The 'Candle Business Overseer' is the Nephew of Ktrich Nersisyan: Pashinyan

Attempts are being made to present the idea that we are fighting against the Church, but in reality, we are standing in defense of the sacredness of the Church's hierarchy. This was stated today, June 19, during the concluding speech at the National Assembly regarding the annual report on the execution of the 2024 state budget by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“What we are doing today is nothing but defending the hierarchy established by the Council of Ashtishat in 356. It was determined at the Ashtishat Council that the upper hierarchy of the Church should be celibate. Why? First, for doctrinal reasons, because the servants of the Church, the most devoted and faithful servants, must forget about their personal lives, must forget about marriage, and must 'marry' the Church and nothing else,” he said.

According to him, it is exactly through this hierarchy that the moral, ideological, and material security of the Church must also be guaranteed. “Part of the logic of this decision was that no direct or indirect hereditary rights should arise over Church property, because the Catholicos of All Armenians is the owner of the property of the Armenian Apostolic Church on earth. If the Catholicos has heirs, here inevitably arises the hereditary covenant. Today we have the following picture: the 'candle business overseer' is the nephew of Ktrich Nersisyan, the head of the largest diocese is Ktrich Nersisyan's brother, and the leader of another diocese is his sister's son, and so on. The Armenian Apostolic Church has been seized by a clan, and we are not fighting against the Church, but for the Church's hierarchy,” he emphasized.