PRESS RELEASE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia & New Zealand
10 Macquarie Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
AUSTRALIA
Contact: Laura Artinian
Tel: (02) 9419-8056
Fax: (02) 9904-8446
Email: primate@armenian.com.au

28 January 2009

PRIMATE INVITED TO SPEAK AT THE ORTHODOX THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN KOTTAYAM,
INDIA

Sydney, Australia – Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of
Australia and New Zealand and Pontifical Legate to India & the Far East, His
Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian will be keynote speaker at the Orthodox
Theological Seminary in Kottayam, Kerala, India on 1 March 2009.

The Indian Orthodox Church (known as the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church)
will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Feast of St Dionysius Vattasseril
from 23 February to March 1.

Vattasseril Geevarghese Mar Dionysius is known as the Great Luminary of the
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church as he bravely fought for the self-identity
and independence of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church establishing the
Catholicate in Malankara in 1912 at Kottayam. He is considered the
architect of the Indian Orthodox Church and has endeared himself as one of
its greatest fathers.

The program of events planned for the celebration week honouring the Saint
will culminate in a seminar on 1 March at the Orthodox Theological Seminary.
The seminary which was instituted in 1815 by the Malankara Orthodox Church
was the first Orthodox Christian school of theology in Asia. The seminary
offers Graduate, Post Graduate and Doctoral programmes.

The invitation to speak at the seminary was officially extended to
Archbishop Baliozian by Jacob Mar Iranios, Metropolitan of Madras who paid a
fraternal visit to the Archbishop on 31 December 2008 during a pastoral
visit to the Sydney-based community of the Indian Orthodox Church.

Following his commitments in Kerala, Archbishop Baliozian will travel to
Chennai at the invitation of the Armenian Church Committee of Kolkata where
he will be met by the Church Wardens and will visit the newly renovated
Armenian Church in Chennai to offer his blessings.