HIS HOLINESS LATE CATHOLICOS GAREGIN  I

Human being is born twice. Once when his parents conceive him.
The Second time when the human being asks himself the ultimate question.
Why was he brought into being? -- His Holiness Catholicos Garegin I

Catholicos of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin - Supreme Patriarch of Armenia's Holy Apostolic Church His Holiness Garegin I, baptized Neshan Sarkissian, was born in Kessab, Northern Syria, on August 27, 1932. After attending the Armenian elementary school in his inborn village, he was admitted to the Theological Seminary of the Armenian Catholicate of Cilicia in 1946. In 1949, he was ordained a deacon, and graduated with high honors in 1952. On September 28, 1952 he was ordained a celibate priest, renamed Garegin in memory of the late Catholicos Garegin I Hovsepian, and joined the religious order of the Armenian Catholicate of Cilicia. Upon presentation of his doctoral thesis - The Theology of the Armenian Church, According to Liturgical Hymns Sharakans - he was given the ecclesiastical degree of Vardapet in 1955. He then assumed the duties of supervisor and member of the faculty of the theological seminary in Antelias, Lebanon.

ANCIENT CATHOLICOSAL TAPESTRY FROM HOLY ETCHMIADZIN.
THE FLAMING CROSS IN THE CENTER WITHIN CIRCLES.

THE ANCIENT PATRIARCHAL SEAT WITH THE COSMIC MOUNTAIN
ON TOP OF THE CRESCENT SHAPED [FEMININE] BOAT --
THE ARK [SOUL] THAT SAVES THE HUMAN BEING FROM
THE DELUGE OF IGNORANCE -- THE QUANTUM OCEAN
THAT SUPPORTS THE FLOATING AND FLUID HIERARCHY.
THE VISHAP STAFF OF DIVINE POWER ALONG WITH THE STAFF OF THE
EQUILATERAL CROSS [FEMALE+MALE]. STAFF BANNERS DEPICT THE
HOLY LANCE [GEGHARD] -- OR SPEAR.

ANCIENT PATRIARCHAL MANUSCRIPT WITH THE TRADITIONAL SEAL
OF THE MOTHER CHURCH. MANIFEST GOLDEN TRIANGLE/COSMIC MOUNTAIN
SPIRITUAL HIERARCHY THAT WITHIN CONTAINS THE UNMANIFEST
DIVINE ESSENCE REPRESENTED WITH RED -- Ē -- THE SEVENTH SACRED LETTER.
EA PRIMORDIAL NATIONAL ARMANI GOD OF WISDOM...TRUTH...ORDER... LIGHT.
THE SACRED KNOWLEDGE AND TRADITION KEPT ALIVE BY THE
FATHER OF THE HOLY APOSTOLIC CHURCH.

THE PATRIARCHAL DOUBLE HEADED EAGLE.

He was appointed dean of the seminary in 1956. From 1957 to 1959, he studied theology at Oxford University, in Great Britain, where he wrote his scholarly thesis on The Council of Chalcedon and the Armenian Church (published in London by SPCK in 1965, reprinted in New York in 1976). Upon his return to Lebanon in January 1960, Fr. Garegin resumed his responsibilities as dean of the seminary. Following the election of Khoren I as Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia on May 5, 1963, Fr. Garegin became an important aid to the Catholicos, organizing pontifical visits around the world, and taking part in high-ranking ecumenical gatherings with the World Council of Churches. He also served as observer to such historic assemblages as the Second Vatican Council (1963- 1965), the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church (1968), and the Adis-Ababa conference of the Heads of the Oriental Orthodox (non-Chalcedonian Churches). During this period, alongside his regular activities, he lectured on theology, literature, history and culture in a number of schools and universities in Beirut, Lebanon, as well as in Romania, Moscow and Kotayyam, India. In recognition of his intense activities, Fr. Garegin was elevated to the rank of senior archmandrite on June 16, 1963. He was consecrated bishop on January 19, 1964, by Catholicos Khoren I.

ANCIENT CATHOLICOSAL MITRE [FROM MITHRAS]

GILDED SILVER SACRED VESSEL OF GOD FOR CONSECRATION OF MURION [HOLY OIL]
A RITUAL DONE BY THE SUPREME PATRIARCH ONCE EVERY SEVEN YEARS...
ON DISPLAY IN THE MUSEUM-TREASURY OF THE HOLY SEE.

FRONTISPIECE OF GIRK‛ VIPASANUT‛EAN, CONSTANTINOPLE, 1709.
TITLE PAGE OF ETHNOGENESIS OF THE JAPHETIC RACE, BY FATHER VTH
CENTURY FATHER OF ARMENIAN HISTORY, PRINTED IN AMSTERDAM, 1695
PAGE FROM CHASHOTS' [LECTIONARY] PUBLISHED IN VENICE, 1686-1688.
GIRK‛ ASXARHATS‛ [WORLD BOOK]. PUB. IN AMSTERDAM, 1668.

He received the rank of Archbishop on April 26, 1973. In 1971, Bishop Garegin was elected Prelate of the Diocese of New Julfa in Isfahan, Iran. In 1973, he was appointed Pontifical Legate of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenia's Holy Apostolic Church of America (in New York) under the jurisdiction of the Catholicate of Cilicia, and a year later was elected its Primate. He worked diligently in promoting various activities and services in the United States and Canada for the benefit of the people, particularly the younger generation. He played a decisive role in organizing a fund-raising drive for Lebanon during that country's turbulent period of 1976-1977. On May 22, 1977, Archbishop Garegin Sarkissian was elected Catholicos of the Catholicosate of Cilicia. He served in the capacity of Catholicos Coadjutor until the death of Catholicos Khoren I, in February 1983. At this point he was fully installed as Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia. During the 18 years of reign as Catholicos of Cilicia, His Holiness gave a new impetus to religious education, promoted the Theological Seminary, which was transferred from Antelias to Bikfaya, overhauled and modernized
 

THE TOMB OF H. H. THE LATE CATHOLICOS GAREGIN I
WITH THE CATHOLICOSAL ESCUTCHEON.
THE ENCIRCLED SOLAR EQUAL ARM CROSS
LEADING TO THE 'FLEUR DE LYS' SUPERIMPOSED
UPON A SUNBURST AND THE SIGN OF INFINITI. THE X-CRUX
[MITRANNIC-PHAR-AONIC]
STAFFS CROSSING THE SQUARE [FIVE POINTS]. SERPENTINE RIBBON
RUNNING THROUGH THE CIRCLE FORMING TWO VERTICAL PARALLEL
LINES/COLUMNS WITHIN THE
PATRIARCHAL MITRE [MITHRA].
AND THE HERMETIC STAFF OF DIVINE WISDOM IN THE
CENTER FLANKED BY THE TWIN
EAGLES FACING EAST AND WEST.

THE TRADITIONAL ARMENIAN CROSS PRESERVES
AND SYMBOLICALLY PRESENTS THE PRIMORDIAL ANCESTRAL
COSMIC KNOWLEDGE OF THE MITHRAIC WISDOM TEMPLES.
SYMBOLICALLY STANDING NOT FOR THE CRUCIFIX
BUT FOR THE HUMAN [MICROCOSM] WITH OUTSTRETCHED ARMS
[CONTAINING WITHIN THE ASTRAL LIGHT OF ETERNITY/MACROCOSM]...
THE CENTER ENCIRCLED CORE CONTAINS
THE DIVINE E S S E N C E OF ALL MARKED
WITH THE SEVENTH SACRED LETTER -- MANIFESTATION OF
THE UNMANIFEST GOD OF INFINITE WISDOM EA-HAYA-ENKI.
CRUX AXIS EMANATES MARKED WITH + FOUR POINTS. T E R [TIR...]
LORD [ABOVE....HIGHER SELF...PURE SPIRIT...GOD ABOVE GOD]
AST-UATS GOD [BELOW...MANIFESTED] AND
 JESUS [LEFT WING...SON OF GOD] CHRIST
RIGHT WING....CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS RETURN TO FATHER]. GRAPES
[SYMB. OF FERTILITY/FALLOPIAN TUBES AND OVARIES OF THE GODDESS]

the seminary printing press, and established a new museum-library. He undertook extensive pontifical visits to Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Cyprus, the United States and Canada, Kuwait and the Arab Gulf States. Among his ecumenical visits were visits to His Holiness Pope John Paul II; Dr. Robert Runcle, Archbishop of Canterbury; the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches; the Lutheran Churches of Denmark and Germany; His Holiness Shenouda III, Pope of the Coptic Church. In 1989, having completed his term of office as one of the three presidents of the Middle East Council of Churches, His Holiness was elected honorary president of that organization. Catholicos Garegin has authored numerous articles and studies on theological, Armenological, philosophical, ethical and literary subjects, in Hask, the official monthly publication of the Holy See of the Catholicate of Cilicia, and other periodicals as well as in the form of books and booklets in Armenian, English and French. During his tenure in Cilicia, Catholicos Garegin paid frequent visits to Holy Etchmiadzin, the Mother See of the Apostolic Church, both during the Second and Third Republics. In the aftermath of the terrible tragedy during the Earthquake of December 7, 1988, he visited the stricken area and expressed All-Armenian solidarity with His Holiness Vazgen I, of blessed memory, the late Catholicos of All Armenians.

The late Catholicos Vazgen I died in August 1994, after nearly 40-year reign as the leader of the global Armenian Apostolic Church. The Apostolic Church communities from around the world sent elected delegations to choose a new Catholicos of All Armenians. About 400 delegates met in a National Ecclesiastical Assembly, which began on Monday, April 3, 1995, in Holy Etchmiatdzin, to elect the 131st in 1700 years of unbroken tradition of continuous line of pontiffs which dates back to St. Gregory the Illuminator - 301 AD. On April 4, 1995, Armenian Christians elected His Holiness Garegin Sarkissian as the new Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. The enthronement of the newly elected Catholicos of All Armenians took place on Sunday, April 9, 1995, Palm Sunday, at the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin. It was the first pontifical election and enthronement to take place, in nearly 40 years, on the soil of the free independent Armenian republic.
 

THE CATHOLICOSAL STAFF OF DIVINITY
THE GENERATIONAL MASTER GOLDSMITH
INCORPORATED ANCIENT HERMETIC/MITHRAIC
SYMBOLS OF THE HEALER/SAVIOR/RECONCILER
TOPPED BY THE CORONA. THE SOLAR PLUMES/RAYS/TRIANGLES
LEADING TO THE BRILLIANT CIRCLE EYE OF INFINITI...GODHOOD.

THE TWO CATHOLICOI IN THE SACRED PRIMORDIAL ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY
OF KARAHUNJ [ZORATS KARER] OF ARMANI STAR GAZERS CARBON DATED TO CA. 5,500 BC.
H. H. VAZGEN I [L] AND H. H. GAREGIN II [AT THE TIME CATHOLICOS OF THE GREAT
HOUSE OF CILICIA -- IN 1994 SUCCEEDING THE LATE VAZGEN I AS GAREGIN I
CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS. PHOTO CA. 1990.

As Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians and successor of the Throne of St. Gregory the Illuminator, Catholicos Garegin, hereafter became known as Garegin the First, as he became the first Supreme Patriarch to bear that name, had entered a new and challenging phase in his own ministry, even as the Armenian Church worldwide entered a new era of leadership. Catholicos Garegin I had already made his initial priorities clear: boosting the spiritual morale of the Armenian People of the Land of Ararat , rebuilding the administrative structure of the Apostolic Church worldwide, revitalizing the traditions of the Seminary of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, and preparing for the upcoming jubilee year of 2001, when the Holy See will preside over the global celebrations of the 1700th anniversary of the historic conversion of the Armenian Nation to Christianity in 301 AD. His Holiness Garegin I has undertaken a series of pontifical visits to the various regions of Armenia, including the heroic Armenian communities of Artsakh. His Holiness also traveled to Lebanon, to preside over the election of Aram I, the new Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia.

SOURCE: RA EMBASSY IN USA