Greeted with Nikol Pashinyan, the brother of Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, leader of the Masyatsotn Diocese, Father Hakob Saroyan, also decided to rebel, refusing to join the statement of the clergy of the Armenian Diocese of Russia and New Nakhichevan, in which the latter express support for His Holiness the Patriarch and the clergy imprisoned by the RA authorities.
In particular, it is said in the statement:
"Clergymen of the diocese, with the exception of Moscow St. Reverend Father Hakob, spiritual minister of the Transfiguration Church. Saroyan, unilaterally declare that they stand with unwavering and unconditional loyalty to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, its pilgrim clergy and St. Gregory the Illuminator next to the Patriarch Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, as well as clergy imprisoned by the RA authorities.
We, the spiritual ministers of the Armenian Diocese of Russia and New Nakhichevan, express our concern and indignation regarding the dangerous events that took place around and especially inside Our Holy Church. We strongly condemn the anti-church campaign of the RA authorities and the unorthodox and divisive approaches adopted by some church members within the same framework and logic.
1. Betrayal of a commitment voluntarily undertaken by ordination. "I promise and vow to be faithful to Saint Etchmiadzin until the end of my life and to continue to remain under the orders and authority of the Catholic Holy Mother See, to which, by the Holy Spirit's choice, the first enlightening Holy Apostles of the Armenian world and their legitimate successor, our Apostle Saint Gregory, in constant order and direct succession, the Catholicos of All Armenians, Ter Ter Karekin, is sitting today, and [I promise] to obey] his lawful successors, respecting and obeying all orders" (Charter Clause 3)
2. The deviation from the correct doctrine, the arbitrary begging of the Holy Liturgy, the actual refusal to accept the legitimate, nationally elected Patriarch, to pray for the worlds of Armenia and Artsakh
3. Entering into secret transactions with the authorities that violated Article 17, Article 17, and Article 18, Clauses 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and legitimizing the government's interference with the church's internal regulations.
We, the spiritual servants of Tiraknam Diocese, bring our filial bow and express our unconditional loyalty and devotion to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the church regulations and the nationally elected ruler N. S. O: T. T. To Karekin the Second Catholicos of All Armenians, to steadily fulfill our spiritual mission in the Armenian spiritual and national heritage.
We call to be faithful to the unity and spiritual covenant of the Mother Church."
