Attempts underway to turn Church into ‘puppet structure,’ but that is impossible – Nikoghos Hovhannisyan

Despite government pressure to obstruct the planned Episcopal Assembly outside Armenia’s borders, recent reports confirm that the gathering will indeed take place. The previously chosen location also remains unchanged.

In an interview with Alpha News, theologian Nikoghos Hovhannisyan said that the developments show that the Armenian Apostolic Church does not yield to government pressure.

“The Church has played a serious and important role in our national life for centuries, and no kingdom or authority can impose anything upon it,” Hovhannisyan said.

According to him, the current developments in Armenia are ordinary forms of pressure against the Church. He noted that there is an attempt to turn the Church into a “puppet structure,” but that is impossible. “The Church can never become a tool in the hands of any authority,” he emphasized.

Hovhannisyan stressed that the developments within the Mother See are strictly internal matters of the Church. Only the Mother See and the Church itself can decide where and when the assembly should be held, and no external force can alter those decisions.

“As decided, so it will be,” the theologian concluded.