November 11, 2025
A Heartfelt Call for Vigilance
The tense and unpleasant situation that has arisen in Armenia from the confrontation between the authorities and a group of clergymen is, without doubt, a source of deep distress for us all.
In our statement of 29 June 2025, “With our people and our homeland, for our people and our homeland,” the Board of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party had resolutely urged that the Mother See categorically cease having political aspirations and interventions, so that the unseemly trampling of our unshakeable understanding of the state, as well as the insult to our national dignity, would not continue.
Catholicos Karekin II, however, has unfortunately chosen not to break his firm alignment with other like-minded adventurers, openly pursuing devious, misguided and perilous political agendas.
Moreover, it is a horrifying phenomenon that the Mother See, with a certain vainglorious arrogance, is seeking to seize the homeland’s government. Theocracy is an anti-popular and repugnant form of rule, rejected and alienated by all conscious and progressive peoples.
It is absolutely unacceptable and intolerable that our Church should have political ambitions. Even more so, it is despicable to the point of insulting intelligence that the head of the Church bearing the title “Catholicos of All Armenians” should clearly adopt an orientation contrary to the indisputable majority of the Armenian people.
The Armenian Democratic Liberal Party unquestionably considers the Armenian Apostolic Church to be one of the most sacred pillars of our national identity, for whose unadulterated, immaculate and unshakable preservation it has always fought uncompromisingly. It is precisely from this principled standpoint and with this zeal that the Central Board deems the present inglorious situation despicable and disgraceful.
The sacred and highly significant mission of Armenian clergymen is the spiritual leadership of our people. It would be greatly desirable and beneficial for the clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church to devote their attention and time entirely to that soulful mission.
Yet we note with pain that the secular, materialistic and misguided course and appetites of Karekin II and a group of high-ranking clergymen, wholly unbecoming of the clerical class, are endangering the reverent respect, trust and even faith that the Armenian people harbour towards our Church.
This profane situation not only severely tarnishes and discredits the Armenian Apostolic Church, but may even cause irreparable harm to both our sacred homeland and our entire nation.
Therefore, it has become imperatively necessary for Karekin II and his “comrade-in-arms” clergymen to thoroughly weigh and moderate their present course, so that as a nation we may avoid extremely undesirable and disheartening situations and all their consequences.
Central Board of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party
