REIGNING SUPREME PATRIARCH OF THE HOLY SEE
HIS HOLINESS CATHOLICOS GAREGIN II

His Holiness GAREGIN II was born in 1951 in the village of Voskehat, near Etchmiadzin, and baptized Ktrij Nersissian. He entered the seminary of Holy Etchmiadzin in 1965, graduating with honors in 1971. For a year after graduation he taught at the seminary. He was ordained as a deacon in 1970 and a monk (celibate priest) in 1972, at which time he received the priestly name Garegin. Shortly thereafter, His Holiness Vazgen I (Catholicos of All Armenians, 1956-1994) sent the new priest to Vienna to study theology. In 1975, Fr. Nersissian moved to Germany, where he studied and graduated from Bonn University while serving as pastor to the local Armenian community. Following a brief return to Armenia, he enrolled in postgraduate studies at the Russian Orthodox Academy in Zagorsk, Russia, from which he graduated in 1979.

HIS HOLINESS CATHOLICOS ARAM I OF THE GREAT HOUSE OF CILICIA...THE HEIR
TO THE ARMENIAN CILICIAN LEGACY OF GREATNESS. A TRULY VIRTUOUS AND KIND
MAN IN THE TRADITION OF THE ARMENIAN PATRIARCHAL
 FATHERS AN OUTSTANDING SCHOLAR, ORATOR AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST WHO
HAS NOT ONLY EARNED THE RESPECT AND LOVE OF HIS PEOPLE BUT THAT OF
THE PROGRESSIVE HUMANITY ALL OVER THE WORLD.

ANTELIAS. THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR.

FLOOR PLAN OF ST. GREGORY'S CATHEDRAL.
 

ANCIENT CATHOLICOSAL RIGHT HANDS.
G  O  L  D    A  N  D    S  I  L  V  E  R
GIVING THE SIGN OF BLESSING
WARDING OFF THE 'EVIL EYE'.

ARCHBISHOP YOVHANNĒS XVIIITH CENTURY ECCLESIASTIC LETTER TO
CARDINAL CIPPO, BEARING THE SEAL OF ARCHBISHOP WITH THE SACRED
Ē... CROWNING THE EIGHT-PETAL ROSETTE...

XVIIITH CENTURY ICON OF BAPTISM OF KING TIRIDATES III
BY ST. GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR.

In March 1980, he entered the service of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese, the Armenian Church’s most populous diocesan jurisdiction, which incorporates the capital, Yerevan, and the vicinity of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Appointed head of that diocese in June 1983, he was elevated to the rank of Bishop on October 23rd of that year, by the hand of His Holiness Vazgen I. Catholicos Vazgen granted him the title of Archbishop in November of 1992.

HIS HOLINESS CATHOLICOS GAREGIN II
CONDUCTS HOLY PATARAK IN THE YEREVAN CATHEDRAL OF
 ST. GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR -- CONSECRATED IN 2001
UPON THE OCCASION OF  THE 1,700 ANNIVERSARY OF
THE ADOPTION OF CHRISTIANITY AS  THE OFFICIAL STATE RELIGION

HERMETIC PATRIARCHAL STAFF WITH TWO INTERWOVEN
WINGED VISHAPS. XVIIITH CENTURY.

ONE OF THE MEDALS STRUCK BY THE HOLY SEE WITH SUBLIME SYMBOLISM
AND MEANING. THE MOTHER CHURCH WITH THE SACRED
TWIN PEAK COSMIC MOUNTAIN AND THE ARC/ARK/ARGO/ARCH ON
THE APEX OF METS MASIS....THE ENCIRCLING INSCRIPTION READS --
'...THE DESCENT OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN ONE FROM FATHER
AND HIS LIGHT OF GLORY...' THE FOUR LETTER WORD HORĒ [HOR[US]...FATHER
IS CONNECTED WITH HAYR/HUR...ETERNAL FIRE [MASC. PRINCIPLE]...
AND THE PYRAMIDAL CONIC DOME OF THE MOTHER CHURCH IS ILLUMINED
WITH THE NINE RAYS THAT EMANATE FROM THE SEVENTH ESSENTIAL LETTER...
WHICH IS ALSO THE LAST LETTER IN HORĒ...THE RAYS ARE IN-BETWEEN THE
NEXT WORD EW [LOYS] THE FIFTH QUINTESSENTIAL LETTER ECH BEING THE
FIRST...SO WE HAVE THE SACRED MEANING OF 7 AND 5...EMPHASIS STRESSED
MORE ON SEVEN [WITH NINE RAYS].

PATRIARCHAL GOLDEN STAFF.

THE GOLDEN BIRD [DOVE THAT CARRIES THE MURYON -- OIL OF ANOINTMENT]
XVIIITH CENTURY. CARRIER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [WATER].  FINE CRAFTSMANSHIP
OF ARMENIAN MASTERS.

ONE OF NUMEROUS BEAUTIFUL ANCIENT GOLD AND SILVER
BOOK COVERS EMBELLISHED WITH PRECIOUS STONES THAT ARE
ON DISPLAY IN THE ALEX MANOOGIAN MUSEUM OF THE HOLY SEE.

During the past decade, Archbishop Nersissian has been a prominent figure in Armenia’s religious, social, and cultural life. The charitable missions he has launched have helped his flock in their struggle to build a free and decent society from the physical ruins of the 1988 earthquake, and from the spiritual debris of Armenia’s Soviet period. He has been notable for using technology, especially television broadcasts, as a tool of evangelism and outreach. Following the death of Catholicos Vazgen I, Archbishop Nersissian was a candidate for the pontifical throne during the National Ecclesiastical Assembly of April 1995, but conceded victory to His Holiness Garegin Sarkissian, who thereafter became Catholicos Garegin I (Catholicos of All Armenians, 1995-1999). The latter, being treated for cancer in New York, appointed Archbishop Nersissian as the Vicar General of Holy Etchmiadzin in November 1998, in which capacity Nersissian served until the late Catholicos' death in June 1999.

PATRIARCHAL SQUARE [CIRCLE WITH THE SCENE
OF THE NATIVITY WITHIN] PART OF
THE CATHOLICOSAL INSIGNIA

THE MADONNA AND THE CHRIST CHILD CAPTURED BY MASTER HOVNATAN
HOVNATANIAN THE TRUE ESSENCE OF THE MEANINGFUL ARMENIAN EXPRESSION AND
ESPECIALLY...ARMENIAN EYES...

He was elected the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians on October 27, 1999, when more than 450 delegates from Armenian Church jurisdictions around the world met in a National Ecclesiastical Assembly at Holy Etchmiadzin, the Church’s Mother See, located in the Republic of Armenia. His consecration and enthronement followed on November 4th. As the 132nd in a continuous line of Catholicoi dating back to the Fourth Century, Catholicos Karekin II presides over the Supreme Spiritual Council (the Armenian Church’s governing college of bishops), and is the chief shepherd of the world’s 7 million Armenian Apostolic Christians.

SOURCE: RA EMBASSY IN USA

Ē -- THE SACRED SEVENTH ĒSSENTIAL LETTER SYMBOLIC OF THE INVISIBLE SUN
MANIFESTED AS THE BRILLIANT SUN BETWEEN THE SACRED TWIN PEAKS OF
THE COSMIC MOUNTAIN -- THE MOTHER CHURCH AND THE DOUBLE HEADED EAGLE IS
CENTERED BELOW SUPERIMPOSED ON ALL OF GAREGIN II'S CATHOLICOSAL KONDAKS
ECCLESIASTICAL DECREES AND LETTERS