A man who has repeatedly broken all his oaths and promises dares to judge the clergy of the Armenian Church: Father Hambardzum Danielyan

Father Hambardzum Danielyan's statement:

“The Prime Minister’s recent publications, particularly the one in which he claims that there are clergy who have violated their vows before the Holy Altar, are not only an insult to all clergy and believers of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, but also a direct encroachment on holiness.

In this way, a line is crossed that neither secular power nor any political ambition should ever approach.

Neither law nor morality gives any official the authority to assume divine authority to judge whether a clergyman has kept his vow before God or not.

Who gave him that right? Should a political official decide whose covenant is "valid" and whose is "broken," who is worthy to stand before the Holy Altar and who is not?

These are questions whose answers lie not in the government's headquarters, but only before God, before the tabernacle where spiritual authority is born.

Coming to the second side of the question.

It is simply unacceptable when the clergy of the Armenian Church, who have selflessly demonstrated their loyalty to their nation and church, dare to be judged by a man who has himself repeatedly broken all his oaths and promises to his own people about justice, transparency, peace, and the rule of law.

We remember those vows, uttered before the people. But instead of their fulfillment, we have seen something completely different: political reprisals, restrictions on press freedom, the weakening of civil society, division as state policy. And now the same man is trying to measure the value of a spiritual vow.

The priest takes his vows not on campaign trips, but before the Holy Altar. The service of a priest is not a position, but a vow of life, a way of the cross, according to which he remains when everyone else leaves, he remains with his flock, a vivid testimony to which are the past and present wars that have befallen our country.

It remains only to say one thing: if anyone today wants to measure the covenant of fidelity, let him begin with his own: “Judge not, that you be not judged; for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged” (Matt. 7:1-2).”