Armenian authorities create a coordinating council to reform the Church

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. Photo: newsarmenia

On the night of January 5, 2026, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced the creation of a coordinating council to reform the Church, Armenia Today reports.

On this topic Church of Armenia urges hierarchs who support authorities to return to canons

The council includes Pashinyan and 10 bishops who signed a joint statement on launching reforms of the Armenian Church due to a governance crisis, a crisis of spiritual life, and the Church’s involvement in political processes.

Among the reforms, the participants in the coordinating council listed: removing the head of the Armenian Church, electing a locum tenens of the Catholicos, holding elections for the head of the Church, and adopting a charter that will ensure the clergy’s moral conduct and transparency of financial operations.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Pashinyan had called for people to gather for a “cross procession” in support of “church reforms.”

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