Armenia is a secular yet deeply religious state in the Caucasus region that takes pride in being the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion in the year 301 CE.

With many still in shock after a court sentenced Apostolic Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan to jail on October 3, after finding him guilty of "making public calls aimed at seizing power," roughly two weeks later, Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan was put in pre-trial detention. 

Proshyan has been charged with coercing people to participate in assemblies and obstructing the exercise of electoral rights, in both cases by using official authority.

Before his arrest on October 15, authorities raided the Aragatsotn Diocese, where Proshyan serves as a primate, and the homes of its priests and staff. Twelve people were initially taken into custody, most of them priests, but only three were charged.

The criminal proceedings are based on the statements made by priest Aram Asatryan of the same Diocese in September during an interview with Armenia's Public TV network. Asatryan is one of the few priests openly critical of church leader Karekin II. Asatryan claimed that priests were pressured to join the 2021 opposition rallies.

The Church has dismissed the priest's claim and assessed the raids and arrest as "another manifestation of the systematic anti-church campaign instigated by the authorities."

The crackdown comes amid heightened tensions between the government and the Church, as the country gears up for the 2026 parliamentary elections. The Church, which enjoys a high level of public support, has increasingly taken on an opposition role, and clergy members have become more actively involved in politics.

Church-government rift

The Armenian Apostolic Church's relationship with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government, which came to power in 2018, was initially neutral but has gradually deteriorated and become openly confrontational following Armenia's defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

One major strain on bilateral ties emerged when Karekin II, among others, called for Pashinyan's resignation after the war, blaming his leadership for the defeat.

Along with several opposition protests demanding Pashinyan's resignation, the most significant pressure came in 2024 from the Holy Struggle movement, led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan.

Starting as a protest over the border delimitation issues with Azerbaijan in the Tavush region of Armenia, where Galstanyan served as diocesan primate, the Holy Struggle movement evolved into mass anti-government protests. It also saw the direct political involvement of a priest, with Galstanyan attempting to become prime minister; however, it failed to gain momentum.

New tensions between Armenia's government, Church

The renewed tensions between the Church and the government resumed in late May, when Pashinyan and members of his Civil Contract party accused Karekin II, as well as other high-ranking clergy, of breaking their celibacy vows.

The government demanded that Karekin II step down, saying that breaking the celibacy vow made him ineligible for his post. Furthermore, Pashinyan has sought direct involvement in replacing the church head, despite this being the sole authority of the National Ecclesiastical Assembly.

This contrasts with his 2018 stance after becoming prime minister, when he declined to intervene in "internal Church matters," in response to demands for Karekin II's resignation from a group of defrocked and active clergy, known as New Armenia, New Catholicos.

Some analysts view Pashinyan's current demands as an attempt to neutralize the Church as an opposition force ahead of the 2026 parliamentary elections and to install a more sympathetic Church leader.

"In times of crisis, the [Armenian] government has often sought to rally support by demonizing chosen groups — be it former elites, oligarchs, Russia, Karabakh [Armenian] refugees, or now the Church. Even if usually successful, this time it may be backfiring: The latest polls show that public trust in the prime minister has fallen as support for the Church surged," Narek Sukiasyan, a visiting postdoctoral fellow at the University of Zurich, told DW.

Alleged coup attempt

Lawyers for Archbishop Ajapahyan, who has pleaded not guilty, have vowed to appeal the court's decision, which many observers deem to be politically motivated. Their assessments are based on the fact that authorities previously saw no grounds for launching a criminal case against Ajapahyan, who, in several interviews, had publicly called for a coup, which is a criminal offense in Armenia.

"The crime either exists or it does not; the Prosecutor's Office cannot qualify in one case that no criminal element has been found, and in another case, if appropriate, put [the remarks] at the basis of the criminal case," Zara Hovhannisyan, a rights advocate, told DW.

While there have been criminal cases with the same charges in the past involving others, none have led to imprisonment, Hovhannisyan pointed out. She further argued that Ajapahyan could qualify as a political prisoner due to the "particularly severe approach" to his case.

The Prosecutor General's Office cited Ajapahyan's repeated calls for a coup in 2024 and 2025, arguing that the repetition showed the statements "are not emotional or careless expressions, but a conscious action."

Moreover, the Prosecutor General's office noted that Ajapahyan's statements "appear in a new light” amid arrests over an alleged coup attempt in June, despite Ajapahyan not being charged in that case.

Authorities in June raided the homes of the members of the Holy Struggle movement and arrested and charged Archbishop Galstanyan, the movement's leader and others for alleged "terrorist attacks and a coup d'etat." Galstanyan has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Edited by: Rob Mudge