In a significant escalation of the ongoing conflict between the Armenian state and its ancient church, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared on July 3 that a snap election must be held for the position of Catholicos of All Armenians, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Pashinyan directly challenged the authority of the current leader, Catholicos Garegin II, arguing that the church’s leadership has lost the confidence of the people.

Pashinyan’s call comes in the immediate aftermath of the latest protests against his government supported by the church establishment, which demanded Pashinyan's resignation. Referring to the peak of these protests, Pashinyan noted that when the bells of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin—the spiritual headquarters of the church—rang out to gather supporters, only about 1,500 clergy and citizens attended. The Prime Minister presented this low turnout as definitive proof of the public's distrust in the church's political ambitions.

"There is no other option," Pashinyan stated, framing the small crowd as a clear mandate for the urgent departure of Catholicos Garegin II (whose secular name is Ktrich Nersisyan) from his post.

Drawing parallels to past events, Pashinyan recalled that the Catholicos had also called for his government's resignation during the political turmoil of 2020-2021. He argued that the subsequent snap parliamentary elections—widely acknowledged by the international community as free and fair—served as a public referendum. According to Pashinyan, the results showed a clear vote of confidence in his administration and, conversely, a vote of no-confidence in the church leadership.

The Prime Minister’s latest statement marks an unprecedented challenge to the authority of the Catholicos and signals a deepening rift between Armenia's political government and a religious institution that has been central to the nation's identity for centuries.