Head of RA Cadastre Committee thanks defrocked clergyman for  `service` at Hovhannavank

ArmInfo.  Suren Tovmasyan, head of the Armenian Cadastre Committee, attended the liturgy on Sunday, which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will attend and which was celebrated by the defrocked Father Aram (secular name Stepan Asatryan) at the Hovhannavank Church.

As Tovmasyan stated in an interview with journalists in parliament on  October 28, he has an extremely positive attitude toward everything  Pashinyan is doing regarding the "liberation of the Patriarchate"  from Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II. "If there are rules and  regulations, then everyone is obligated to adhere to them, including  government officials and clergy," Tovmasyan explained.

He thanked the defrocked Father Asatryan for conducting a "very rich  service" and assured that he attended the liturgy of his own free  will, something he may do again next Sunday. On Sunday, Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, other  officials, and members of the ruling Civil Contract party attended  the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Stepan Asatryan, who was defrocked.  A police presence was observed in the village of Hovhannavan from  early morning, and numerous security personnel guarded the monastery  grounds. The security forces restricted journalists' access to the  church because Pashinyan was present at the liturgy.

As reported by Sputnik Armenia, according to recordings, the event  was co-hosted by the defrocked Asatryan, the current priest, Taron  Hunanyan of Haghartsin Monastery. He had previously publicly  expressed support for Stepan Asatryan. The issue of his defrocking is  on the agenda of the Disciplinary Commission of the Mother See of  Holy Etchmiadzin. He himself failed to appear at any of the meetings.   Two other participants were the deposed deacons Robert Agazaryan and  Artur Karapetyan, dressed in deacon's vestments and orarion.  Agazaryan, who has long since disassociated himself from Etchmiadzin,  previously found himself at the center of a scandal after comparing  the prime minister's wife, Anna Hakobyan, to the Virgin Mary, and  choosing the Civil Contract party logo as the cover of his social  media page. The second deacon is Artur Karapetyan, who has repeatedly  made vulgar remarks about Catholicos Karekin II in interviews with  Public Television and pro-government media, refusing to recognize him  as the country's spiritual leader.

During the liturgy, a man who shouted that Asatryan had no right to  conduct the service was escorted out of the monastery, his mouth  gagged. Earlier in the morning, police detained two abbots of the  Aragatsotn Diocese, but soon released them. Lawyer Aru Zohrabyan and  Hieromonk Shnork Poloyan were also denied access to the monastery.

That same evening, Pashinyan announced that next week, in the second  He will once again participate in the liturgy of defrocked priest  Stepan Asatryan in Hovhannavank. According to him, these liturgies  are part of the program "for the liberation of the Mother See of Holy  Etchmiadzin and the renewal of the Armenian Apostolic Church."  "Today's liturgy is an important stage in the renewal of my spiritual  life," the prime minister stated in a video address.