The current regime in Armenia is attempting to destroy the Armenian Apostolic Church. Why? Obviously, there is both an internal political aspect and an external one.
The internal political aspect is clear: the ruling authorities are trying to ensure their own reproduction in the upcoming elections without changing the approach they used in 2018. In 2018, they claimed that lawlessness and corruption reigned in the country, elections were rigged, and thus they intended to come to power to restore justice—while their first step was to sow division in society. Today, too, it is necessary to divide society into parts, but new ideas are needed. Therefore, they are now injecting religious fanaticism into society, dividing it into different segments in order to secure votes on this new basis or to fragment the voters’ voices.
And what is the external political aspect? In general, there exists the concept of religious geopolitics—a geopolitical framework—because through religion, great powers can bring certain territories under their control. National self-consciousness is formed through matters of faith; states are created and disappear through it. If there are different religious groups in a country between which division can be introduced, those countries can be taken under control or even provoked into civil wars. We have vivid examples of this right now: Syria, Lebanon, Israel—many more examples could be cited. Such problems never existed in Armenia, but now we see clear actions aimed at introducing division on religious grounds as well.
The examples of Ukraine and Georgia are telling. In 2008, when the Russo-Georgian war took place, resulting in deteriorated relations between the two countries—even diplomatic ties are absent to this day—the Georgian Church and the Russian Church managed to preserve their relations. Moreover, Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as autonomous entities, yet the Russian Orthodox Church did not recognize the Abkhazian and Ossetian churches and dioceses, declaring them part of the Georgian Church. The Georgian Church also played a very important role in the issue of power change. Due to the Church’s stance, power in Georgia shifted during elections, and Georgia’s foreign policy changed as well. The current Georgian authorities state that there are attempts to drag Georgia into war, that a values system crisis has emerged, and they will not allow it. Both the Georgian Church and the current Georgian government declare that the liberal ideologies being imposed on the country do not align with the national character or the Christian value system of Georgia.
We have another example in Ukraine, whose very existence is now in question. When the 2014 revolution occurred, emphasis was also placed on the Ukrainian Church—meaning an independent Ukrainian Church had to be created and separated from the Russian Orthodox Church for geopolitical reasons. For this, of course, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was utilized; the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church was recognized, leading to a rupture in relations between the Russian Church and the Constantinople Patriarchate. Many Orthodox churches, including the Georgian Orthodox Church, did not recognize the independence of the Ukrainian Church. This is one example of how geopolitical problems are attempted to be solved through churches.
Now let us turn to the Armenian Church. What does the Armenian Church represent? The Armenian Church possesses centuries-old diplomacy, thanks to which Armenians as a people have managed to preserve their national identity while being part of various empires. The Armenian Apostolic Church was able to establish rules of coexistence. Religious fanaticism has never been characteristic of the Armenian Church; the question of faith was placed on a deeper level. Thanks to this, the Church managed to form its independence and its own confession, gaining the opportunity to survive in the region during the times of the Arabs, the Mongols, and the Ottoman Empire as well. The policy and confession of our Church allowed us to endure. For instance, in Ottoman Turkey, the Armenian Apostolic Church constituted a separate millet, while no Georgian millet existed because Georgians consider themselves an Orthodox people and were supposed to submit to the Greek Ecumenical Patriarch. As a result, Georgians in Ottoman Turkey were completely assimilated, with rare exceptions.
The same process occurred in the Russian Empire. In 1811, the Russo-Georgian Church was abolished and became a separate exarchate of the Russian Church, with even its leaders sometimes being Russians. However, the Armenian Church preserved its independence and autonomy for the same reason—due to the formation of those historical diplomatic norms and also because the Armenian Church has a distinct confession and is a separate church.
Now, reaching the 21st century, we have a government that is trying to artificially instill religious fanaticism in society to satisfy certain geopolitical demands while serving its own reproduction interests. In 2018, upon coming to power, the current ruling team declared that it would fight the lawlessness that indeed existed in Armenia at the time. But what did we get as a result? Lawlessness, corruption, and injustice continue to flourish; in essence, a dictatorship is being established; elections are rigged. Yet we have suffered irreversible losses: Artsakh, parts of Armenia’s territory; today Syunik is in question, as is the very existence of Armenia. In short, the shortcomings that existed before 2018 could have been corrected in one, two, or three generations, but the current losses are irreversible. And now they are once again “fighting injustice”—this time inside the Church—and as a result, we will face irreversible losses anew. The question arises: why, for the sake of some group’s interests, must we incur these losses? What are the reasons for this indifference of the Armenian people? Because of this indifference, we may already face the complete loss of Armenia’s statehood.
Political scientist Stepan Danielyan