Armenian parliament approves 11-member committee to investigate the Apostolic Church as opposition stays away

Armenia's National Assembly voted on Tuesday, Oct. 6, to form an 11-member inquiry committee on what the measure calls a "crisis" in the Armenian Apostolic Church caused by the activities of several clergymen. NEWS.am reported 62 votes in favor and one against. Panorama.am said 11 Civil Contract lawmakers who were traveling on official business submitted written votes. Seven seats go to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract party, three to the opposition Strong Armenia faction and one to the opposition Hayastan (Armenia) faction.

Civil Contract lawmaker Arman Yeghoyan, who will chair the committee, said the church's special constitutional status should come with accountability. "The Armenian Apostolic Church and its de facto head have already crossed that line," he said, according to Panorama.am, accusing the church of political involvement. He said the committee will examine the church's financial transparency, alleged ethical violations, internal governance and property, and cases of senior clergy engaging in politics. According to NEWS.am, the head of government has said legislation will follow from the committee's findings.

Both opposition factions boycotted. Hayastan leader Anna Grigoryan said her faction considers the committee unconstitutional and would not take part in it or in Tuesday's debate. Strong Armenia leader Narek Karapetyan said his faction would neither join nor vote, PAN.am reported. Speaker Ruben Rubinyan told reporters the opposition had a right to boycott but that the committee's work "won't suffer." He accused opposition lawmakers of being politically aligned with Catholicos Karekin II, whom he referred to by his secular name, and with clergy he said had violated canon law. The committee follows a report by a government-run information center, prepared on the prime minister's instructions, that proposes a reform group and then the "removal of the de facto head" of the church. The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin has rejected that report as unconstitutional.

Two days before the vote, on Sunday, Oct. 4, Paula White-Cain, a senior adviser at the White House Faith Office, attended the Divine Liturgy at Etchmiadzin and met Karekin II, the Mother See's information service said. According to that account, the Catholicos thanked her for helping arrange a Sept. 16 meeting between President Donald Trump and Armenian church leaders, and both stressed spiritual leaders' role in promoting peace. She had come to Armenia for the second Republic of Armenia Prayer Breakfast in Yerevan on Oct. 2–3. Pashinyan attended that event. Asbarez reported that the Catholicos had not been invited.