Courts confirm: internal life of the Armenian Apostolic Church is protected from state interference

S. Abovyan and A. Melkonyan, judges of the Court of General Jurisdiction of First Instance of Armavir Province, have terminated proceedings in the civil cases brought by Stepan Asatryan (formerly Father Aram) and Aramais Takhmazyan (formerly Father Tade), former priests of the Diocese of Aragatsotn.

The former clergymen had sought to have the Patriarchal orders of Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, defrocking them declared invalid, and to be reinstated as spiritual pastors of the Surb Hovhannavank Monastery and the church in Talin, respectively.

Ara Zohrabyan, the lawyer representing the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, noted that in both cases the courts accepted the legal position of the Mother See: matters related to defrocking a clergyman are governed by the Church’s internal canon law and cannot be heard in civil proceedings.

“The courts also confirmed that spiritual service cannot automatically be equated with an employment relationship and that the internal life of the Armenian Apostolic Church is protected from state interference. Both decisions provide for the lifting of the interim measures previously imposed, which had obliged the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to allow the former priests to continue performing their duties.

These decisions are important not only for these specific court cases but also for protecting the constitutional guarantees of the autonomy of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church and its hierarchical governance.

The separation of church and state means that state bodies, including courts, cannot assume the functions of church authority or determine the canonical status of clergy through secular legal regulation. At the same time, the Church’s internal matters must be resolved in accordance with its canons and the procedures they establish.

Protecting the autonomy of the Church also means protecting freedom of religion and the principles of the rule of law,” Zohrabyan said.