PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 10) 517 163
Fax: (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
March 28, 2006
Four More Priests Ordained in Holy Etchmiadzin
On Sunday February 5, four more priests were ordained in the Mother See of
Holy Etchmiadzin. Three of the new clergymen are graduates of the Gevorkian
Theological Seminary and one recently completed the Accelerated Academic
Courses for the Priesthood. The ordinations were conducted during the
Divine Liturgy celebrated by His Grace Bishop Yeznik Petrossian.
Prior to evening services on Saturday, February 4, the Service of Calling
was offered, whereupon the four young men confirmed their desire to be
ordained the following day as priests in the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church.
During the Divine Liturgy, the ordaining bishop anointed the foreheads and
palms of the four ordinands with Holy Chrism, and granted them new priestly
names: Deacon Artak Grigorian was renamed Father Mkhitar; Deacon Davit
Gulian became Father Levon; Deacon Gevork Davtian was renamed Father Kirakos
and Deacon Gevork Mirzoyan became Father Untsa.
Later that same evening, the service of `Granting the Cowl’ was offered,
whereby Father Mkhitar, Father Levon and Father Kirakos took their oath of
celibacy and allegiance to the Catholicosate of All Armenians.
With the addition of the three new celibate clergymen, the ranks of young
priests in the monastic Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin, not counting
bishops and deacons, has increased to more than 90.
All four priests recently completed their 40-day period of fasting and
seclusion, and celebrated their inaugural Divine Liturgies on Sunday, March
19.