PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Director
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: info@ArmenianOrthodoxChurch.org
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Antelias-Lebanon

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IN MEMORIAM

BISHOP NSHAN TOPOUZIAN
(1966-2010)
Prelate of the Armenian Diocese of Aderbadagan (Iran)

His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, His Eminence
Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the Eastern United States, and the
Cilician Brotherhood announce with immense sorrow the untimely passing of
the Prelate of the Diocese of Aderbadagan, Bishop Nshan Topouzian, which
took place on Tuesday, April 27, 2010, in Armenia following a brief illness.

May his memory be forever blessed.

Biography

BISHOP NSHAN TOPOUZIAN

Bishop Nshan Topouzian, (baptismal name Ara), was born in 1966 in Lebanon.
In 1984, after completing the five-level Jarankavorats (high school) program
at the Seminary of the Holy See of Cilicia, he was ordained a deacon. During
the next three years he completed the Seminary’s Undzayaran (college)
program, and in 1987 he was ordained a celibate priest and renamed Nshan by
His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, of
blessed memory.

In February 1991 he was assigned to Tabriz, Iran, as a visiting priest to
the Aderbadagan Diocese. In May of the same year, His Holiness Karekin II
appointed him Pontifical Legate of that Diocese. After serving for nearly 11
years, in August 2002 he was elected Prelate of the Aderbadagan Diocese. On
June 4, 2006, he was elevated to the rank of Bishop by His Holiness Aram I,
Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia.

Bishop Nshan’s 15-year service to the Aderbadagan Diocese was very
productive. With his leadership and effort by the National Representative
Assembly and the diocesan council, Tabriz’s four churches and prelacy were
totally renovated, the Nareg residences in Tabriz were built, the Ararat
Cultural Center was established, and a new church was built in Urmia.

Bishop Nshan played a major role in the renovation and preservation of
historical churches and monasteries in Northern Iran, namely St. Tadeh and
St. Stepanos Monasteries and the Church at Jorjor.

Bishop Nshan was fluent in Persian and Azeri-Turkish.

His death is a great loss to the Great House of Cilicia, the Aderbadagan
Diocese, and for the entire Armenian church and nation.

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Photo of Late Bishop Nshan Topouzian:
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