Lawyer: AAC Supreme Spiritual Council members summoned to  Investigative Committee

ArmInfo.  Since this morning, police have been serving summonses to bishops who are members of the Supreme Spiritual Council, demanding that they appear before the Investigative Committee today as defendants. Lawyer Ara Zohrabyan reported this on his Facebook page.

He noted that some bishops have already received summonses. According  to him, representatives of the Supreme Spiritual Council are accused  of obstructing the execution of a judicial decision.

"Obviously, this is yet another interference in the internal affairs  of the Church, the main goal of which is to hinder the holding of the  Episcopal Council. I regret that the head of the Investigative  Committee has deviated from her mission and is placing many  conscientious investigators in this system in a difficult position,"  Zohrabyan added. As a reminder, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan launched a broad anti-church campaign in May 2025,  demanding the resignation of the Catholicos of All Armenians. As part  of this campaign, several clergy were imprisoned. Moreover, a group  of bishops joined Pashinyan in demanding the resignation of the  Catholicos of All Armenians. In this regard, on December 1, the  Catholicos of All Armenians announced the convening of an episcopal  assembly on December 10-12 to discuss recent developments related to  the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church and issues related to internal  church life. However, on December 8, the Mother See of Etchmiadzin  announced its indefinite postponement, given the repression against  the clergy, including arrests. Then, Karekin II decided to convene  the episcopal assembly in the Austrian city of St. Polten on February  16-19. It is noteworthy that it was at this time that the  Investigative Committee of Armenia opened a criminal case following  the decision of Karekin II to defrock Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, who had  joined the Armenian authorities' anti-church campaign.