid warfare.”

Under the plan, the government first intends to “ensure the removal — retirement — of the de facto head” of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Karekin II is not named in that provision, but the reference is to the current Catholicos.

The program says a locum tenens, who would temporarily lead the church, would then be elected under established church procedures.

The government also calls for the adoption of a church charter that it says should establish rules on financial transparency, clergy conduct and compliance with church principles. The process would conclude with the election of a new Catholicos of All Armenians under established procedures.

Separate provisions call for including clergy in Armenia’s state system of social guarantees and making church finances more transparent.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan defended the policy Thursday, saying the church had been pushed outside its canonical framework under Karekin II. Pashinyan referred to the Catholicos by his birth name, Ktrich Nersisyan.

“The church, at the hands of Ktrich Nersisyan, has been taken outside the canonical framework, and there is an agenda here that must be addressed,” Pashinyan said. “The agenda is written in the election platform and in the government program.”

The measures largely carry into government policy proposals that Pashinyan’s ruling Civil Contract party presented during its election campaign.

The program does not identify the “external forces” it accuses of trying to use the church as a tool of hybrid warfare. A senior member of the ruling party, however, pointed toward Russia a day before the Cabinet approved the document.

National Assembly Vice President Vahagn Aleksanyan, who also serves on Civil Contract’s governing board, was asked Wednesday which country officials had in mind. He stopped short of naming Russia directly but cited allegations involving Archbishop Yezras Nersisyan, Karekin II’s brother and the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church’s Diocese of Russia and New Nakhichevan.

“Our citizens know very well which country we are talking about,” Aleksanyan said. “The evidence is Archbishop Yezras’ KGB card. This is one of the most factual pieces of evidence.”

In December 2025, Civic.am, a media outlet affiliated with Civil Contract, published a document it said it obtained from Armenia’s National Security Service. The outlet alleged the document showed that Yezras Nersisyan had been recruited by the Soviet KGB in the 1980s.

The government’s decision moves a months-long political battle over the leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church into its formal governing agenda.

Opposition parties and members of Armenia’s legal community have repeatedly argued that efforts by state officials to influence the leadership or internal governance of the church violate constitutional boundaries between religious institutions and the state.

The government has rejected that broader criticism and framed its campaign as an effort to reform the church and protect Armenia from foreign influence. With Thursday’s approval of the five-year program, those objectives are now part of the agenda the government will take to parliament.

—

Support independent reporting from the region by subscribing to The Armenian Report. Our team is funded solely by readers like you.