Lawyers and activists in Armenia have spoken out in support of the church.

More than a thousand citizens signed a statement in defense of the Armenian Apostolic Church, initiated by a group of lawyers and public figures. They called the authorities' actions against the church unconstitutional.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on January 6 in Talin, supporters of the ruling Civil Contract party prevented priest Hayk Sahakyan from entering the Surb Astvatsatsin Church. Talin Mayor Tavros Sapeyan announced that the defrocked priest Tade Tahmazyan would perform the Christmas Liturgy at the church. Sahakyan was also prevented from entering the church on December 31, 2025. On January 25, during Nikol Pashinyan's visit to Talin, local resident Sarkis Petrosyan held a solo protest. That same day, the rector of the Surb Astvatsatsin Church, Hayk Sahakyan, left the church with a group of worshippers after a high-ranking official persuaded him to leave the church so that another person could serve the liturgy in the presence of Nikol Pashinyan. "They say a defrocked priest will serve," Father Hayk told reporters.

The liturgy in Talin, attended by the Armenian Prime Minister, was conducted by defrocked priest Aramayis Tahmazyan, formerly Priest Ter Tade. He was defrocked by the decision of the Catholicos of All Armenians on December 3, 2025, for discrediting the Armenian Church and the clergy, arbitrarily excluding from the liturgy the portion that includes the commemoration of the name of the Catholicos of All Armenians and the diocesan primate, as well as for other anti-church actions, the press service of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin announced on January 25.

On January 26, a court in Yerevan extended the house arrest of Father Garegin Arsenyan, head of the diocesan chancery and rector of the Surb Gevork Church in Mughni, for another month. Arsenyan was arrested on October 16, 2025, along with Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, primate of the Aragatsotn Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and is accused of assisting in the coercion of participation in meetings.

The court also extended the pretrial detention of Mkrtich Proshyan, who is accused of obstructing the exercise of electoral rights and forcing participation in meetings using his official powers, for another month. Lawyer Ruben Melikyan called the extension of Proshyan's detention a continuation of the repression against the church. The defense's arguments for the bishop's release were "more than convincing," he stated on his social media page.

On January 26, a group of Armenian lawyers and scholars accused the country's political leadership of "numerous violations of the Constitution, international treaties, and national legislation" in actions directed against the Armenian Apostolic Church.

“The Constitution of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church as a national church with an exclusive mission in the spiritual and cultural life of the Armenian people, and relations between the state and the Church are regulated by a special law adopted back in 2007. At the same time, the principle of separation of religious organizations from the state obliges the authorities to guarantee the freedom of their activities and excludes arbitrary interference in the internal life of the Church,” reads the statement received by the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

The authors of the statement note that government bodies and officials “have the right to act exclusively within the powers expressly provided for by the Constitution and laws.”

“Any actions that go beyond these limits, including interference in church affairs under the guise of ‘reforms,’ are, at the very least, superficially unconstitutional. Such steps lead to an artificial schism in the national church, violations of the freedom of conscience of believers, and the undermining of the foundations of the constitutional order,” they note.

The statement also cites the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, which "consistently recognizes state interference in the autonomy of religious communities as a violation." Furthermore, it notes that "slander and insulting statements against the church and clergy from official platforms are unacceptable."

According to the lawyers, "in the context of serious external and internal challenges for the country, such practices distract the authorities from their constitutional mission and pose risks to social stability." The statement was signed by Gagik Ghazinyan, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and Doctor of Law, and 17 other professional lawyers with academic degrees.

At the same time, a petition in defense of the Armenian Apostolic Church was launched on social media by public figures. Its initiators express support for Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II and "all clergy who have come under attack from Nikol Pashinyan's anti-church campaign and persecution." The petition, which demands "an immediate end to the unleashed campaign against the AAC and a non-interference in their internal life and rituals," as well as "the immediate release of imprisoned clergy and an end to their illegal criminal prosecution," is being collected via a Google document. As of 3:00 a.m. Moscow time today, 1,100 people have signed on.

Public figure Karen Vrtanesyan reported that he, along with public figures Lilit Bleyan and Hovhannes Ishkhanyan, initiated the signature drive in defense of the church.

“Currently, there are already more than 1,000 signatories. We are talking about citizens of the Republic of Armenia, all of them real people: young and old, people of different professions and with very different beliefs, who, despite everything, understand that the campaign unleashed by the authorities is completely unconstitutional and criminal,” he told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.