"Fact" daily writes:
In my opinion, the religio-political sect is taking very seriously the fact that the Episcopal Conference will take place in Austria on February 16-19, 2026 under the name of "Church renovation" which officially started on January 4, 2026 at the residence of the RA Prime Minister.
The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin continues to elaborate clarifications about the canonicality of this pontifical decision, but for the leader of the above-mentioned sect, which is steadily turning into a schism, it seems that these clarifications are not acceptable, and most likely it is he who directs the holy fathers who are in his trap to call on the Mother See to cancel the pontifical decision of the Episcopal meeting to be convened in Austria or talk about it being non-canonical, otherwise the holy fathers know very well that everything is done within the framework of church laws.
Therefore, I will try to make a small clarification. Even if we consider that convening an Episcopal meeting in Austria has some problems with canonicality, we should also keep in mind that the unwritten law "Tax shall be dissolved freely" also applies in the Church.
In this case, the need to apply this law is directly related to the safety of the congregation, which is not guaranteed under the current force majeure situation in Armenia's internal politics and society.
The state hosting such assemblies must take upon itself the issue of security of the assemblymen.
The state must ensure the unhindered process of the assembly and refrain from illegal interventions aimed at influencing the decisions of the assembly. Are the current authorities of the Republic of Armenia ready to give such guarantees?
Of course not. And even if they talk about such guarantees, then who will believe their words when the Prime Minister of RA himself documents about "counter-intelligence work" by the employees of the RA National Security Service with the clergy?
It is obvious that what the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church is doing is solely in the interests of the Armenian people and the Armenian statehood, which perhaps causes fears among some circles. The Episcopal Assembly can be said to be a small National-Church Assembly.
In the ecclesiastical matters discussed in the national-ecclesiastical assemblies, secular deputies generally agree with the leaders of their dioceses, unless, of course, the leader has not replaced his Grace with ingratitude, gratitude with ingratitude.
Gennady Mnatsakanian
Details in today's issue of "Past" daily
