Garnik Danielyan, a member of the Hayastan parliamentary faction, addressed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent suggestion to play Armenia’s national anthem before church mass.
Speaking to reporters, Danielyan did not rule out the possibility that, following such logic, “one morning the prime minister might wake up, post a heart or a flower, and say he now wants to hear Super Sako,” Panorama.am reports.
“Maybe after a few more masses, he’ll want to hear songs by artists closer to his heart. Maybe he’ll decide that Super Sako’s music should play before mass,” Danielyan said.
He added that he is no longer surprised to see the National Security Service (NSS) gradually turning into the NKVD, referencing reports that NSS officers have approached clergy with requests.
“You know what an NSS ‘request’ means,” said Danielyan, recalling how the NSS allegedly asked that the name of the Catholicos be omitted and references to Artsakh removed.
“I’m being sarcastic, don’t you get it? How can an NSS officer go ask a priest for that? We’ve said it a hundred times: this man has no constitutional right to interfere in the Church’s internal matters. This is a clear criminal case. He even admitted that he encouraged the NSS, and the NSS encouraged the clergy. It's layers of ‘encouragement’,” the opposition MP noted.
He expressed hope that clergy from the Shirak Diocese won’t end up in detention for refusing to comply with the prime minister’s suggestions.
On December 7, Prime Minister Pashinyan attended mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God (Yot Verk) in Shirak. Clergy from the local diocese had refused to hold the service after Pashinyan requested the omission of the Catholicos’ name. Security forces later sealed the church, and the mass was eventually conducted by Father Mkrtich Mushadyan from the Armavir Diocese. That same day, Pashinyan posted that it would be appropriate for the national anthem to be played before Sunday mass in all churches. On December 8, he further suggested that the presence of the Armenian flag at or inside churches be discussed, citing this as a common practice in several countries.
