Pashinyan criticizes  the behavior of several AAC priests in the  European Parliament 

ArmInfo.Some clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) have cynically violated all the rules of spiritual ethics, thereby making themselves vulnerable to foreign intelligence services.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made this statement in the European  Parliament on March 11, emphasizing that "the fact that some of them  are KGB agents of the USSR is confirmed by documents." According to  Pashinyan, in March-April 2024, Armenian statehood was on the brink,  and if the decision had not been made to begin the process of border  delimitation with Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia today would, at  best, be under external control. Furthermore, he noted, making the  decision to delimit the border was very difficult. "With the support  of the de facto head of our church, one of Armenia's archbishops  launched a movement demanding not only that delimitation not be  carried out, but also, in essence, that the Karabakh movement, that  is, the conflict, be intensified," Pashinyan said.

Then, he continued, "tens of thousands of citizens, succumbing to a  disinformation campaign waged by high-ranking clergy and the  opposition forces supporting them, who claimed that the government  was preparing to hand over sovereign Armenian territories, as well as  ancient churches and settlements located there, to Azerbaijan, took  to the streets."

The authorities, "which came to power as a result of the popular,  non-violent, velvet revolution of 2018," resolved this issue by  talking to their "employer"-the people. "And now, in the village of  Kirants in the Tavush region, which the leaders of the  church-opposition movement have made their symbol, convincing people  that the village would be devastated and abandoned, after  delimitation with the support of the government, the number of houses  has increased by 50%, and today it is an absolutely peaceful, safe,  and colorful settlement. And the ancient churches are being restored  and renovated," the Prime Minister emphasized. Pashinyan noted that  he personally organizes visits and tours for groups of residents to  the village of Kirants in the Tavush region to show people what they  mean by peace, what they mean by Real Armenia.

"I wear its symbol on my chest, an image of the internationally  recognized territory of the Republic of Armenia. It is also a symbol  of peace, because we  have established peace between Armenia and  Azerbaijan by recognizing each other's territorial integrity,  sovereignty, and political independence based on the Alma-Ata  Declaration of December 21, 1991, according to which Soviet  Azerbaijan became independent Azerbaijan, Soviet Armenia became  independent Armenia, and these are the contours of the map of  independent Armenia," he said.

At the same time, Pashinyan emphasized, he would not have raised the  issue of "some clergymen's participation in this process against  peace" if he had not seen how the envoys of these clergymen and  representatives of certain lobby organizations associated with them  were trying to disseminate information in the European Parliament and  other authoritative international structures about the Armenian  government restricting freedom of conscience, that a dictatorship is  being established in Armenia, and that there are political prisoners  in Armenia. The reality is that some clergy, having cynically  violated all the rules of spiritual conduct, are thereby making  themselves vulnerable to foreign intelligence services. The fact that  some of them were KGB agents is documented. These clergy have assumed  leadership of a military party in the Republic of Armenia, gathering  around themselves former Armenian leaders, some forces associated  with them, and some pro-Russian and pro-Belarusian oligarchs. They  are attempting to sacrifice Armenia's independence to the interests  of third countries. 

We will not allow a new conflict, a new war. We will not allow  consciousness, peace, and independence, achieved at the cost of  thousands of victims, to be sacrificed to anti-Christian goals. The  word "peace" is mentioned more than 40 times in the text of our  liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church. It refers not only to  the individual and the soul, but also to peace throughout the world,  for which the canonical text of our liturgy contains dozens of  prayers from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yet today, some use  the altar of Christ to preach conflict, war, and/or intra-Armenian  violence, transgressing the laws of the Republic of Armenia. This is  unacceptable in any democratic country," Nikol Pashinyan concluded.