Pan-Armenian Council for Preservation of Armenian Church condemns  Pashinyan`s statements in Berlin discrediting Armenian Apostolic  Church

ArmInfo.  The Pan-Armenian Council for the Preservation of the Armenian Church has  strongly condemned Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statements  discrediting the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), made at the German  Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin.

"We consider the style of action, in which unfounded accusations  against one's own national spiritual structure are voiced before a  foreign audience and internal issues are manipulated on international  platforms, to be unacceptable, damaging to the nation, and devoid of  statesmanship," the statement from the Pan-Armenian Council for the  Preservation of the Armenian Church, received by ArmInfo, reads.  

As the Pan-Armenian Council for the Preservation of the Armenian  Church recalled in this regard, the Armenian Prime Minister has  portrayed the Armenian Church in European institutions as an  "instrument of external influence" or a "corrupt" system. The Council  called such actions a deliberate discrediting of its own national  institutions. "This directly attacks the unity of the Republic of  Armenia and the Diaspora, as the Armenian Apostolic Church has been  and remains the cornerstone of the preservation of Armenian identity.  Declaring that 'Jesus Christ is my heart' while simultaneously  attacking the Armenian Church is nothing more than typical  demagoguery. A religious leader does not attempt to subordinate the  Church to political expediency, but rather conducts an internal  dialogue with it, without external interference," the Pan-Armenian  Council emphasized. 

In this regard, the Council expressed its conviction that the  campaign being conducted under the slogan of church "transparency" is  aimed not at improving church life, but at attempting to silence the  clergy defending national interests. "It is ridiculous and dangerous  to hear accusations of 'external influence' from a government that is  often guided by external interests itself. For centuries, the  Armenian Church has been the sole bearer of national sovereignty in  the absence of Armenian statehood. To accuse it of turning into an  'agents' network is to deny historical memory," the Council noted.

In this regard, the Pan-Armenian Council for the Preservation of the  Armenian Church noted that when speaking of a "damaged value system,"  the head of state must, first and foremost, soberly assess the grave  moral and psychological situation, the divisions, and the incitement  to hatred that reigned in the country during his own leadership. The  Council expressed its conviction that by targeting the Church, the  government is attempting to distract public attention from the  failures of its own governance. "We call for an end to this blatant  campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church. The Church is  not just a building; it is the spiritual home of the Armenian people,  and any attack on it, especially if it is based on flattery from  external forces, is doomed to failure," the Council concluded.