The man tried to hit Pashinyan in the temple, the incident was captured on video.

An incident occurred in Yerevan's St. Anne's Church involving the guards of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and parishioners who attended the service. On March 29, Sputnik Armenia shared footage of the incident.

The video shows that when Pashinyan was about to leave, one of the parishioners did not like the look of his guard. He indignantly appealed to him not to look like that. At the same time, another believer tried to stab the second bodyguard, who, together with his colleagues, began to push the crowd away from the prime minister.

Those gathered in the temple began to get indignant and alarmed, and Pashinyan tried to resolve the situation by making hand gestures and asking his staff to calm down.

Take for faith: how Pashinyan turned to the repression of the clergy

How is the detention of Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan related to the elections to the Armenian Parliament next year

Political scientist Hrant Mikaelian, speaking to Izvestia on December 3 last year, pointed to the ongoing struggle between the government and the church in Armenia. According to him, politicians are trying to reconcile with Azerbaijan and Turkey by "attacking" the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), which they consider allegedly pro-Russian. The expert stated that the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, did not rule out that he could be arrested.

In February 2026, a criminal case was opened against Garegin II for allegedly obstructing the execution of a judicial act related to former cleric Arman Saroyan. The AAC called this step illegal and unjustified.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.