PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: info@armenianprelacy.org
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian
September 11, 2006
BISHOP ANOUSHAVAN TANIEIAN’S SERVICE
TO ARMENIAN CHURCH SPANS THREE DECADES
HIS SERVICE AND RECENT ELEVATION WILL BE
CELEBRATED ON OCTOBER 1
NEW YORK, NY-On Sunday, October 1, the more than three decades of service
that His Grace Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian has rendered to the Armenian
Church will be celebrated as well as his recent Episcopal consecration in
June.
The celebration will take place at the Terrace on the Park in Flushing
Meadows, New York, beginning at 3 pm, under the auspices of His Eminence
Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of
America. Bishop Anoushavan will officiate over the Divine Liturgy in the
morning at St. Sarkis Armenian Church in Douglaston, New York, where he
served as parish priest for two decades. Last year he was assigned to serve
as Vicar General of the Prelacy, a post that he previously fulfilled on a
part-time basis.
EARLY YEARS
Bishop Anoushavan (baptismal name Torkom) was born on January 29, 1951,
in Beirut, Lebanon, the sixth and youngest child of Antranig and Araxie
Tanielian.
He received his elementary education at Forty Martyrs School. From a
very young age he participated in the choir, singing the beautiful religious
hymns. His grandfather, Artin, his mother and father, and his Sunday school
teachers were his early instructors in religion. "I remember my mother’s
simple but very deep faith," he recalls today. "She had many religious
traditions she faithfully kept. My parents have been my best teachers. I
came to understand God’s essence, through their unconditional love,
understanding, patience and forgiveness."
Torkom took a giant step in his early years when he left home and
entered the Seminary in Antelias. "Now I realize what sacrifices my mother
made when I told her of my decision to go to Antelias. She supported my
decision and wished me good luck, but I still remember her tearful eyes."
Torkom Tanielian was ordained a celibate priest on November 26, 1972, by
Archbishop Ardak Manougian, Prelate of Tehran, Iran, and given the new name,
Anoushavan.
In 1974, he received the fourth degree of Vartabed of the Armenian
Church by Catholicos Khoren I. This was just the beginning of the many works
and responsibilities that he undertook at the Catholicosate of Cilicia from
1973 to 1984. Besides extensive scholarly work, during this period his days
were filled with the responsibility of being the librarian of the
Catholicosate, where he admits he was the happiest in the world of books.
SPIRITUAL ADVISOR
Through lectures and seminars he became a spiritual advisor to young men
and women in the Theological Seminary, Hamazkayin Armenological Studies
Institute, Mardigian and Garmirian elementary schools, and to the Armenian
Church University Students Association.
Those early years of his service were also the years of the tragic civil
war in Lebanon. Although these years were a dark period in his life, they
were also the time when his years of training went into practice. He
demonstrated the true meaning of social work. He joined with social agencies
to provide help. He made regular visits to the hospitals to visit the
wounded. He visited the homes of the needy.
During this period, witnessing the inhumanity of human beings towards
one another, he understood the true role of prayer. "In this war period I
felt how mighty prayer is, not only as a daily necessity but as the main
source of vitality. It is only through prayer and conversations with God
that you receive an inner power to resist hopelessness," he recalls now.
ECUMENISM AND VISIT
TO ARMENIA
In the summer of 1978, Bishop Anoushavan attended the World Council of
Churches Faith and Order Commission in Bengalore, India, beginning his many
years of ecumenical encounters. His experience and expertise resulted in his
recent appointment by Catholicos Aram I as the Ecumenical Officer on behalf
of the Catholicosate of Cilicia in the entire United States of America.
His first visit to Armenia took place in 1976. This was to be followed
by many more on various occasions for different reasons. His most recent
visit was this past summer where he directed a summer religious camp for
some of the orphans in the Prelacy’s Orphan Sponsorship Program. But that
first trip in ’76, which extended for three months, was memorable: "My heart
was pounding when I saw the wide peaks of Mount Ararat over the skies. When
the plane landed, I was serene and felt that I was home at last."
UNITED STATES AND
HIGHER EDUCATION
His first visit to the United States was in 1980 when he came as the
staff bearer to His Holiness Karekin II. He returned in 1984 to attend
Princeton Theological Seminary where he received a Master of Theology
degree. He was awarded another Masters Degree from Columbia University in
Philosophy in 1992. Thus began his long journey toward his doctoral degree.
His student days were filled not only with studies but also service,
especially to St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in Philadelphia, and Sts.
Vartanantz Church in New Jersey. Along with Sunday preaching, he conducted
Bible studies, organized youth seminars and lecture series, and organized a
unique sharagan (hymns) choir.
SERVICE TO ST. SARKIS
He was called to full time service to St. Sarkis Church in Douglaston,
New York, and therefore had to put his doctoral studies on the "back
burner." He was appointed to serve as pastor of St. Sarkis by His Eminence
Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian and he continued to serve that parish until May
2005 when he was called to serve as full time Vicar General of the Eastern
Prelacy. His two decades of service to St. Sarkis were marked with
tremendous achievements for the parish. He revitalized or created anew many
of the auxiliary groups that became and continue to be a lifeline for the
parish.
PERSEVERANCE BRINGS
ACHIEVEMENT
After many years of concentrated effort while serving as a full time
parish priest, part time Vicar of the Prelacy, and chairman of the Religious
Council, Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian was conferred with the Doctor of
Philosophy degree from Columbia University in May 2003.
At the time Archbishop Oshagan, the Prelate, noted, "Others in his
circumstances would have just given up, but Hayr Anoushavan persevered and
in spite of a ‘double-time-plus’ schedule he succeeded in completing his
studies and his dissertation and he graduated with high distinction."
His doctoral dissertation was on St. Nerses of Lambron, specifically his
Commentary on the Wisdom of Solomon. He recalls that he chose this for two
reasons: the personality of the author and the nature of his work. "Nerses
of Lambron was a unique individual," he said. "Like his namesake, Catholicos
Nerses the Great, he was a man of intellect, compassion and particularly
adept at negotiations. Like the Holy Translators, he was open-minded in
borrowing from the achievements of fellow Christians in order to enrich the
Armenian heritage."
CELEBRATING SERVICE
Today, Bishop Anoushavan continues his dedicated service to the Church
with new responsibilities. But his goal remains the same: To serve the
Armenian Church and to make her a beacon of faith for the Armenian people in
the diaspora and the homeland.
The celebration on October 1 is in honor of Bishop Anoushavan but it is
also a celebration of the sacrifice and dedication of our early Church
Fathers, who continue to guide the steps of those in service today.
For information about the banquet in honor of Bishop Anoushavan, contact the
Prelacy at 212-689-7810.