The National Ecclesiastical Assembly of the Armenian Apostolic Church will be convened in the near future, according to Gevorg Danielyan, a member of the Supreme Spiritual Council. The announcement comes amid intensified political pressure on the Church by Nikol Pashinyan and his government, including public attacks on the Catholicos and efforts to portray the Church as internally divided.
Danielyan stated that the upcoming Assembly will demonstrate that these claims are unfounded. While acknowledging that a small number of individuals are deliberately creating tension, he emphasized that there is no real schism within the Church and urged those contributing to the unrest to remain within its canonical framework.
The last National Ecclesiastical Assembly was held in 2017. Since then, its convocation has been delayed due to exceptional circumstances, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Artsakh War, and the prolonged political and security instability that followed.
The National Ecclesiastical Assembly is the supreme governing body of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church and its oldest institutional assembly. Convened by the Catholicos of All Armenians at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, it must also be called within six months in the event the Catholicos’s seat becomes vacant to elect a successor.
The Assembly elects the Catholicos of All Armenians; decides on national-ecclesiastical, theological, canonical, and administrative matters; adopts and amends the Church’s Constitution; defines relations with other Churches, states, and international organizations; reviews reports of Church bodies; and elects members of its governing institutions.
In the current climate, convening the National Ecclesiastical Assembly is not merely procedural. It is a direct institutional response to sustained political attempts to undermine the authority, unity, and legitimacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
