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
Email: email@armenianprelacy.org
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian

October 6, 2008

110th ANNIVERSARY OF ESTABLISHMENT OF ARMENIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA AND
50th ANNIVERSARY OF PRELACY UNDER CILICIAN SEE
TO BE MARKED ON OCTOBER 25

BY FLORENCE AVAKIAN

NEW YORK, NY—–Extensive preparations are underway for the 50th
anniversary celebration of the establishment of the Prelacy of the Armenian
Apostolic Church in America, under the Catholicosate of Cilicia. This year
also marks the 110th anniversary of the establishment of the Armenian Church
in America, named the Prelacy by Catholicos of all Armenians Khrimian
Hairig.

The gala event will take place on Saturday evening, October 25, at the
Marriott at Glenpointe in Teaneck, NJ, with the reception starting at 7
P.M., and the dinner at 8 P.M. Accompanying the reception will be an
exhibit, and DVD presentation of the Prelacy’s history during the past half
century.

"We are celebrating 50 years of spiritual growth and service, not the
split," states Prelate Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan. "We are celebrating
the spirit of bringing people around the church, and the strengthening of
the family. We are an axel around which revolve all of our sister
organizations working together.

In addition, the Prelacy has sponsored concerts, commemorative events,
publications, and symposiums. These have all been constructed with the
goal of "keeping the Christian faith alive, promoting Armenian identity, and
passing onto the next generation the knowledge of their future, and keeping
the Armenian cause alive," Archbishop Choloyan relates.

Part of the celebration will feature a book, detailing the history of the
Prelacy from its beginnings. "This will be like an art catalog, leaving a
legacy for the future.
We want to relay an inspirational message with the wording." Already
prepared is a traveling exhibition which depicts the Prelacy’s 50-year
history, with two huge panels accompanied by a DVD. In addition to the
national event, parishes will have their own local celebrations, the Prelate
notes.

FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

Archbishop Choloyan is currently in his third term as Prelate of the Eastern
Prelacy. In a previous interview, he declared, "Our past, of course, is
important. We must know it, study it, learn from it. But the past is not
our capital. We must always focus on the future, with emphasis on the
education of our children, encouraging them to reach their greatest
potential, but never forgetting their roots."

He credits the former Prelate, Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian who served as
Prelate for 20 years, with the enormous progress that the Prelacy has made.
But he is concerned about the absence of previously active people within the
church. The top priorities for Archbishop Choloyan have been clergy
recruitment and education, parish development, and Christian education. In
this regard, he is ever mindful of using modern technology to reach the
faithful.

When first elected Prelate in May 1998, Archbishop Choloyan’s first visited
each one of the parishes, and parish development became a priority. He
saw that strong and creative leadership was a necessity. "A religious
community is only as strong as the clerical leaders ministering to it. A
strong pastor makes a strong parish," and thereby the recruitment and
education of young men for the clergy was crucial.

Always looking forward, he acknowledges that reforms are needed. "We need
to embark on a study of self-evaluation and begin a process of renewal. We
need to explore liturgical issues as well as ethical and moral issues that
are so much a part of modern life."

The 50-year history of the Prelacy is "an impressive story of keeping and
transmitting our faith, safeguarding our traditions, keeping the youth
attached to the church, and keeping our community strong and active. Unity
is a noble and lofty goal, even imperative. However, unity is a process
which must be followed if unity is to become a reality. Imposing unity
will not work. We have to prepare the groundwork, and learn to love,
understand, and respect one another. If this is done, then unity will surely
follow."

STRONG FAMILY FOUNDATION

Born in Aleppo, Syria in 1947, young Manoog Choloyan received a strong
ethical and faith-filled foundation from his grandmother, parents, godfather
and uncle. Receiving his primary education at Aleppo’s Haikazian School, he
entered the Seminary at age 13, though he had been singing in the local
church since he was five years old. "The Church was such a constant and
strong part of our early family life," he has said, and recalls that he and
his brothers would "play church".

Accepted into the Cilician See’s Seminary in Antelias in 1960, he was
ordained a deacon in 1964, a celibate priest in 1967, Bishop in 1994, and
Archbishop in 1998. He recalls fondly that during his time in the Seminary,
he never felt homesick. "I was at home in the Seminary."

The Prelate’s illustrious career includes teaching in the Mardigian School,
the Karen Jeppe Jemaran in Aleppo, attending the American University of
Beirut, and the Princeton Theological Seminary where he earned two Master’s
degrees. As a Princeton student, then-Prelate Archbishop Karekin Sarkissian
used his talents throughout the many churches in the Prelacy. He became
locum tenens of the Eastern Prelacy in 1977, returned to Lebanon to teach at
the Seminary in 1979, and was appointed pontifical legate to Kuwait and the
Arab Emirates in 1980. For the 1700th anniversary of Christian Armenia, he
was assigned as co-chairman of the central committee.

One of his most ambitious programs became the translation of the Bible into
western Armenian which he worked on with his closest friend Archbishop Zareh
Aznavourian of blessed memory. With the completion of the New Testament,
regarded by the Bible Society as one of the best translations, they embarked
on the Old Testament, left incomplete due to the illness and death of
Archbishop Aznavourian. As a fitting memorial to the Archbishop, he is
committed to completing the project with the aid of the Bible Society and a
group of new translators.

He regards as his greatest contribution the preparation, with Archbishop
Aznavourian, of five volumes of Armenian sharagans, most not available on
paper, and only passed through from one generation to the next through oral
tradition.

On the 50th anniversary of the Prelacy, Archbishop Choloyan’s eloquent
message to every Armenian is, "Do not just stand on the sidelines. Come
into the arena, be active, be a participant, always with the goal of
building the Church and making it stronger for the glory of God."