Russian and New Nakhichevan Diocese calls for faithfulness to Holy Etchmiadzin and Catholicos of All Armenians

The Council of the Russian and New Nakhichevan Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, together with the clergy and millions of faithful members of the Armenian people, unanimously supports the statement of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and condemns yet another anti-church initiative undertaken on January 4, 2026, by the Armenian Prime Minister and ten bishops, which tramples upon the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and violates the rights of the Church enshrined both in international law and in Armenian legislation.

“This step, presented as an effort to ‘reform’ the Armenian Apostolic Church, we regard as an unlawful initiative dictated by political motives, an attempt to divide the Church, and a crime, for which the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the ten bishops who joined him—having broken their oath—bear full responsibility for its irreversible consequences.

We call upon our sisters and brothers not to become instruments and accomplices of godless forces rejecting Holy Etchmiadzin, but to remain faithful to the Holy Etchmiadzin and the Catholicos of All Armenians,” the statement reads.