Pashinyan continues to criticize the episcopate and patriarchs of the Armenian Church for failing to observe monastic vows.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has offered the head of the Armenian Church, Patriarch (Catholicos) Garegin II, to show his penis. The politician made such an unusual offer after accusations that Pashinyan had undergone circumcision.
OC-media writes about this.
Earlier, one of the Armenian priests, Zare Ashuryan, accused Pashinyan of circumcision on his Facebook page, hinting that he is not a Christian, and perhaps even anti-Semitism.
“I believe that our apostolic holy Church must immediately cleanse itself of those false believers who are traitors to the nation, have trampled on the memory of their ancestors, have broken the vow of baptism and have replaced the seal of the holy cross with the sign of circumcision,” Ashuryan wrote.
On social media, Pashinyan once again addressed Garegin II by his secular name, stating that he was “ready to accept Ktrij Nersisyan and his representative [Father Ashuryan] and prove the opposite” regarding his circumcision.
Pashinyan also repeated his question to Garegin II: “And let him finally answer the question of whether he broke his vow of celibacy or not. Does he have a child or not?”
It was the latest exchange of accusations between the Armenian prime minister and the Armenian Church in recent weeks.
Why Pashinyan Quarreled with the Clergy
Let us recall that a conflict has broken out between Pashinyan and the Armenian Church. At the end of May 2025, Pashinyan stated at a government meeting that Armenian churches resembled “storerooms filled with junk.” Later, he published a post on his Facebook page claiming that Patriarch Garegin II had violated his vow of celibacy and that the cleric allegedly had a child. If such accusations turn out to be true, then according to church canons, Garegin cannot be a Catholicos. Pashinyan demands his resignation, citing church rules. In this way, he will eliminate his main critic.
The politician accused the bishops of not observing celibacy, monastic vows. According to him, all the bishops, who must necessarily be monks, have unofficial families and children.
Pashinyan’s common-law wife Anna Hakobyan supported her husband and called church hierarchs “the country’s main pedophiles” and “the country’s main spiritual mafiosi.”
As the BBC explains, the Armenian Church, one of the oldest Christian churches in the world, became opposed to Pashinyan after the defeat in the war for Karabakh. The publication even explains this confrontation with the term “real Armenia versus historical Armenia.”
If Pashinyan advocates reconciliation with Azerbaijan and Turkey, then for the church history is the basis of its authority. And “historical Armenia” is a claim against Azerbaijan for Karabakh and Turkey for Western Armenian lands near Lake Van, Mount Ararat and the Armenian genocide in the early 20th century.
