Karekin II hosts youth organizations' representatives

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. On August 21, 200 young men paid a visit to the Mother See of Holy Ejmiadzin to congratulate His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, on the occasion of his birthday anniversary and convey their dedication and support to the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Information System of the Mother See of Holy Ejmiadzin informed "Armenpress" that the meeting with the youth launched with the Lord’s Prayer. After, Very Rev. Fr. Yeghishe Avedisian congratulated the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II on behalf of the youth on the occasion of his 62nd birthday anniversary.

His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, is the 132nd successor to Saint Gregory the Illuminator, and occupies the throne of St. Gregory in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

His Holiness was born in the village Voskehat, near Etchmiadzin, in 1951, and was given the baptismal name Ktrij.

He received his elementary education in his native village, subsequent to which, in 1965, he was admitted to the Kevorkian Theological Academy in Holy Etchmiadzin, where he graduated with distinction. Upon graduation he taught New Testament Studies and was an Assistant at the Seminary. Having been ordained a deacon before his graduation, he was ordained a celibate priest in 1972 and was given the name Karekin.

Following his ordination to the Holy Priesthood, the late Catholicos Vazken I, of blessed memory, arranged for the young priest to pursue higher religious education at the local faculty of Divinity in Vienna, Austria. In 1975, the future Catholicos served at the Church in Germany as a pastor, while continuing his theological studies at the University of Bonn. After four years in Germany, he returned to the Holy See, and was sent by Catholicos Vazken to Zagorsk, Russia, to pursue his studies at the doctoral Faculty of St. Serguey Monastery's Academy of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Following his studies in Russia, His Holiness was appointed to be the assistant to the Vicar general of the Araratian Patriarchal Diocese in 1980. In April 1983, he became the Vicar General of the same Diocese. In October of the same year, he was ordained a Bishop and in 1992, he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop. In 1990, he was a candidate to the Armenian legislature.

In 1989, Bishop Karekin Nersissian created the Vazkenian Seminary in Sevan to educate young men in religious studies, completing a five-year course prior to the entrance to the Theological Academy at Holy Etchmiadzin, where they would study for one additional year. Additionally, through his efforts, the former Communist Pioneer Palaces were converted into church-sponsored youth centers for religious and artistic education of young men and women.

In 1990, His Holiness created the Christian Education Center, which organized Christian Education courses in 56 public and Sunday schools throughout the Diocese.

In 1995, Archbishop Karekin Nersissian was a prime candidate in the Catholicossal Elections, but he withdrew his candidacy in favor of Catholicos Karekin I, of blessed memory. In 1998, the late Catholicos appointed him as Catholicossal Vicar General.

He has served as a member of the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Catholicosate of All Armenians, since 1990.

On October 27, 1999, as a result of the closed secret ballot election held in the Cathedral of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Archbishop Karekin Nersissian was elected the 132nd Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians and was consecrated on November 4, 1999.