The Information and Public Relations Center SNCO of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia publishes the report titled “Report on the Crisis That Has Emerged in the Church as a Result of the Actions of the de facto Head of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church and a Number of Senior Clergy, and on Ways to Resolve It.”

The preparation of this Report arises from the Programme of the Government of the Republic of Armenia for 2026–2031 and was carried out on the instruction of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia.

The Report was prepared by the Information and Public Relations Center SNCO of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia in accordance with the statutory objectives and functions of the Center.

The objective of the Report is to document the crisis that has emerged in the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church (AAHC) based on the examination of open sources and to propose ways to resolve it.

This Report does not in any way contest the doctrinal foundations, the Sacred Tradition, or the canonical order of the Church. On the contrary, it documents violations of those very foundations in defence of the identity and autonomy of the Church.

The Report emphasizes that the reform is to be carried out by the Church itself—through the conciliar participation of its hierarchy and the faithful—while the State acts strictly within the scope of its constitutional and legislative powers.

Exclusively widely known information available in open sources and accessible by lawful means was used in the Report, supported by more than 250 citations and references.

In each area, the facts and testimonies were correlated with the relevant provisions of the AAHC Book of Canon Law, the Apostolic Canons, the 1945 Charter on Convening the National Ecclesiastical Assembly, other canonical documents, and the legislation of the Republic of Armenia.

The Report documents 16 findings manifesting the crisis. Among them are:

  • Violation of the vow of celibacy and impunity for breaches of integrity,
  • Arbitrary persecution and defrocking of clergy,
  • Financial opacity and non-purpose use of Church-owned property,
  • Ordinations based on kinship and clan-based governance,
  • Politicization of the Holy Altar and the spread of foreign influence,
  • The 27-year obstruction of the National Ecclesiastical Assembly and the absence of a unified Constitution,
  • Splits in the dioceses of the Diaspora.

The Report proposes a five-step roadmap for overcoming the crisis.

You can read the full text of the Report here.