Father Abraham Martirosyan has accused Armenia’s top leadership of intensifying an orchestrated campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church by turning anti-church rhetoric into a political issue. Writing on Facebook, he said that even the Speaker of the National Assembly has joined this effort, using language that goes beyond professional and moral standards.

Martirosyan tied the beginning of the campaign to Catholicos Karekin II’s participation in an interchurch summit in Switzerland, where the Catholicos defended the rights of the people of Artsakh, called for the protection of its Christian heritage, and demanded the release of Armenian captives held in Azerbaijan.

“Instead of supporting these pro-Armenian positions expressed on an international platform, the authorities chose to attack the only pan-national institution—our Church and its spiritual leader. Rather than showing gratitude, they resorted to insults and accusations in an effort to silence the Catholicos, whose voice resonates where state officials remain silent, trying to exclude him from public life,” Martirosyan wrote.

He praised the restrained yet firm response from the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, which he said halted the government's discrediting efforts. Still, according to him, the authorities are now involving other officials in trying to reignite this campaign.

“No rational official, regardless of religious or ideological stance, has the right to show such disrespect toward a religious leader. If someone claims to be a member of the Church, they are all the more obligated to demonstrate basic respect toward its leader. Otherwise, they are merely posing under false pretenses,” he added.

Martirosyan said these officials clearly lack understanding of the Church’s history, hierarchy, and role both in Armenia and the Diaspora. “They are driving a wedge within society, provoking public outrage.”

Concluding, he cited Psalm 11:3–5: “May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips and boastful tongues, who say, ‘We will triumph with our tongues; our lips are our own—who is lord over us?’”

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently lashed out at the Church following backlash over his controversial comparison of churches to “storage sheds” during a cabinet meeting. On Facebook, he and his wife, Anna Hakobyan, shared posts mocking clergy with language like “go keep banging your uncle’s wife” and “the nation’s top pedophiles.” Pashinyan also claimed the state must play a key role in selecting the Catholicos of All Armenians and questioned whether Karekin II had violated his vow of celibacy by fathering a child.

The Mother See responded by saying these actions serve anti-Armenian foreign interests and echo Azerbaijani propaganda targeting the Armenian people and Church.