Khajag Barsamian

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian (Armenian: Խաժակ Արքեպիսկոպոս Պարսամեան, born on July 4, 1951), was the Primate of Diocese of Armenian Church of America (Eastern) and is the president of the Fund for Armenian Relief. He was the longest serving Diocesan Primate, leading the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) from 1990 to 2018.

Early life and church career

Khajag Barsamian was born in Arapkir, Turkey on July 4, 1951. At the age of 13, he began his religious studies at the Holy Cross Armenian Seminary in Istanbul. Encouraged by Archbishop Shnork Kaloustian (the late Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople), he went to Jerusalem to study at the Seminary of the St. James Armenian Patriarchate from 1967 to 1971. He was ordained a celibate priest in 1971 and achieved the ecclesiastical degree of vartabed two years later.

His later educational pursuits have led him throughout the United States and Europe: to New York's General Theological Seminary, St. John's University in Minneapolis, the Gregorian University in Rome, and Oxford's Oriental Institute. He has lectured in the United States, Italy, England, Germany, Jerusalem and Armenia, and has conducted research at the Manuscript Library of Yerevan, the Mekhitarist Institute of Venice and the Manuscript Library at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. His publications have appeared in various educational and scholarly journals. In October 1991, General Theological Seminary awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree.

Concurrent with and subsequent to his education, he has taken on pastoral duties in Istanbul; in the Armenian communities in Jaffa, Haifa and Ramleh; and throughout the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America—in Worcester, Massachusetts; Minneapolis – Saint Paul and at the St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in New York City, where he served as Vicar General and director of Ecumenical Relations.

Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (1990-2018)

Khajag Barsamian was elected as Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) in the spring of 1990 (succeeding Abp. Torkom Manoogian), and was subsequently elevated to the rank of bishop by Vasken I (the late Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians), at the Cathedral of Holy Echmiadzin. In 1992, he received the rank of archbishop. In May 2018, Barsamian announced that he would not seek an eighth term as Primate of the Eastern Diocese.^[1] His 28-year reign as Primate is the longest in the history of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America. On May 4, 2018, Very Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan was elected as Barsamian's successor as Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church (Eastern), and confirmed as the new Primate by His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Spiritual Leader of the Armenian Church.^[2][3]

Other activities

As the president of Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR), Khajag Barsamian he has led the effort to develop Armenia and bring humanitarian assistance to its citizens.

Archbishop Barsamian is a leader in a number of religious and ecumenical organizations, including the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, Religion In American Life, and the American Bible Society.

He is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and has received honorary doctorates from General Theological Seminary, Seton Hall University, and the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.

See also

• Armenian Apostolic Church
• Fund for Armenian Relief

References

External links

• Abp. Barsamian's profile on the website of Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
• Abp. Barsamian's profile on FAR website