Armenian opposition MP accuses government of moral decline, defends church's enduring role

Opposition lawmaker Tigran Abrahamyan on Saturday delivered a pointed rebuke of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government, accusing it of ethical deterioration and antagonism toward the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In a social media post, Abrahamyan, secretary of the Pativ Unem faction, criticized concerted effort by the authorities and their allies to undermine the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

“A regime that wages a campaign against the shadow of the Mother See only reveals its own poverty of values and intellectual insolvency,” Abrahamyan wrote.

He emphasized the transient nature of political power and material wealth, contrasting it with the church’s enduring mission. “Governments, offices and money are fleeting, whereas the Armenian Apostolic Church remains steadfast and unchanged in its calling,” he stated.

Abrahamyan also denounced what he portrayed as a culture of impunity within the ruling elite, arguing that while internal competition may exist in “persistence, shamelessness and lack of principle”, confronting moral accountability would ultimately prove more challenging than facing legal consequences.