Armenian premier`s call to capture residence of Armenian Catholicos  to become strategic blunder 

ArmInfo.  The call by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for his supporters to gather at the Mother See of Etchmiadzin to actually seize the residence of Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II devalues the Armenian  Apostolic Church and will be a strategic mistake. This was stated in  an interview with TASS by the President of the Union of Armenians of  Russia (UAR) Ara Abrahamyan.

"This will be his [Pashinyan's] strategic mistake. He says that he is  a believer, but if he is a true believer, he would never allow  himself and others to devalue the church. The priests of this church  were ordained by the Catholicos, they baptized Armenians all over the  world, millions of people, and they are said to be outside the law,"  Abrahamyan said, commenting on Pashinyan's recently announced call  for his supporters to be ready for a large "spiritual gathering" in  the square of the city of Etchmiadzin, next to which the Mother See  of Etchmiadzin is located.

The President of the Union of Armenians of Russia noted that a  believer and a person who loves his people "would never allow himself  to resolve this issue in this way." According to Abrahamyan,  Pashinyan manipulates society with such actions, trying to pit people  of different religious views against each other.  "But they cannot be  pitted against each other, it will be a disaster. The Church is an  independent institution," Abrahamyan emphasized.

He also noted that by pointing only to the problems of the Armenian  Church, which may arise, as elsewhere, Pashinyan does not say how  much positive and epochal Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II has  done for the church. "No one has done so much in the last hundreds of  years. It is not about personalities, but about the church, about  faith. I am for the church, for faith. I am a believer, I have built  dozens of churches around the world. Including the Russian Orthodox  Church in Yerevan," Abrahamyan added.

Recall that on June 27, security forces entered the territory of the  Catholicos's residence in the Mother See of Etchmiadzin in order to  arrest the head of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic  Church, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan. These actions of law  enforcement officers caused a wide public outcry.

Earlier, the Armenian Prime Minister, as part of his anti-church  campaign launched at the end of May this year, announced his  readiness to lead the process of removing the Catholicos of All  Armenians from the throne. On July 7, information began to circulate  in the Armenian media that security forces would soon launch another  attack on the Armenian Apostolic Church.