Armenian premier sowing split, lawlessness wherever he appears,  opposition rep claims 

ArmInfo. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's apostate campaign in Gyumri has further strengthened the understanding in Armenian society that the current leader of Armenia  sows division, disbelief, anger, lawlessness, and abomination  wherever he appears. Levon Zurabyan, Deputy Chairman of the Armenian  National Congress (ANC), wrote this on his Facebook page, reacting to  the Armenian Prime Minister's post about the need to "play the  national anthem before Sunday services in Armenian churches."

The politician noted that the Armenian Prime Minister's statement  that "in 301, the Armenian Church was created by the state" creates  the impression that Pashinyan is unaware that the Armenian Apostolic  Church was founded by the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew, and  fails to recognize that the boundaries of state and religious  denominations diverge, since the spheres of state and spiritual  authority cannot fully coincide.  "The main heretical and divisive  figure in the Armenian world must be eliminated if we want to  continue to exist as a state-organized nation," the ANC deputy  chairman noted.

In this vein, Zurabyan noted that Pashinyan, who is grossly violating  the Armenian Constitution, laws, and, above all, Article 441 of the  RA Criminal Code (abuse of power by an official), is oblivious to the  fact that his government is gradually assuming the guise of an  occupation regime. Thus, as the ANC deputy chairman noted, by seizing  the "Seven Wounds" Church in Gyumri with special forces on December  7, the Armenian prime minister transformed a political show in which  he was involved into a police operation.  "To carry out his  schismatic actions, Pashinyan relies on the most discredited,  immoral, mercantile, and opportunistic representatives of the  Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC). Pashinyan controls the latter under  threat of criminal prosecution or by promising them positions of  power. Thus, the liturgy at the Seven Wounds Church was more  reminiscent of the oppression of the people by an alien, hated state  than a liturgy dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Spitak  earthquake of December 7, 1988," Zurabyan noted.

On December 7, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the  so-called liturgy at the Seven Wounds Church in Gyumri. However, not  a single clergyman of the Shirak Diocese agreed to conduct the  liturgy for the Armenian prime minister, as one of the conditions was  to omit the name of the Catholicos of All Armenians and the head of  the diocese from the service. Consequently, the Armenian authorities  were forced to bring their own puppet bishops, who opposed the  Catholicos. Furthermore, officers from the National Security Service  of Armenia sealed the church doors that evening, preventing anyone  from entering. Thus, for the first time in 200 years, the bells of  the Seven Wounds Church did not ring on the morning of December 7,  inviting the faithful to the liturgy. It is also noteworthy that,  despite the Armenian authorities' attempts to avoid mentioning the  Catholicos' name during the liturgy, the Church choir nonetheless  sang the names of both Karekin II and Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan,  the head of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, who  was imprisoned on trumped-up charges.

On December 7, the Mother See of Etchmiadzin also announced the  indefinite postponement of the bishops' meeting scheduled for  December 10-12 due to increasing pressure on the clergy.

As a reminder, the Armenian Prime Minister launched a campaign  against the Armenian Apostolic Church in May, seeking the resignation  of Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians. As part of this campaign,  all dissenters, both clergy and ordinary citizens, are being  imprisoned on various serious charges.