In EVN Report’s news roundup for the week of June 27: Tensions continue to escalate between the Armenian government and the Church; Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who led last year’s opposition protests, has been detained on charges of attempting to overthrow the government; National Security Service officers clash with supporters and clergy at the Holy See of Etchmiadzin while trying to detain another archbishop and more.
In EVN Report’s news roundup for the week of June 6: Two teenagers from Syunik region accidentally cross into Azerbaijani territory; France opens an Honorary Consulate in Syunik’s town of Goris; tensions between PM Nikol Pashinyan and the Church flare up once again and more.
The enduring myth of “Celestial Armenia”, a spiritual, idealized vision rooted in religious doctrine, has long been manipulated by political and clerical elites and exploited by Russia, hindering the emergence of a sovereign, realistic Armenian state grounded in political responsibility and modern geopolitics.
After a seven-year restoration, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, considered the world’s oldest cathedral, was reconsecrated in 2024, a historic effort that preserved sacred murals, reinforced the ancient structure and culminated in a chrism blessing.
The 2020 war and 2023 military operations in Artsakh have left Armenian cultural heritage vulnerable to destruction and appropriation. Azerbaijan's reclassification of Armenian sites aims to erase Armenian identity, falsify history, and legitimize territorial claims through cultural expropriation.
The institutional mechanisms, economic arrangements, and social power networks that Catholicos Garegin II constructed and relied on are incompatible with Armenia’s democratic project and the values of the Church as a sacred institution, writes Nerses Kopalyan.
Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, leader of the "Tavush for the Homeland" movement, is advocating for resistance against the government's peace policy. Blending patriotism, spirituality and disobedience, his aim is to restore national morale. But can he succeed? Tigran Yegavian’s analysis.
Christian Armenian lore traces the origins of harissa to Gregory the Illuminator, who converted King Tiridates III to Christianity at the beginning of the 4th century. Hranoush Dermoyan traces the history of this traditional Armenian dish.
EVN Report’s mission is to empower Armenia, inspire the diaspora and inform the world through sound, credible and fact-based reporting and commentary. Our goal is to increase public trust in the media. EVN Report is the media arm of EVN News Foundation registered in the Republic of Armenia in 2017.
