I Won't Hand Over Anything. Defrocked Father Aram Asatryan

I have received the notice, and I do not accept my defrocking. This was stated today by the defrocked Father Aram Asatryan at the Hovhannavank Monastery.

“We have heard, we do not accept, and we are not obliged to anything. I won’t hand over anything. Who has defrocked me?” Asatryan told Father Shnorhk Abbot Paloyan, who had come from the Ararat Diocese.

Father Shnorhk Abbot Paloyan noted that he must leave the church by 15:00 today, handing over the keys to the new priest. “As a priest, you cannot be where it is proper for priests to be: ‘on the altar, in the court, in the classes, and in the repositories.’” Asatryan inquired who had instructed him to convey this message. “Did the Synod request this? Tell them I do not accept it, who sent this paper is an institution I do not respect,” he said.

To a journalist's question about whether he is threatening Father Shnorhk, Asatryan asked, “But who is threatening me, who has taken my ordination away? I do not accept it,” he stated.

When asked if he was declaring war on the Mother See, Asatryan replied, “Is the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin declaring war against God?”

To the comment that he considers himself God, Asatryan said he considers himself a servant of God.

He then began to shout, “The Catholicos cannot have a wife and children. I have the pictures, I have a place to live, come on.” Asatryan continued, “The Catholicos cannot live a married life, well go ahead.”