For Armenian authorities, Ktrich Nersisyan is not Catholicos of All  Armenians - MP

ArmInfo.  For the Armenian authorities, Ktrich Nersisyan (the secular name of Garegin II) is not the Catholicos of All Armenians. This was stated by Artur  Hovhannisyan, secretary of the country's ruling Civil Contract  faction, at a briefing on December 5.

According to him, the authorities, with the help of various clergy  and individuals familiar with liturgical procedures, are conducting  clarifications, which are used by RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan  to decide whether or not to participate in a given liturgy. Equally  important is whether the clergyman in question shares the ideas of  church modernization. "After analyzing all these circumstances, a  decision is made on whether or not to participate in the liturgy.  There has been and is no pressure," Hovhannisyan emphasized, adding  that these individuals could include employees of the National  Security Service. The change of the Catholicos, according to the  parliamentarian, must occur without upheaval, in an atmosphere of  brotherhood and solidarity, as occurred during the non-violent Velvet  Revolution of 2018. Thus, Hovhannisyan continued, the Church will  return to the people, just as power returned to them. According to  the ruling faction MP, Ktrich Nersesyan seized power in the Armenian  Apostolic Church on October 27, 1999, breaking his vow of celibacy.

Responding to a journalist's question about why the National Security  Service (NSS) recalled the seven-year-old case against Archbishop  Arshak Khachatryan on the eve of the bishops' meeting, and whether  this was a manifestation of the same pressure, Hovhannisyan noted  that the authorities do not handle criminal cases. This issue falls  within the purview of the relevant state agencies, which, as  independent entities, are obligated to handle such matters. As a  reminder, Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, head of the chancery of the  Mother See of Etchmiadzin, was previously arrested in connection with  a drug trafficking case. According to Archbishop Arsen Babayan, his  lawyer, his client was summoned to the Investigative Committee to  testify "in connection with the infamous video recording." After  questioning, they exited the Investigative Committee's main entrance,  where they were met by National Security Service officers, who stated  that they had received an investigator's order to detain the  archbishop. It was later revealed that the archbishop is accused of  planting drugs in the bag of a protester against His Holiness in  2018, allegedly to discredit him. A video allegedly depicting  Archbishop Arshak with a woman was also previously circulated on  pro-government platforms. The video quality is very poor, and only  his general facial features are visible. The source of the video is  still unknown. The clergyman himself has repeatedly emphasized that  he has no connection to the video.