UAR supports AAC

ArmInfo.The Armenian Apostolic Church is the only remaining institution capable of uniting Armenia,  the Armenian people and saving statehood. This is stated in a statement by the Union of Armenians of Russia.

The statement notes that the day before, a meeting was held in the  Temple Complex of the AAC in Moscow between the head of the SAR Ara  Abrahamyan and the head of the Russian and New Nakhichevan Diocese of  the AAC Archbishop Yezras Nersisyan. "Against the backdrop of the  Armenian authorities' unprecedented cynical attacks on the AAC, the  Union of Armenians of Russia expresses its support for the Armenian  Apostolic Church. The Union is convinced that thanks to our Christian  faith and the church, whose role in the history of the Armenian  people is difficult to overestimate, we have managed to overcome the  most difficult historical trials and preserve our identity," the  statement emphasizes.

The day before, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan came up with  an initiative to create a coordination group to remove the Catholicos  of All Armenians, who, according to the prime minister, broke his vow  of celibacy. On May 29, at a government meeting, Pashinyan said that  Armenian churches resemble "closets filled with junk." The next day,  he published a harsh post on social networks, in which he used rude  language addressed to the hierarchs of the Armenian Apostolic Church  and accused one of the archbishops of sexual promiscuity. At the same  time, the prime minister demanded that all priests who broke their  vow of celibacy be defrocked. Similar attacks were made by the prime  minister's wife Anna Hakobyan, who called the patriarch "the main  mafioso" and those who criticized the "defrocking" of churches "the  main pedophiles of the country." These statements provoked a sharp  reaction from the clergy.  Amid the scandal, the prime minister  proposed changing the procedure for electing the head of the AAC so  that the state would have a decisive vote in the elections, and  candidates would undergo an ethics check.