Clerics File Lawsuit Demanding Revocation of Patriarch's Directives

Aramais Takhmazyan (Fr. Tade Takhmazyan) and Stepan Asatryan (Fr. Aram Asatryan) have filed lawsuits in the General Jurisdiction Court of Armavir Province against the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church. They are demanding the annulment of the relevant directives of the Catholicos of All Armenians and their reinstatement to their respective positions as spiritual leaders. This information has been reported by ‘Hetq’.

Aramais Takhmazyan seeks to have the December 2, 2025, patriarchal directive of Catholicos Karekin II declared invalid, under which Fr. Tade Takhmazyan, the spiritual leader of the Talin region, was defrocked, and as a consequence, to be reinstated to the same spiritual position in that region. The complaint has been assigned to Judge Hovhannes Melkonyan, who is the president of the General Jurisdiction Court of Armavir Province.

Stepan Asatryan is asking for the Catholicos’s directive dated October 21, 2025, declaring him defrocked to be annulled and to be reinstated as the spiritual leader of St. John Monastery. This case has been assigned to the same court and Judge Sima Abovyan.

Meanwhile, it is noted that the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church has filed two lawsuits against Stepan Asatryan on January 22, 2026. One lawsuit demands that Stepan Asatryan be compelled to return a apartment located on Arshakunyats Avenue in Yerevan, which belongs to the Church by right of ownership, including the keys to the apartment, and to evict him (and those living with him) from the said apartment.

The second lawsuit demands that Stepan Asatryan be compelled to return the Church of the Holy Monastery of Hovanavan, located in the Aragatson Province’s Ashtarak community, which belongs to the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church by right of ownership, including the keys to the church, as well as prohibiting Stepan Asatryan from entering the Holy Altar, treasury, and courtyard of the Hovanavan Monastery.