The Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America has published a statement by Archbishop Hovnan Derderian explaining his decision to align with Pashinyan under the banner of “church reform.” In the statement, he accuses His Holiness of scandals, secrecy, and mismanagement, labels the Church as “anti-state,” and openly supports the government’s peace agenda. However, the text reads less like a genuine expression of spiritual concern and more like a pro-Pashinyan political message. Internal Church matters are transformed into public pressure tactics, critics are dismissed as “radicals,” and loyalty to the state is elevated above the independence of the Armenian Apostolic Church. This is not “reform.” It is the politicization of the Church.
The statement is issued amid an escalating confrontation between the Armenian Apostolic Church and Pashinyan. Together with ten senior clergymen, Pashinyan has renewed demands for the removal of Catholicos Karekin II and announced a “reform” process involving the dismissal of the current Church leadership, the appointment of a locum tenens, the adoption of a new Church charter, and the election of a new Catholicos. This “reform” initiative follows a sustained campaign against the Church, including public attacks on its leadership, deliberate avoidance of the Catholicos’s ecclesiastical title, calls for public confrontation with clergy, and actions by aligned clerics widely interpreted as attempts to assert control over Church premises.
During the same period, several senior clergymen, businessman Samvel Karapetyan, and dozens of others have been arrested for publicly supporting the Church, while clerics involved in the “reform” initiative faced disciplinary measures by the Mother See for political activity deemed incompatible with clerical office.
