‘Church under threat’: Armenian archbishop’s message from prison to IRF Summit

Armenian Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan sent a letter from prison to the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, warning that the Armenian Apostolic Church, recognized as one of the world's oldest Christian bodies, is under threat and calling on U.S. Vice President JD Vance to intervene.

His message was delivered by the Switzerland-based group Christian Solidarity International days after the Armenian government escalated legal actions against the church’s leadership, even as the IRF Summit convened this week with faith-based leaders, policy advocates and NGOs focused on rising global restrictions on religion.

CSI’s President John Eibner read the archbishop’s letter aloud at a press conference in Yerevan, at the end of a joint visit to Galstanyan in prison with Swiss parliamentarian Erich Vontobel.

The “simple truth is that the Christian Armenian nation faces an existential threat,” reads the archbishop’s letter, addressed to former U.S. Ambassador at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback and IRF Summit Participants.

Galstanyan, who is a vocal critic of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and leader of the Sacred Struggle opposition movement, wrote that his “offense is to speak an unwelcome truth,” asserting that Armenia is being turned into a “vassal state” by Azerbaijan and Turkey through efforts to neutralize the church’s independent voice in society, CSW said in a statement to The Christian Post.

The archbishop is one of four senior clerics detained by the Armenian government in the past eight months. According to his letter, they include Archbishop Mikael Ajapajyan, Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan and Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, all of whom say they have been subjected to surveillance, public defamation and arrest.

The Armenian government has filed multiple charges against the archbishops and bishops, including plotting to overthrow the government, coercing citizens to join protests, obstructing judicial acts, and, in one case, involvement in planting drugs during a 2018 demonstration. Authorities claim these actions amount to attempts to destabilize the state.

In the letter, Galstanyan accused Pashinyan of attempting to override church leadership, saying Pashinyan has publicly branded Catholicos Karekin II, the global head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, a “threat to national security.”

The government charged six bishops over the weekend with “obstructing a judicial act,” and banned them from international travel ahead of the planned Episcopal Assembly in Austria from Feb. 16 to 19. The assembly was moved abroad to ensure independence from Armenian state interference.

Eibner called the charges part of “the government’s campaign against the church,” which he said aims to dismantle its ability to advocate for national interests.

In a separate letter addressed to Vice President Vance, Galstanyan appealed for U.S. pressure to stop the detentions and ensure freedom for Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, or Artsakh. He asked Vance to demand the release of Armenian Christian political prisoners in Armenia and Azerbaijan and to include the church in any Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process.

In the same message, Galstanyan condemned the nationalization of businesses linked to church supporters, citing the case of Samvel Karapetyan, a lay patron of the church whose company was allegedly seized by the state.

The archbishop warned that neighboring Azerbaijan’s goal is to erase Armenia’s Christian identity and integrate the country into a regional bloc dominated by Turkey. He said the Armenian Apostolic Church, which has withstood Ottoman, Soviet and Azerbaijani repression, remains the core of the nation’s unity.

Vontobel told the Yerevan press conference that he had discussed Nagorno-Karabakh with the archbishop during the prison visit, and said Galstanyan urged him to continue advocating for the rights of Armenians ethnically cleansed by Azerbaijan's military takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023. Vontobel pledged, “The case of Nagorno Karabakh is not closed yet.”

Advocates for the government-in-exile of the former self-autonomous Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) have called for global actors to help the 120,000 displaced to eventually be given the right to return to their ancient homeland that is now under Azerbaijan's control. 

The Swiss parliamentarian introduced a motion in March 2025 urging his government to mediate between Azerbaijan and Artsakh’s displaced residents; it was passed by the National Council.

Galstanyan’s letter, quoting the Prophet Jeremiah, warned against false promises of peace while repression continues. “They say, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. Such is the case in Armenia today,” he wrote.

The archbishop described his own arrest as politically motivated, likening Pashinyan’s methods to those of Soviet authorities and stating that the detentions aim to stifle dissent from church leaders during a time of national crisis.

In both letters, Galstanyan connected the church’s persecution to what he called the collapse of Armenia’s sovereignty following the 2023 ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Armenian Center for Political Rights, or ACPR, represented at the Yerevan event by its president, Rafael Ishkhanyan, said the campaign against the church entered a third phase when individual believers began facing legal pressure.

He linked the crackdown to a 2025 church conference in Bern, where the Catholicos demanded the release of Armenian hostages and the right of return for Artsakh Armenians.

Ishkhanyan contends that event was “the trigger” for the state’s acceleration of anti-church actions, culminating in the charges filed against the bishops this past weekend.

CSI-Germany’s CEO, Father Peter Fuchs, who joined the prison visit, brought messages of support from German Christians. He told the press that Pope Leo XIV had recently sent formal greetings to Catholicos Karekin II, affirming him as the church’s legitimate head.

Fuchs told reporters that such solidarity from international Christian leaders is especially urgent at this time.

The ACPR said it published a detailed report on the anti-church campaign in December.