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His Holiness Karekin
I Sarkissian
 atholicos
of the Holy See of St. Etchmiadzin - Supreme Patriarch of Armenia's Holy
Apostolic Church, His Holiness Karekin I, baptized Neshan Sarkissian, was
born in Kessab, Northern Syria, on August 27, 1932. After attending the
Armenian elementary school in his inborn village, he was admitted to the
Theological Seminary of the Armenian Catholicate of Cilicia in 1946. In
1949, he was ordained a deacon, and graduated with high honors in 1952.
On September 28, 1952 he was ordained a celibate priest, renamed Karekin
in memory of the late Catholicos Karekin I Hovsepian, and joined the religious
order of the Armenian Catholicate of Cilicia. Upon presentation of his
doctoral thesis - The Theology of the Armenian Church, According to Liturgical
Hymns (Sharakans) - he was given the ecclesiastical degree of "Vardapet"
in 1955. He then assumed the duties of supervisor and member of the faculty
of the theological seminary in Antelias, Lebanon. He was appointed dean
of the seminary in 1956.
From 1957 to 1959, he studied theology
at Oxford University, in Great Britain, where he wrote his scholarly thesis
on The Council of Chalcedon and the Armenian Church (published in London
by SPCK in 1965, reprinted in New York in 1976). Upon his return to Lebanon
in January 1960, Fr. Karekin resumed his responsibilities as dean of the
seminary. Following the election of Khoren I as Catholicos of the Great
House of Cilicia on May 5, 1963, Fr. Karekin became an important aid to
the Catholicos, organizing pontifical visits around the world, and taking
part in high-ranking ecumenical gatherings with the World Council of Churches.
He also served as observer to such historic assemblages as the Second Vatican
Council (1963- 1965), the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church (1968),
and the Adis-Ababa conference of the Heads of the Oriental Orthodox (non-Chalcedonian
Churches). During this period, alongside his regular activities, he lectured
on theology, literature, history and culture in a number of schools and
universities in Beirut, Lebanon, as well as in Romania, Moscow and Kotayyam,
India. In recognition of his intense activities, Fr. Karekin was elevated
to the rank of senior archmandrite on June 16, 1963. He was consecrated
bishop on January 19, 1964, by Catholicos Khoren I. He received the rank
of Archbishop on April 26, 1973. In 1971, Bishop Karekin was elected Prelate
of the Diocese of New Jugha in Isfahan, Iran. In 1973, he was appointed
Pontifical Legate of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenia's Holy Apostolic
Church of America (in New York) under the jurisdiction of the Catholicate
of Cilicia, and a year later was elected its Primate. He worked diligently
in promoting various activities and services in the United States and Canada
for the benefit of the people, particularly the younger generation. He
played a decisive role in organizing a fund-raising drive for Lebanon during
that country's turbulent period of 1976-1977.
On May 22, 1977, Archbishop Karekin
Sarkissian was elected Catholicos of the Catholicosate of Cilicia. He served
in the capacity of "Catholicos Coadjutor" until the death of Catholicos
Khoren I, in February 1983. At this point he was fully installed as Catholicos
of the Great House of Cilicia. During the 18 years of reign as Catholicos
of Cilicia, His Holiness gave a new impetus to religious education, promoted
the Theological Seminary, which was transferred from Antelias to Bikfaya,
overhauled and modernized the seminary printing press, and established
a new museum-library. He undertook extensive pontifical visits to Lebanon,
Syria, Iran, Cyprus, the United States and Canada, Kuwait and the Arab
Gulf States. Among his ecumenical visits were visits to His Holiness Pope
John Paul II; Dr. Robert Runcle, Archbishop of Canterbury; the Federation
of Swiss Protestant Churches; the Lutheran Churches of Denmark and Germany;
His Holiness Shenouda III, Popr of the Coptic Church. In 1989, having completed
his term of office as one of the three presidents of the Middle East Council
of Churches, His Holiness was elected honorary president of that organization.
Catholicos Karekin has authored numerous
articles and studies on theological, Armenological, philosophical, ethical
and literary subjects, in Hask, the official monthly publication of the
Holy See of the Catholicate of Cilicia, and other periodicals as well as
in the form of books and booklets in Armenian, English and French. During
his tenure in Cilicia, Catholicos Karekin paid frequent visits to the Sea
of Holy Etchmiatsin in Armenia, the mother see of the Armenian Church,
both during Armenia's Soviet period and after Armenia regained independence.
In the aftermath of the earthquake of December 7, 1988, he visited the
stricken area and expressed solidarity with His Holiness Vasken I, of blessed
memory, the late Catholicos of All Armenians. The late Catholicos Vasken
I died in August 1994, after nearly 40-year reign as the leader of the
global Armenian Church. Armenian Church communities from around the world
sent elected delegations to choose a new Catholicos of All Armenians. About
400 delegates met in a National Ecclesiastical Assembly, which began on
Monday, April 3, 1995, at Holy Etchmiadzin, in Armenia, to elect the 131st
in a continuous line of pontiffs which dates back to the 4th century. On
April 4, 1995, Armenian Christians elected His Holiness Karekin Sarkissian
as the new Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. The enthronement
of the newly elected Catholicos of All Armenians took place on Sunday,
April 9, 1995, Palm Sunday, at the Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin. It was
the first pontifical election and enthronement to take place, in nearly
40 years, on the soil of the free independent Armenian republic.
As Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos
of All Armenians and successor of the Throne of St. Gregory the Illuminator,
Catholicos Karekin, now known as Karekin the First, as he is the first
Supreme Patriarch to bear that name, has entered a new and challenging
phase in his own ministry, even as the Armenian Church worldwide enters
a new era of leadership.Catholicos Karekin I has already made his initial
priorities clear: boosting morale in the beleaguered Republic of Armenia,
rebuilding the administrative structure of the Armenian Church, revitalizing
the Seminary of the Holy See of St. Etchmiadzin, and preparing for the
upcoming jubilee year of 2001, when the Armenian Church will celebrate
the 1700th anniversary of the historic conversion of the State of Armenia
to Christianity, in A.D. 301. His Holiness Karekin I has undertaken a series
of pontifical visits to the various regions of Armenia, including Nagorno-Karabagh.
He also traveled to Lebanon, to preside over the election of a new Catholicos
of the Great House of Cilicia.
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