Clergyman critical of colleagues over meeting with premier 

ArmInfo. Priest Asoghik Karapetyan, Director of the Museums and Archives of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, criticized the clergy who participated in the  meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and, in essence,  supported his anti-church campaign.

"As a faithful Armenian, as a humble and zealous servant of the  Armenian Church, as a monk and servant of the Mother See of Holy  Etchmiadzin, with boundless and righteous anger, I resolutely condemn  the perfidious and deceitful Holy Fathers, who today acted in a  manner unbecoming of their high rank and dignity, violating the  canons," Father Asoghik wrote on his Facebook page.

"I broke bread with them in the refectory of my Mother See, lived  with them under the shadow of my divinely created Cathedral, stood  with them in prayer before the Holy Throne of the Lord, exchanging  holy greetings of love in Christ. How can I now look them in the  face? I pray with all my heart that God will have mercy and grant  them enlightenment, that they will come and bow before the Spiritual  Father and Source of Grace for us all, the Armenian Patriarch, with  sincere repentance and tears. I express my unconditional devotion,  pure love, and uncompromising loyalty to the venerable Mother See of  Holy Etchmiadzin and His Holiness Karekin II, the great and  God-chosen Patriarch of All Armenians," wrote Father Asoghik.

As a reminder, on the morning of November 27, pro-government  platforms circulated a statement signed by 13 bishops of the Armenian  Apostolic Church condemning the inaction of Catholicos of All  Armenians Karekin II in connection with the scandalous video  attributed to Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan. The hierarchs'  signatures in the published statement were on a separate sheet. The  text of the bishops' statement notes that on November 5, the  Catholicos of All Armenians established a commission to evaluate the  video attributed to Khachatryan. It is also claimed that the  commission contacted the Investigative Committee of Armenia to  establish the authenticity of the recording. However, according to  the bishops' statement, the Catholicos dismissed the results of the  examination, which confirmed the authenticity of the recording, as  null and void. In this regard, clergy representatives stated that  Karekin II's behavior regarding this issue, which damages the  Church's reputation, is extremely concerning and called on "brother  bishops to join in releasing the sacrilegious priest." Notably, amid  the scandal, two of the 13 bishops named in the statement told  reporters that they had not signed any document against the  Catholicos.

That afternoon, at a briefing following the government meeting,  Pashinyan welcomed the bishops' statement. Pashinyan stated his  readiness to meet with the bishops who signed the statement. On the  evening of November 27, Pashinyan's press service published video  footage of a meeting with eight of the 13 clergymen on the list.  Among the participants was the head of the Artsakh Diocese of the  Armenian Apostolic Church.