AAC Priest: The Church belongs to the people, as ordained by God

ArmInfo. Priest Ararat Poghosyan has issued  a statement regarding the public accusations  brought forward by the authorities against the Armenian Apostolic Church.

"In recent days, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been  questioning the authority and honor of the Armenian Apostolic Church,  the spiritual support of our people, through his public statements.  Particularly, his public demand to the Catholicos of All Armenians to  disclose whether he has broken his vow of celibacy and fathered a  child cannot be seen as an innocent question. This is a blatant  accusation made without facts, without legal procedure, without  observing the minimum spiritual and moral ethics.  Pashinyan's  statements openly breach the boundary that must be maintained between  the state and the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, the principle of  "separation" as outlined in the Constitution," the priest noted. He  recalled that the Armenian Apostolic Church has its own charter,  spiritual and disciplinary bodies and procedures developed over the  centuries, which regulate the internal spiritual and administrative  life, behavior and possible violations of individual representatives  of the Church. The Catholicos is not an official who can be forced to  justify himself with a public "reprimand."

 "If there are doubts, they should be presented in the legal sphere  or in church-canonical instances, and not through public pressure. We  call for an end to public provocations that undermine the authority  of the Armenian Apostolic Church and, particularly, the Catholicos,  to respect the spiritual right of the believing people to the  inviolability of the church and the Patriarch. The Church belongs to  the people, as ordained by God, and no one is given a monopoly on  conducting "counter-propaganda" against it. Today, more than ever, we  need solidarity, not division. Is silence a sign of agreement? Not  always. You may be silent when there is no point in resisting. You  are silent when your upbringing does not allow you to argue. In the  end, you are silent when you do not need to assert yourself. Silence  is a sign of prudence. Always," priest Ararat Poghosyan noted.