Actor and TV host Gnel Sargsyan insulted the monastery’s abbot on the grounds of the Marmashen monastic complex, in the presence of people and also during a Facebook live stream. The reason was Father Pharen Priest Petrosyan’s Facebook post, in which he had declared that he would ban entry to any church or shrine operating within his pastoral territory for those who have anti-church, anti-Christian manifestations and hatred and cynicism against spiritual fathers, as well as those who carry Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s ideas.

With this post, Father Pharen had responded to the statement made at Nikol Pashinyan’s government session.

After what took place on the monastery complex grounds, on June 2, lawyer Vahan Hovhannisyan submitted a report to the Investigative Committee. The lawyer says that neither he nor any other person should actually have submitted the report, as the live broadcast is already grounds for initiating proceedings.