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RUSSIAN PRESIDENT MEETS CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS
PanARMENIAN.Net
21.01.2010 22:26 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russian President Dmitry Medvedev held a meeting with
Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin II and Patriarch of
Moscow and All Russia Kirill, prior to the awarding ceremony of the
International Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Christian Nations.
Russian-Armenian ties and inter-confessional relations were in focus,
RIA Novosti reported.
His Holiness Karekin II was born in 1951 in the village of Voskehat,
near Etchmiadzin, and baptized Ktrij Nersissian.
He entered the seminary of Holy Etchmiadzin in 1965, graduating with
honors in 1971. For a year after graduation he taught at the seminary.
He was ordained as a deacon in 1970 and a monk (celibate priest) in
1972, at which time he received the priestly name Karekin. Shortly
thereafter, His Holiness Vasken I (Catholicos of All Armenians,
1956-1994) sent the new priest to Vienna to study theology. In 1975,
Fr. Nersissian moved to Germany, where he studied and graduated
from Bonn University while serving as pastor to the local Armenian
community. Following a brief return to Armenia, he enrolled in
postgraduate studies at the Russian Orthodox Academy in Zagorsk,
Russia, from which he graduated in 1979.
In March 1980, he entered the service of the Araratian Pontifical
Diocese, the Armenian Church's most populous diocesan jurisdiction,
which incorporates the capital, Yerevan, and the vicinity of the Mother
See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Appointed head of that diocese in June 1983,
he was elevated to the rank of Bishop on October 23rd of that year,
by the hand of His Holiness Vasken I. Catholicos Vasken granted him
the title of Archbishop in November 1992.
During the past decade, Archbishop Nersissian has been a prominent
figure in Armenia's religious, social, and cultural life. The
charitable missions he has launched have helped his flock in their
struggle to build a free and decent society from the physical ruins of
the 1988 earthquake, and from the spiritual debris of Armenia's Soviet
period. He has been notable for using technology, especially television
broadcasts, as a tool of evangelism and outreach. Following the death
of Catholicos Vasken I, Archbishop Nersissian was a candidate for the
pontifical throne during the National Ecclesiastical Assembly of April
1995, but conceded victory to His Holiness Karekin Sarkissian, who
thereafter became Catholicos Karekin I (Catholicos of All Armenians,
1995-1999). The latter, being treated for cancer in New York, appointed
Archbishop Nersissian as the Vicar General of Holy Etchmiadzin in
November 1998, in which capacity Nersissian served until the late
Catholicos' death in June 1999.
He was elected the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians
on October 27, 1999, when more than 450 delegates from Armenian
Church jurisdictions around the world met in a National Ecclesiastical
Assembly at Holy Etchmiadzin, the Church's Mother See, located in the
Republic of Armenia. His consecration and enthronement followed on
November 4th. As the 132nd in a continuous line of Catholicoi dating
back to the Fourth Century, Catholicos Karekin II presides over the
Supreme Spiritual Council (the Armenian Church's governing college of
bishops), and is the chief shepherd of the world's 7 million Armenian
Apostolic Christians.
PanARMENIAN.Net
21.01.2010 22:26 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russian President Dmitry Medvedev held a meeting with
Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin II and Patriarch of
Moscow and All Russia Kirill, prior to the awarding ceremony of the
International Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Christian Nations.
Russian-Armenian ties and inter-confessional relations were in focus,
RIA Novosti reported.
His Holiness Karekin II was born in 1951 in the village of Voskehat,
near Etchmiadzin, and baptized Ktrij Nersissian.
He entered the seminary of Holy Etchmiadzin in 1965, graduating with
honors in 1971. For a year after graduation he taught at the seminary.
He was ordained as a deacon in 1970 and a monk (celibate priest) in
1972, at which time he received the priestly name Karekin. Shortly
thereafter, His Holiness Vasken I (Catholicos of All Armenians,
1956-1994) sent the new priest to Vienna to study theology. In 1975,
Fr. Nersissian moved to Germany, where he studied and graduated
from Bonn University while serving as pastor to the local Armenian
community. Following a brief return to Armenia, he enrolled in
postgraduate studies at the Russian Orthodox Academy in Zagorsk,
Russia, from which he graduated in 1979.
In March 1980, he entered the service of the Araratian Pontifical
Diocese, the Armenian Church's most populous diocesan jurisdiction,
which incorporates the capital, Yerevan, and the vicinity of the Mother
See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Appointed head of that diocese in June 1983,
he was elevated to the rank of Bishop on October 23rd of that year,
by the hand of His Holiness Vasken I. Catholicos Vasken granted him
the title of Archbishop in November 1992.
During the past decade, Archbishop Nersissian has been a prominent
figure in Armenia's religious, social, and cultural life. The
charitable missions he has launched have helped his flock in their
struggle to build a free and decent society from the physical ruins of
the 1988 earthquake, and from the spiritual debris of Armenia's Soviet
period. He has been notable for using technology, especially television
broadcasts, as a tool of evangelism and outreach. Following the death
of Catholicos Vasken I, Archbishop Nersissian was a candidate for the
pontifical throne during the National Ecclesiastical Assembly of April
1995, but conceded victory to His Holiness Karekin Sarkissian, who
thereafter became Catholicos Karekin I (Catholicos of All Armenians,
1995-1999). The latter, being treated for cancer in New York, appointed
Archbishop Nersissian as the Vicar General of Holy Etchmiadzin in
November 1998, in which capacity Nersissian served until the late
Catholicos' death in June 1999.
He was elected the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians
on October 27, 1999, when more than 450 delegates from Armenian
Church jurisdictions around the world met in a National Ecclesiastical
Assembly at Holy Etchmiadzin, the Church's Mother See, located in the
Republic of Armenia. His consecration and enthronement followed on
November 4th. As the 132nd in a continuous line of Catholicoi dating
back to the Fourth Century, Catholicos Karekin II presides over the
Supreme Spiritual Council (the Armenian Church's governing college of
bishops), and is the chief shepherd of the world's 7 million Armenian
Apostolic Christians.