Armenian Opposition Seeks To Oust Head Of Armenian Church – OpEd

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The wave of Armenian protests that succeeded in ousting Serzh Sargsyan as prime minister in favor of Nikol Pashinyan has now been succeeded by another wave of protest that is calling for the ouster of Garegin II (Karekin II), the catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In a Facebook post, Garegin’s press spokesman invited the demonstrators to meet with the church leadership at the Patriarchal residence in Echmiadzin. But that does not appear to have quieted demands that Garegin, who was close to the ancien regime, leave his post, Pavel Skrylnikov reports in today’s Nezavisimaya gazeta (ng.ru/faith/2018-06-08/2_7242_armenia.html).

Instead, having tasted victory in ousting Sargsyan, the Armenian “street” is now targeting the catholicos, “not so much as head of the church as an influential politician” connected with Sargsyan. According to Armenian political analyst Stepan Danilyan, the protesters have a long list of grievances against Garegin.

First of all, he has been too close to the authorities, something almost inevitable in the caesaro-papist traditions of Orthodoxy. Second, he is said to have engaged in massive “illegal business” operations. And third, since assuming office in 1999, Garegin has notoriously not given a single press conference where he would be forced to respond.

Instead, Danilyan continues, “this is a closed and shadowy individual who has no authority. He is mixed up in business ties as is his brother in Moscow,” and that is especially irksome in the current climate in Yerevan. By suggesting a meeting, Garegin is trying to defuse the situation. But it may be too late.

According to Boris Navasardyan, head of the Yerevan Press Club, “among the protesters are both ordinary citizens and religious people who are dissatisfied with the situation in the Armenian Apostolic Church. I share the view that our church hierarchs in recent years were involved in negative phenomena that was part and parcel of the oligarchic regime in Armenia.”

“The participation of priests in the protests is indirectly confined by the Facebook page of the Echmiadzin monastery, Skrylnikov says. That page” expresses regret that some close to the church have been led astray by “personal interests.”

Perhaps more serious, Garegin has alienated many in the independent segments of the Armenian Apostolic church in Cilicia, Constantinople and Jerusalem and in the large and influential Armenian diaspora in many countries. And the hostility to him is spreading to other even more “odious” church leaders as well, Danilyan says.

This attack on Garegin suggests that the Armenian protests are truly growing into a revolutionary movement, one that appears likely to change fundamentally the power relations within Yerevan and also between Yerevan and Moscow, given Garegin’s close ties with Russian businesses.

But there are at least two additional reasons why this is important beyond the borders of Armenia. On the one hand, the charges against Garegin are of the same nature as those against Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church and will likely be echoed by his religious and political opponents in Russia ever more vigorously now.

And on the other, talk about corruption among patriarchs loyal to their political regimes and to Moscow almost certainly will play into discussions about autocephaly for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, undermining the position of those in Moscow and elsewhere opposed to that move and giving Kyiv an even better chance of achieving it

Paul Goble

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. Most recently, he was director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Earlier, he served as vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. He has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Goble maintains the Window on Eurasia blog and can be contacted directly at [email protected] .

2 thoughts on “Armenian Opposition Seeks To Oust Head Of Armenian Church – OpEd

  • July 19, 2018 at 4:50 am
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    Many of us in the US, believe in our church in spite of K 2. Seeing him go would be a blessing to the Armenian people.

    Reply
  • August 29, 2018 at 2:40 am
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    Many of us in the U. S. would like Kerekin II to be treated fairly ~ he has been a fine leader of The Armenian Church “`

    Reply

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