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Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address:  Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact:  Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel:  +374-10-517163
Fax:  +374-10-517301
E-Mail:  ktrij@etchmiadzin.am
Website: 
March 30, 2007

New Grand Sacristan Appointed for Holy Etchmiadzin

His Grace Bishop Ararat Kaltakjian has been appointed as Grand Sacristan of
the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin by the pontifical directive of His
Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. 
Bishop Ararat will continue to serve concurrently as dean of the monasteries
of the Mother See.  A brief biography of Bishop Ararat follows:

* * *

His Grace Bishop Ararat Kaltakjian

Born in 1962 in the neighborhood of Hajn in Beirut, Lebanon, and given the
baptismal name Hagop.  He received his elementary education in the St.
Sahak-St. Mesrop Academy and was admitted to the seminary of the
Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia in 1977.

>From 1979 to 1985, he continued his theological education at the Gevorkian
Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, and in 1985,
defended his graduation thesis entitled `The Study of Printed Texts of
Ancient Armenian Manuscripts’.  That same year, he was ordained a deacon and
called to serve in the Armenian Diocese of Damascus (Syria).

In April 1986, he was ordained a celibate priest by His Eminence Archbishop
Voskan Kalpakian, Primate of the Armenian Dioceses of Greece and Damascus in
the Cathedral of St. Sarkis in Damascus, and given the new name Ararat.

In February 1988, Father Ararat defended his doctoral thesis entitled `The
History of the Church in Antioch’, and was elevated to the rank of
Archimandrite (Vardapet) by His Eminence Archbishop Nerses Bozabalian in the
Church of St. Mesrop Mashtots in Oshakan.

>From 1986 to 1990, Father Ararat served in the Diocese of Damascus as
Assistant to the Primate.

In 1990, he traveled to the Armenian Diocese of Canada and was assigned as
parish priest of Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Toronto, and in 1993,
Father Ararat relocated to Montreal, Canada, and was appointed as Assistant
to the Primate.  From 1994, he continued his pastoral service as parish
priest of the St. Narek Armenian Church of South Montreal.

He enrolled at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary and concurrently at St.
Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary, in New York, U.S.A. in 1996, and later that
same year, was appointed as parish priest of St. Gregory the Illuminator
Cathedral of the Canadian Diocese in Montreal, while also serving the
Armenian churches of Holy Cross as parish priest and St. Mesrop in Ottawa,
as visiting pastor.

In October 1999, in appreciation for his years of service and with the
blessing of His Holiness Karekin I of blessed memory, His Eminence
Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Canada,
granted Father Ararat the title of Senior Archimandrite (Tsayraguyn
Vardapet).  On the same date, Father Ararat was appointed Vicar of the
Canadian Diocese.

In 2003, Bishop Bagrat Galsdanian, the new Primate of the Armenian Diocese
of Canada, appointed him Director of Projects in Armenia for the Canadian
Diocese, the Armenia Orphans Program and the Armenian Church Youth
Organization of Canada.  He was also appointed as parish priest of Holy
Cross Armenian Church of Laval.

In June 2006, Father Ararat was called to Armenia to serve in the Mother See
of Holy Etchmiadzin, and one month later was assigned as Dean of the
Monasteries of the Mother See by His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All
Armenians.

On November 19, 2006, His Holiness Karekin II elevated Father Ararat in rank
and consecrated him as bishop.