Attacks on AAC aimed at weakening its constitutional status -  ex-official 

ArmInfo. The campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) by the anti-national authorities has obvious political goals and poses an existential threat to national identity and state sovereignty. This was written on his Facebook page by former head of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia David Ananyan.

According to him, this attack is strategic in nature and is clearly  structured around two interconnected phases, which can be called the  and the .

Within the framework of the announced , a  manipulative discourse is essentially being put forward, where the  proposal to reduce the role of the church will be disguised by  demands for or the introduction of the . At the same time, the liberation of the AAC from its exclusive  status is the first step towards a complete change in the balance of  national and anti- national forces, with the weakening of national  institutions at the request or desire of internal and external  interested parties.

The ultimate goal of the maximum plan is much deeper and more  destructive. It may imply the complete collapse of the Armenian  Apostolic Church as a national institution that has preserved the  cultural, spiritual and ideological unity of the Armenian people for  thousands of years. This scenario is aimed at destroying one of the  last strongholds of national institutional independence, which will  inevitably lead to the erosion of identity, and in the long term - to  the loss of statehood and a national ontological catastrophe. No less  dangerous is the fact that the first plan may become a realistic  for the second.

The gradual weakening of the Church's status may be accompanied by  its further marginalization from the public consciousness. In  addition, the conflict around the AAC may be used as a short-term  mechanism for managing public consciousness and gaining electoral  advantages. Blackmail and pressure on the Church are apparently  included in the broader context of pre-election calculations,  creating the impression of a reformist agenda, mobilizing certain  radical social groups and, ultimately, ensuring the reproduction of  the current government in the upcoming elections.

Against the backdrop of these alarming processes, the most pressing  question is how the forces for whom national identity and traditional  Armenian values are paramount will respond to this challenge. Will  their actions be sufficiently coordinated and decisive, given the  scale of the threats? So far, we have seen their inaction and  disunity, the historical result of which is catastrophic consequences  for national identity," he noted.

According to David Ananyan, political forces that share national  values are facing a fateful test: will they be able to mobilize and  turn this crisis around in favor of consolidating society, will they  be ready to pool their resources and become a constructive force  capable of stopping this attack on the foundations of Armenian  existence?

"We must clearly understand that this liberation struggle goes far  beyond the issue of faith or church. It affects the fate of the  Armenian people as an intellectual and cultural community, its  ability to maintain the continuity of generations, its ability to  remain a subject of international relations," Ananyan concluded.

On May 29, at a government meeting, Pashinyan said that Armenian  churches resemble "closets filled with junk." The next day, he  published a harsh post on social media, in which he used obscene  language addressed to the hierarchs of the Armenian Apostolic Church  and, noting that he is officially not married, which ,  raised the issue of the mandatory celibacy of archbishops. He also  stated that the RA authorities should have a "decisive vote" in the  election of the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians,  and candidates for the post of Catholicos should undergo a background  check. His wife Anna Hakobyan hastened to join the campaign against  the church, calling the clergy pedophiles. She also expressed  dissatisfaction with the fact that the Catholicos of All Armenians  went to Bern (Switzerland) to participate in the international  conference "Religious Freedom: Preservation of the Armenian  Spiritual, Cultural and Historical Heritage in  Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh", organized by the World Council of Churches  (WCC) and the Protestant Church of Switzerland.

The day before, Pashinyan stated that if it turns out that Garegin II  really broke his vow of celibacy and has a child, then he cannot be  the Catholicos of All Armenians, .

According to many experts, Pashinyan has picked up Azerbaijan's  campaign against the Armenian Church, launched by the spiritual  leader of Azerbaijan Allahshukur Pashazade. Thus, the latter  previously stated that Armenian shrines, including the 1700-year-old  Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, are allegedly located on "historical  Azerbaijani lands", and the Armenian Apostolic Church poses a threat  to the countries of the region.