Pashinyan’s Tyrannical Assault on the Armenian Apostolic Church: Echoes of Bolshevik and Kemalist Despotism
by Davit Beglaryan
In Armenia’s hour of existential peril, where ancient faith has been the unyielding shield against genocide and invasion, Nikol Pashinyan—a self-styled “reformer” with plummeting approval ratings at a mere 13% —is unleashing a vicious, dictatorial crusade against the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC). This is not mere politics; it’s a calculated betrayal of the Armenian soul, a shameless power grab to crush the nation’s oldest institution and impose a hollow, state-worshipping cult in its place. Pashinyan, whose approval lags far behind the AAC’s 58% public trust, mirrors the ruthless anti-religious zeal of Vladimir Lenin and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk—despots who ravaged sacred institutions to forge godless regimes. Like Lenin, who exploited famine to loot and slaughter clergy during the Bolshevik Revolution, or Atatürk, who abolished the Caliphate and nationalized Islamic properties to enforce secular tyranny, Pashinyan is dismantling the AAC to eliminate any rival to his faltering authority. As Armenia reels from the loss of Artsakh and threats from Azerbaijan and Turkey, Pashinyan’s war on the church risks extinguishing the spiritual flame that has sustained Armenians for 1,700 years.
“Founded in 301 AD as the first national Christian church under King Tiridates III and St. Gregory the Illuminator, the Armenian Apostolic Church has withstood Ottoman genocides, Soviet atheism, and foreign invasions, with leaders like Catholicos Gevorg V rallying resistance during the 1915 Genocide and the heroic Battle of Sardarapat. Yet Pashinyan, a petty autocrat desperate to cling to power, treats this beacon of identity as an enemy to be crushed—much like Lenin’s 1918 decree stripping the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) of property and status, or Atatürk’s 1924 abolition of the Caliphate, which severed Turkey’s Islamic heritage to impose state absolutism.
The Church as an Ideological Foe to Pashinyan’s Regime
The AAC’s timeless legitimacy, rooted in centuries of moral guidance and cultural preservation, dwarfs Pashinyan’s fleeting grip on power. It commands deep reverence, especially outside Yerevan’s elite circles, unifying Armenians in crises—like the Soviet purges under Stalin, where clergy secretly preserved faith amid mass executions. For Pashinyan, this independence is a mortal threat to his totalitarian vision of Armenian identity. He apes Lenin’s venomous propaganda, which branded the ROC as “reactionary” and tied to Tsarism, or Atatürk’s reforms that banished religious symbols from public life to forge a secular Turkish nationalism.
In a grotesque display of hubris, Pashinyan declared in May 2025 that “our churches are storage rooms,” reducing sacred sites to warehouses and echoing Lenin’s 1922 famine pretext to seize ROC valuables, claiming they hoarded wealth amid starvation. 5 By July 2025, he escalated his despotism, proposing a “simplified charter” for the AAC to oust Catholicos Karekin II and announcing plans to “personally lead the liberation” of the church—blatant state interference akin to Atatürk’s creation of the Diyanet (The Presidency of Religious Affairs) to micromanage Islam.
Ruthless Delegitimization and Smear Campaigns
Pashinyan’s tactics reek of Bolshevik brutality: accuse, defame, and destroy. He has hurled baseless slurs at Karekin II, alleging he fathered a child and plotted a coup, while threatening forcible removal from Etchmiadzin if demands are ignored. His regime labels clergy as “counterrevolutionaries” and “enemies,” mirroring Lenin’s execution orders for “popular clergy” under fabricated charges, or the Bolsheviks’ 1919 relic exposures to “expose fraud” like St. Sergius’s remains as “rotten bones.” Pashinyan’s June 2025 stunt—offering to “expose himself” in retort to a priest—profanes holy discourse, drawing church condemnation as “unbecoming,” much like Atatürk’s 1925 closure of dervish lodges to erase Sufi influence.
By July 2025, Pashinyan demanded the state have the “final say” in Catholicos elections, a naked power grab echoing Lenin’s support for the schismatic “Living Church” in 1922 to divide and conquer the ROC. His arrests of critical clergy, blocked by crowds in June, recall Bolshevik executions of bishops like Metropolitan Vladimir, tortured and shot in 1918.
Imposing a Godless “New Religion”
As he erodes the AAC, Pashinyan peddles a perverse state cult: nation as bureaucracy, patriotism as blind loyalty to his regime, heroism as surrender. This desecrates Armenia’s Christian heritage, prioritizing “progress” over faith and history. It’s pure Leninism—replacing God with Marxism—or Atatürk’s “Six Arrows,” elevating secular nationalism above religion by secularizing education and banning Islamic garb. In July 2025, Pashinyan accused the church of “desecrating holy sites” and failing the people, while plotting a rally in Vagharshapat that risks provoking Armenian-on-Armenian violence—a divide-and-rule tactic straight from Bolshevik playbooks.
Seizing Symbols, Erasing Memory
The AAC guards Armenia’s symbols of martyrdom—from Genocide memorials to Artsakh’s monasteries. Pashinyan’s assault allows him to rewrite history, marginalizing Artsakh and anointing regime sycophants as “heroes.” This parallels Lenin’s 1920s closures of monasteries like Optina, or Atatürk’s Latin alphabet reform to cut ties with Islamic-Arabic roots. His July 2025 plan to “revamp the charter” and “verify candidates’ integrity” signals a puppet church, like the Bolshevik-backed Living Church that persecuted loyalists.
The Road to Ruin
Unchecked, Pashinyan’s tyranny could nationalize church lands, raid Etchmiadzin, and spawn a state-loyal “alternative” church—echoing Lenin’s executions of 100 clergy in 1922 or Atatürk’s expropriation of religious minorities. Even former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan urges halting raids and freeing jailed archbishops, highlighting the regime’s isolation. Armenia faces an etatist cult with Pashinyan as false prophet, dooming the “new Armenian” to spiritual oblivion.
Conclusion
Pashinyan’s onslaught is a despotic betrayal, not reform—a Leninist-Atatürkian purge of Armenia’s last bastion of autonomy. With the church’s trust soaring and his cratering, he wages war not for power, but to annihilate the nation’s eternal values. Armenians must rise against this destroyer, lest their faith—and freedom—perish under his boot.
