Armenian bishops and diocesan leaders, under the chairmanship of the Catholicos of All Armenians, respond to the accusations of the authorities, declaring that they are blatant and false.
At the meeting held in Holy Etchmiatsin under the leadership of Garegin II, a statement was adopted, in which it is noted that various representatives of the government, including the Prime Minister, “in these days of public revolt against unilateral territorial concessions in Tavush under the name of delimitation and demarcation, have started targeting the Armenian Apostolic Church again. to the Holy Church, throwing out various false statements and untrue theories related to the historical mission and current activities of the Church.”
Relations between the church and the government are tense, especially after the 44-day war. However, they intensified in recent weeks, when Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, leader of the Diocese of Tavush, demanded the resignation of the prime minister. There have been various statements from the ruling party, including that “the real goal of the church is to sacrifice the statehood of Armenia for its internal and external group interests”.
The subject of church taxation was also raised.
The bishops of the Mother See and the leaders of the dioceses call the accusations regarding the non-payment of taxes by the Church a scandal.
“Official statistics directly document the fulfillment of tax obligations defined by RA law. It is especially reprehensible when the head of the government accuses the Armenian Church of being an “agent of influence” both in the past and today, with baseless accusations and reckless intent,” the statement said.
“We express our pain that the current authorities address the existing problems in Church-state relations unbecoming of their circumstances, also by using tools of threats, pressures and misinformation,” the authors of the statement say.
The properties and transactions of the Mother See are partially taxed, however, the structure is in the list of 1000 large taxpayers, on the 488th place, in the first three months of this year, it paid 147 million 475 thousand drams to the budget, most of it – about 119 million is income tax, 348 thousand drams for value added a tax must be paid, presumably for a non-religious transaction.