Amsterdam & Partners LLP expresses grave concern over recent developments in Armenia involving judicial and political interference in the internal governance of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church (AAHC).
The use of a secular court to adjudicate ecclesiastical decisions of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, particularly in matters of clerical discipline, represents a profound departure from Armenia’s constitutional order and from established European legal norms governing the separation of Church and State.
The present matter arises from the dismissal of Bishop Gevorg Saroyan from his post as head of the Masyatsotn Diocese by the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Rather than pursuing remedies available under Church canon law, Bishop Saroyan initiated proceedings before a secular court challenging the Church’s internal decision. On 27 January, the Church formally defrocked him for violating his vow of obedience and for submitting a sacred ecclesiastical dispute to secular judicial review. Notwithstanding this, the Vice President of the Armenian Parliament, Ruben Rubinyan, publicly declared the Church’s decision “invalid,” asserted that the defrocked cleric “remains a Bishop,” and launched personal attacks against His Holiness Catholicos Karekin II, dismissing his spiritual authority and characterising him as an “opposition politician.”
The most serious concern is not rhetorical but institutional: a secular court has been invited to sit in judgment over the disciplinary decisions of the Catholicos, the supreme spiritual authority of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church. Such judicial review is fundamentally incompatible with the 2015 Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. Article 17(1) guarantees freedom of religion, while Article 17(2) expressly provides that “religious organisations shall be separate from the State.” Article 18(1) goes further, recognising and safeguarding the exclusive mission of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church as a national church central to the spiritual life, culture, and national identity of the Armenian people. These provisions are reinforced by Armenia’s Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations, which prohibits state interference in the internal life of religious bodies and expressly bars governmental bodies or officials from exercising authority within church structures.
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Crucially, Armenian law does not merely recognise the AAHC symbolically; it affirms its self-government. Article 2(2) of the relevant law provides that the Republic of Armenia “recognises the self-government of the Armenian Apostolic Church within the scope of the sacred authority of the clergy.” The decision to defrock a bishop lies at the very core of that sacred authority. Allowing secular courts to override or review such decisions would strip these constitutional guarantees of any practical meaning.
This principle is neither novel nor uniquely Armenian. Across European constitutional systems, secular courts consistently refrain from adjudicating internal matters of religious discipline and doctrine. Courts in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom have repeatedly affirmed that disputes concerning clerical status, ordination, or discipline fall outside the competence of civil courts, save in narrowly defined cases involving purely civil rights. The European Court of Human Rights has likewise held that state interference in internal church governance violates Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the autonomy of religious communities as an essential element of religious freedom.
Against this legal background, any attempt by Armenian courts or political authorities to invalidate ecclesiastical decisions of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin constitutes an abhorrent violation of the Armenian Constitution, Armenia’s domestic law, and its binding international obligations. As documented in the White Paper published by Amsterdam & Partners LLP, these developments cannot be viewed in isolation. They form part of a broader pattern of conduct by the government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that has sought to undermine the autonomy of the AAHC and the authority of the Catholicos, in direct contravention of Armenia’s constitutional framework and international commitments guaranteeing freedom of religion or belief.
Amsterdam & Partners LLP urges Armenian state institutions to immediately cease judicial and political interference in the internal governance of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, to respect the constitutional separation of Church and State, and to bring state practice back into conformity with both Armenian law and European democratic standards.
Amsterdam & Partners LLP is an international law specialised in political advocacy and human rights, based in London and Washington, DC. For more information, please visit www.amsterdamandpartners.com. Media enquiries may be directed to [email protected].
Robert Amsterdam Armenia’s Post