Armenian Church marks Christmas as government push to intervene deepens

(Horizon Weekly) – The Armenian Apostolic Church marked the Feast of the Nativity and Theophany on January 6 with solemn liturgies across Armenia, amid an escalating confrontation between the state and the Church.

At the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II presided over the traditional Christmas Divine Liturgy, reaffirming the Church’s spiritual leadership at a time of mounting political pressure. Former state officials and public figures were among those in attendance.

In contrast, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, alongside President Vahagn Khachaturyan and National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan, attended a separate service at Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Yerevan. The government’s participation came as Pashinyan continues to openly challenge the Catholicos and promote a state driven “reform” agenda targeting the Church’s internal affairs.

Earlier, Pashinyan announced the creation of a coordinating council to advance these reforms, a move widely viewed as an unprecedented intrusion into the autonomy of the Armenian Apostolic Church and a violation of the constitutional separation between Church and state.

While parishes across the country observed the Feast with prayer and the traditional Blessing of the Water, the holiday unfolded under the shadow of a deepening institutional crisis provoked by the government’s confrontational approach toward Armenia’s most enduring national institution.