Tragedy Casts a Pall Over Armenian Ceremony

With the laying on of hands and the anointing of his head with holy oil, Archbishop Garegin Nersessian of Ararat was consecrated this week as His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

His enthronement in the Armenia city of Echmiadzin was originally scheduled for Sunday, but was delayed until Thursday after the murders Oct. 27 of Armenia’s prime minister and other senior government officials.

As catholicos, Karekin holds the highest position in the Armenian Apostolic Church, one roughly equivalent to Pope John Paul II’s leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. The largest Armenian population outside Armenia is in Southern California--an estimated 300,000 to 400,000, although not all are members of the Armenian Church of North America, which is a diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Normally, the election of a new catholicos would be an occasion of great joy within the Armenian community in the Southland and around the world. But the enthronement has been overshadowed by the assassinations of Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisyan; the speaker of parliament, Karen S. Demirchyan; and six other officials who were killed by five gunmen who burst into the parliament building.

Nersessian, 48, was giving his acceptance speech in the Cathedral of Holy Echmiadzin when word came that Sarkisyan, a war hero and formidable force in Armenian national politics, had been murdered in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, about 12 miles away.

“The whole joyous atmosphere of electing our catholicos was turned into a dismal, horrible feeling,” said Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian, the primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, which covers 13 Western states. Hovsepian, who is based in Burbank, was responsible for organizing the convention that elected the new catholicos. He spoke in a telephone interview from Armenia.

Nersessian led the 450 delegates in prayer and later appointed a delegation of 15 bishops, including Hovsepian, to represent the church at the state funeral.

The church will observe a 40-day period of mourning, and Nersessian’s consecration Thursday was muted. “We are trying to make it very simple because of the broken heart,” Hovsepian said. “It’s a strictly religious, spiritual consecration. No celebration. No reception.” He said a subdued luncheon was planned at which Karekin II was to impart his first apostolic blessing.

Similarly, no celebrations to mark Nersessian’s election are planned in Southern California, Hovsepian said.

Given the importance of the catholicos in the life of Armenia and the faithful of the church, the delayed enthronement was stark evidence of the shock caused by the murders.

“The Roman pope is strictly a religious leader. If he speaks, he speaks on moral or ethical issues,” Hovsepian said. “But our catholicos speaks for the church, for the people, and during the years we did not have a secular government, he was the true leader for all Armenians.”

The first catholicos of the church was St. Gregory the Illuminator, who converted the Armenian king Tiridates to Christianity in AD 301 and established the Church of Armenia as the first official Christian state church in the world. Until that time, Armenia was a pagan country, although church tradition teaches that a minority Christian community had already been established by two of Jesus’ apostles, Saints Thaddeus and Bartholomew. To this day, the catholicos’ throne is known as the Throne of St. Gregory.

The name Karekin was that of an ancient Armenian warrior who fought the Persians in the 5th century for the Christian faith and Armenian independence, Hovsepian said.

Nersessian, the 132nd catholicos, succeeds Karekin I, who died in June of larynx cancer after a reign of less than five years.

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Nersessian, who has been a Southern California house guest of Hovsepian’s, was elected by clergy and lay delegates on a vote of 262 to 176, Hovsepian said. The runner-up was Archbishop Nersess Bozabalian, who had overseen the church since the death of Karekin I.

Before his election, Nersessian, a native Armenian, was vicar of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese, the largest diocesan jurisdiction in the worldwide Armenian church. The diocese includes the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin.

Nersessian graduated from a seminary in Echmiadzin in 1970 and became a monk in 1972, then traveled to Vienna to continue his studies. He moved to Germany in 1975 and graduated from Bonn University. He also attended the Russian Orthodox Church Academy in Zagorsk, Russia, graduating in 1979. He joined the key Ararat diocese in 1980, becoming bishop in 1983 and archbishop in 1992.

Despite reports that the government had interfered in the election by backing Nersessian, Hovsepian said the 450 delegates, including 24 from the U.S. Western diocese, voted their consciences.

“A very loving and calm atmosphere prevailed,” Hovsepian reported. “Each delegate receives the ballot and goes and kisses the Bible and cross in front of the altar. He then casts his ballot. There was absolutely no pressure. Only the person, his conscience, his faith and God knows who he voted for.”

Although Hovsepian said celebrations will be delayed, he expects that Karekin II will visit Southern California.

“This will be an uplifting time,” Hovsepian said. “It will be spiritually rewarding for all of us. Our Lord has given us a new chief shepherd, and we are looking forward to cooperating with him.”