The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin stated that, by an “unlawful decision” of the head of the Penitentiary Service under the Ministry of Justice, clergy appointed by the Church have been barred from entering detention facilities.
The Mother See urged the Ministry of Justice to respect the law and established ecclesiastical order, and to restore the normal functioning of spiritual service in penitentiary institutions without obstructing the Church’s mission.
“The head of the Penitentiary Service has effectively suspended the spiritual service of the Armenian Apostolic Church in penitentiary institutions, while bypassing the Mother See and ignoring legal regulations, entering into employment contracts with individual clergy members. This step is another targeted anti-church campaign by the authorities aimed at restricting the Church’s pastoral mission guaranteed by law in public life, which has also manifested in the Armed Forces and the education sector,” the statement said.
It noted that Article 10 of the law “On Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church” закрепляет the Church’s mission of providing pastoral care in places of detention, while Article 17 of the law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” defines this activity as the exclusive prerogative of the national Church and guarantees that the state must not hinder it.
According to the statement, it is unacceptable that the head of the Penitentiary Service, ignoring agreements between the Ministry of Justice and the Armenian Church, has made unilateral decisions regarding the organization of spiritual service.
“It must be clearly stated that, under these laws and the agreement between the Ministry of Justice and the Armenian Apostolic Church, the subject authorized to carry out pastoral activity is not an individual priest, but the Church itself,” the statement emphasized.
The Church described such actions as грубое вмешательство in its internal affairs, undermining its structured pastoral service and turning it into arbitrary administrative practice.
It further stated that ongoing actions against the Church suggest that the ruling political force has turned anti-church policy into state policy, calling this destructive and strongly condemnable.
The statement also recalled that spiritual service in penitentiary institutions has been carried out since 1993. In 2003, a dedicated department for prison ministry was established at the Mother See, and in 2014, an agreement was signed between the Mother See and the Ministry of Justice defining the scope, structure, and objectives of this service.
