Priest Mashtots Stepanyan joins Armenian premier`s initiative to  abdicate Catholicos of All Armenians

ArmInfo.Priest Mashtots Stepanyan, rector of St. Gevork Church in Aygeshat, has joined Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's initiative to abdicate the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II.

"I, Priest Mashtots Stepanyan, welcome the statement on the reform of  the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, adopted by the Prime Minister of  the Republic of Armenia and ten bishops, and I support and join the  statement on Renewal," he wrote on social media.

It should be noted that after making a comment like "Judas," this  priest restricted the list of people who can leave comments on the  publication. Earlier, on December 14 (the day Nikol Pashinyan was  scheduled to attend the liturgy with his supporters in the village of  Aygeshat), Father Mashtots Stepanyan, the priest of the Church of St.  Gevork, refused to answer whether he would ignore the name of the  Catholicos of All Armenians. Moreover, the priest appeared extremely  nervous and quickly left.

As a reminder, on the evening of January 4, 2026, Nikol Pashinyan  signed the so-called "roadmap for improvement" of the Armenian  Apostolic Church with 10 rebel bishops. The schismatic bishops,  demanding the resignation of Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II,  came to the prime minister's residence and signed it one by one. Two  of the ten absent from the rebel group gave their consent remotely.   The document contains the following points:

Public announcement of the reform program;

Removal of the current head of the Church; 3. Election of a locum  tenens of the Patriarchal Throne;

Adoption of the Church Charter, which should establish ;

Election of the Catholicos of All Armenians, .

On January 6, Archimandrite Gusan Alchanyan, locum tenens of the  Armenian Apostolic Church's Swiss Diocese, announced that he welcomed  the initiative of Nikol Pashinyan and 10 Church hierarchs to create a  , declaring that he joins them and accepts the  contents of the and the . Later,  Swiss-Armenian entrepreneur and philanthropist Vahe Gabrash announced  that a new bishop, appointed by the Mother See of Etchmiadzin, would  begin his mission in the Swiss Diocese in two weeks. "It's clear that  Father Gusan's protest has no pastoral or spiritual basis, but stems  from personal intolerance toward the new minister occupying the  position he (Gusan Alchanyan - ed.) had claimed. When a clergyman is  driven not by spiritual humility but by personal ambition, he doesn't  protect his flock but, on the contrary, makes them vulnerable,"  Gabrash noted.

According to the Constitution of Armenia, the Armenian Apostolic  Church is separate from the state and has a special mission.