Armenian Apostolic Holy Church The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

Sunday, October 10, was a joyous day in the life of the Armenian Church. During the celebration of Divine Liturgy, the vast St. Gregory the Illuminator Mother Cathedral of Yerevan was filled with faithful, family and friends, as nineteen deacons of the Armenian Church were anointed and ordained into the Holy Order of Priesthood by His Grace Bishop Arshak Khatchatrian, Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. His Holiness, Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, presided during this unprecedented historic event. This marked the first occasion in memory that so many faithful sons of the Armenian Church were ordained to the priesthood at one time. In order to accommodate this large number of ordinates, the ordination service was moved from the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin to St. Gregory. Six of the deacons are graduates of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary, one is a graduate of the St. James Theological Seminary of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem and twelve are the first graduates from the Accelerated Academic Course for the Priesthood, under the auspices of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

The Accelerated Academic Course for the Priesthood was a new program instituted by His Holiness more than two years ago to select individuals with higher educations who wished to bring their service to the Armenian Church and Nation as priests. The Course had strict and difficult entrance requirements: The candidates must have the recommendation of their Diocesan Primates, a minimum of a bachelors degree from an institution of higher learning, and passed the entrance and subsequent exams, maintaining exemplary grades throughout the two and a half year program. The main target of the program was to reach out to the rural villages and settlements that are in dire need of priests. The first twelve graduates who became priests were among the most highly educated of the students. Among them are an architect, a physicist, a composer, a psychologist, an accountant, a historian, scientists and instructors.

On the evening prior to the ordination, a public examination of the candidates? profession of faith was conducted in the Mother Cathedral of Yerevan. The sponsoring priests testified for the spiritual and religious training and virtues of the candidates. The candidates unanimously rejected and anathematized the heretics and schismatics and vowed to follow the true faith of Jesus Christ, the Apostles and the Armenian Patriarchs. As a sign of their orthodox faith, they recited the dogmatic creed of the Armenian Church, written by St. Gregory of Datev, and vowed to remain faithful to the hierarchy of the Armenian Church and the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

The following morning, during the Divine Liturgy, the candidates ascended to the Holy Altar of the Cathedral with the recitation of psalms. Rev. Fr. Vardan Navasardyan, assistant to the Grand Sacristan of the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, had organized a team of deacons to assist their brothers in their vesting. After removing their stoles from each individual deacon, they were placed back around the ordinates necks, and turning westward to the faithful, they raised their hands as a sign of their renunciation from secular life and devotion to a spiritual one. The ordaining bishop anointed the foreheads and palms of both hands of each new priest with Holy Chrism (Muron) and gave them new names. The faithful present awaited each new name in hushed yet eager anticipation.

Deacon Artur Hovhanissian became Father Aristakes;
Deacon Hovhannes Baghalian became Father Vrtanes;
Deacon Ararat Nurijanian became Father Husik;
Deacon Arman Shahnazarian became Father Nerses;
Deacon Mher Ghahramanian became Father Gyut;
Deacon Arman Simonian became Father Norayr;
Deacon Husik Hayrapetian became Father Babken;
Deacon Hovhannes Vahanian became Father Moushй;
Deacon Gagik Babayan became Father Mashtots;
Deacon Haik Petrosian became Father Ghazar;
Deacon Artur Sargisian became Father Smbat;
Deacon Artur Dravants became Father Matteos;
Deacon Arayik Mkrtchian became Father Manuel;
Deacon Vahan Andreasian became Father Tovmas;
Deacon Karlen Ghazarian became Father Arakel;
Deacon Vladimir Galsdian became Father Yeznik;
Deacon Garnik Arakelian became Father Simeon;
Deacon Hovhannes Sargisian became Father Pavstos;
Deacon Vachagan Babayan became Father Anania;

Following their anointing, His Grace Bishop Arshak presented the chalice used to prepare Holy Communion to the newly ordained priests, transferring to them the power and right to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and distribute the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the faithful. While the kiss of peace was joyfully being distributed among the thousands of faithful, His Holiness Karekin II led the procession of bishops, members of the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin, and visiting clergy from a number of dioceses, as they ascended the bema and conveyed their congratulations by kissing the anointed foreheads and hands of the new priests. In attendance for the service were Their Eminences Archbishop Datev Sarkissian and Archbishop David Sahakian of the Mother See; Archbishop Grigoris Buniatian, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of the Ukraine; Archbishop Mesrob Krikorian, Pontifical Legate to Central Europe; His Grace Bishop Arakel Karamyan, Primate of the Diocese of Kotayk; Very Rev. Fr. Derenik Davityan, Locum Tenens of the Diocese of Gegharkunik; Rev. Fr. Archpriest Yeghishй Sargisyan, Dean of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary; Rev. Fr. Mkrtich Proshyan, Dean of the Vaskenian Seminary of Lake Sevan; members of the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin; visiting Armenian priests from the United States and Europe; visiting clergymen from sister Churches and denominations; deacons and seminarians.

Also in attendance for this special occasion were benefactors of the Mother See, Mr. and Mrs. Haroutiun Arslanian, from Beirut, Lebanon, as well as the "Holy Etchmiadzin Ladies Society" of Beirut, Lebanon.
In the afternoon, a banquet was held in honor of the new ordinates in the Pontifical Residence, hosted by His Holiness the Catholicos of All Armenians.

Following the traditional 40-day seclusion period of fasting, mediation and prayer, the new priests will celebrate their inaugural Divine Liturgies at churches throughout Armenia.