Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan quoted biblical passages and claimed that the establishment of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan was God’s plan during his keynote address yesterday at the country’s first Prayer Breakfast.

The event took place at Yerevan’s Marriott Hotel yesterday and today amidst rising tensions between the government and the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Pashinyan’s office, in a statement, writes that he emphasized that for the first time in its history, the Republic of Armenia is living in peace. 

“This is a long path that we have traveled, perhaps too often hearing and not knowing, looking and not seeing the path that God has prepared for our people and our state,” Pashinyan is quoted as saying

The Holy See of Etchmiadzin has noted that it did not organize the event, arguing  that the event does not align with traditional Armenian Church practices. The event brought was attended by religious leaders, diplomats, and civic activists from Armenia and worldwide.

Many, including Asif Mahmud, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, urged the Armenian government to release clergymen now detained in the country.

The Prayer Breakfast’s vision, according to its Armenian government website, is:

“To renew Armenia’s spiritual foundations and affirm its traditional Christian values. To convene leaders with a shared moral vision for open conversation, mutual understanding, and the pursuit of strategies that promote peace, prosperity, and principled governance.”

Pashinyan, during his keynote speech yesterday, stressed the importance of incorporating biblical principles into political activity and state governance.

The Armenian prime minster, referring to the ethical conduct of government officials and the need to “raise the bar,” said the following.

“And, of course, good behavior is a topic of reforms, good behavior is a topic of regulations, checks and balances, but good behavior is impossible without the presence of God, good behavior is impossible without the word of God.”

Pashinyan, who claims to be a “faithful follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church,” has called for the removal of Catholicos Garegin II, alleging that the church leader has broken his vow of celibacy and has fathered a child.

“I call on the faithful followers of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church to unite around the agenda of liberating the Patriarchate with love and Christianity and electing a truly sacred clergyman as Catholicos of All Armenians,” Pashinyan wrote in a Facebook post on June 9.

On June 10, Pashinyan called on Armenian Apostolic Church adherents to organize a coordinating council designed to organize new Catholicos elections.

The Christian Post, an American evangelical online newspaper based in Washington D.C., covered the Prayer Breakfast in an article entitled, Armenia's prayer breakfast draws critics amid tensions between prime minister, church leaders.

The paper quotes Dede Laugesen, president and CEO of the United States-based nonprofit organization Save the Persecuted Christians, as describing the event as “historic” and "a civil society-organized and founded event, not a government-led one."