I Appeal to His Holiness Karekin II to Defrock Navasarad Kchoyan: Marukyan

For the first time in my life, I am appealing to His Holiness Karekin II, asking him and all the saints who have demanded justice, the purification of the Church, and for the current Katholikos to retire, not to intervene in any way. However, I specifically ask for the defrocking of Navasarad Kchoyan, the leader of the Ararat Diocese. This was stated by the president of the ‘Enlightened Armenia’ party, Edmon Marukyan.

“Why am I making this request to the Catholicos? Navasarad Kchoyan is best known to our people, and it has always puzzled us what merits he has to lead the largest diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Therefore, by defrocking Kchoyan, you will place Pashinyan and his team in such a silly situation that they will be forced to defend him, revealing that their actions have nothing to do with the purification of the Church. Overall, I believe that Navasarad Kchoyan should have been defrocked long ago or at the very least, should not have led the Ararat Diocese for years without popular support,” wrote Marukyan.

In his statement, he also noted, “In recent years, our state has gone through and is still going through numerous challenges, and he has not distinguished himself in any way, except of course for the scandals related to diamonds, offshore companies, arms, and Bentleys. I urge you to defrock Navasarad Kchoyan, so we can see how the ‘purifiers’ of the Church from the ruling party rely on him and defend such a disgraced clergyman.”