July 10, 2009
Press Release
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate
6252 Honolulu Avenue
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Tel: (818) 248-7737
Fax: (818) 248-7745
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
PRELATE TO PRESIDE OVER DIVINE LITURGY AT
ST. MARY’S CHURCH AND THE OPENING OF THE YOUTH CENTER
On Sunday, July 12th, H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian,
Prelate, will preside over Divine Liturgy at St. Mary’s Church in Glendale
and deliver the sermon.
At 2:00 p.m., the Prelate will conduct the opening of the "Krikor
and Mariam Karamanoukian" Youth Center adjacent to the Church.
A banquet to benefit the new youth center will take place on the
evening of Friday, July 10th, at Renaissance Hall in Glendale. Very Rev.
Fr. Vaghinag Meloian and the pastors of St. Mary’s Church will attend.
PRELATE’S FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO THE NORTH HOLLYWOOD PARISH
EPISCOPAL DIVINE LITURGY
ON THE FEAST OF TRANSFIGURATION
Sunday, July 19th, is the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
On this occasion, H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate,
will pay his first official visit to the North Hollywood Parish, where he
will celebrate Divine Liturgy and deliver the sermon.
Services begin at 2:00 p.m. and take place at St. Paul
Assyrian-Chaldean Catholic Church located at 13050 Vanowen St. in North
Hollywood.
A special program and reception will follow at the Church social
hall.
VERY REVEREND FATHER VAGHINAG MELOIAN
CALLED TO SERVE AT THE WESTERN PRELACY
We hereby announce to our faithful community that by the ordinance
of H.H. Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, Very Rev. Fr.
Vaghinag Meloian, a member of the Cilician Brotherhood, has been called to
serve at the Western Prelacy.
Given the ever-expanding activities of the Prelacy and the need for
young clergy members, H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate, and
Councils had appealed to His Holiness to appoint a third clergy member to
serve alongside Very Rev. Fathers Muron Aznikian and Barthev Gulumian.
Very Rev. Fr. Vaghinag Meloian arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday,
July 7th, 2009, and he will soon begin his service at St. Gregory Church in
San Francisco, alongside Rev. Fr. Avedis Torossian.
Fr. Vaghinag was born in Kamishli, Syria, where he received his
primary education. He was enrolled at the Seminary of the Catholicosate in
1986 and ordained a celibate priest in 1994 by H.E. Archbishop Mesrob
Ashjian of blessed memory. Fr. Vaghinag has served in the Christian
Education Department of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, was vice-sacristan of
the Mother Cathedral in Antelias, and the spiritual counselor of the Birds’
Nest Orphanage, as well as the Armenian Aging Home and Sanatorium.
From 2001 to 2003, Fr. Vaghinag served at the Eastern Prelacy during
which time he attended the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. In 2003, he
received the rank of vartabed.
In 2006, he was assigned director of the priesthood training
department at the Catholicosate. He has published 12 books on Biblical
themes.
By the ordinance of the Prelate, Fr. Vaghinag will be celebrating
Divine Liturgy for the first time within the Prelacy on Sunday, July 12th,
at St. Garabed Church in Hollywood.
We welcome Fr. Vaghinag and wish him a successful tenure at the
Western Prelacy.