PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
March 15, 2005
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ST. VARTAN CATHEDRAL TO HOST PRIESTLY ORDINATION
During a two-day celebration, April 2 and 3, 2005, Archbishop Khajag
Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
(Eastern), will ordain into the priesthood Dn. Ara Kadehjian at New York
City’s St. Vartan Cathedral.
The weekend ordination will begin with the “Service of Calling” at 5
p.m. on Saturday, April 2, and conclude with the ordination service
during the Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 3. Fr.
Mardiros Chevian, dean of the cathedral, will serve as the sponsoring
priest. Charles Pinajian of the St. Leon Church of Fair Lawn, NJ, will
serve as the godfather for the ordination.
“Dn. Kadehjian and his young family are truly dedicated to the Armenian
Church,” the Primate said. “It is encouraging to see such a devoted,
young person making the church his life-long focus.”
The public is invited to attend the ordination. A banquet will follow.
Requires reservations.
FULL CIRCLE
His upcoming ordination in St. Vartan Cathedral will bring Dn. Ara
Papken Kadehjian full circle. The son of Papken and Shakeh Kadehjian
and the brother of Lisa Kadehjian of Queens, NY, Dn. Ara — who was born
in Englewood, NJ, and grew up in Queens — was baptized and served on
the cathedral’s altar, where he also attended the St. Gregory the
Illuminator Sunday School and Armenian Language School.
It was while he was serving on the cathedral altar that Dn. Ara received
the four orders of an acolyte and the rank of stole bearer by Archbishop
Barsamian. During the summer of 1992 Dn. Ara participated in the St.
Nersess Armenian Seminary’s Mission to Armenia, which led him the next
year to enroll as a pre-seminary student at Concordia College in
Bronxville, NY, from which he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in
history in 1997.
In 1998, he was ordained as a sub-deacon by Archbishop Barsamian. In
May of 2000 Dn. Ara received his master’s degree in theological studies
from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in conjunction with
St. Nersess Seminary. In May 2004, he earned a master of divinity
degree through the join program with St. Vladimir’s and St. Nersess.
After spending the summer of 2000 at the Armenian Patriarchate in
Jerusalem, Dn. Ara was ordained as a deacon by Archbishop Barsamian on
October 1, 2000, at the St. Mary Church of Washington, D.C.
SERVICE TO COMMUNITIES
Dn. Ara has a wide background of experience serving the church. From
October 2000 to October 2002, he served as the assistant to the pastor
of the Church of the Holy Ascension in Trumbull, CT. From October 2002
to May 2004, he served as the assistant to the pastor of St. Leon Church
of Fairlawn, NJ, where he met and married his wife, Tina Bogoshian, on
May 23, 2004.
On February 11, 2005, the couple became parents with the birth of their
daughter, Arev Aznive Kadehjian.
>From May to August 2004, Dn. Ara served as the assistant to the
executive director of the Diocese of the Armenian Church (Eastern), and
since September 2004 he has been working as the interim coordinator of
the Diocese’s Mission Parish Program.
Dn. Ara has also completed an 11-week hospital internship at NYU-Mount
Sinai Hospital and received a Clinical Pastoral Education Certificate.
In his younger years he also served the community of Bayside, Queens, as
a volunteer patrolman in the 111th Precinct Auxiliary Police.
— 3/15/05
E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News
and Events section of the Eastern Diocese’s website,
PHOTO CAPTION (1): Dn. Ara Kadehjian will be ordained into the
priesthood by Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern
Diocese, on April 2 and 3, 2005, at New York City’s St. Vartan
Cathedral.