Bishops` meeting outside Homeland normal given authorities` attacks -  lawyer 

ArmInfo.  Given the persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), it is entirely natural that Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II decided to convene an episcopal assembly outside the homeland-in Europe. This opinion was  expressed by lawyer Ruben Melikyan on his Facebook page, reacting to  Garegin II's decision to hold an episcopal assembly from February  16-19 in the Austrian city of St. Polten.

The lawyer recalled that the "occupation regime" is persecuting the  Church, recruiting apostates, representatives of the legislative,  executive, and judicial branches, law enforcement officers, civil  servants, employees of various state institutions, local government  bodies, pro-government political forces, and propaganda groups,  including "Romanos in One Copy" (Romanos Petrosyan, interim manager  of the Electric Networks of Armenia - ed.).

"This decision was made 'out of necessity,' and full responsibility  for the situation lies with the regime of Armenian Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan," Melikyan noted.

He also noted that this is not the first time in recent history that  assemblies playing an important role and significance in the life of  the Armenian Church have been held outside the homeland. As Melikyan  recalled, a similar episcopal assembly was convened in 1956 by  Supreme Patriarch Vazgen I in Cairo.

In May 2025, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan launched a broad  anti-church campaign, demanding the resignation of the Catholicos of  All Armenians. As part of this campaign, anyone who disagreed with  him under one or another serious statute was imprisoned. Moreover, 10  bishops joined Pashinyan's demand. On December 5, 2025, Armenian  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced the creation of a  coordinating council to organize the reform process of the Armenian  Apostolic Church. He published a roadmap for resolving this issue.  And on the night of January 5, a framework agreement on the creation  of the council was signed by Nikol Pashinyan and the 10 bishops who  had joined his campaign.  Moreover, days earlier, it became known  that one of the bishops who joined Pashinyan's campaign, Gevorg  Saroyan, had filed a lawsuit against the Armenian Apostolic Church,  demanding that his dismissal as primate of the Masiatsotn Diocese be  declared illegal. According to a notice posted in the Datalex legal  documents system, the bishop is asking the court to invalidate the  decree of His Holiness Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II of  January 10, 2026, on this matter. It should be noted that, according  to the Constitution, Armenia is a secular state, where church and  state are separated. At the same time, the "exclusive mission" of the  Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) in preserving national identity is  recognized.