The end of the 20th century in the Armenian Church was marked by the enthronement of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; the 132nd successor to Saint Gregory the Illuminator.
His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, (baptismal name Ktrij) was born on 21 August, 1951 in the village of Voskehat, Armavir region.
He received his elementary education in his native village, and in 1965, he entered the Gevorkyan Theological Seminary in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
On 26 December 1970, the Feast Day of St. Stephen the proto-martyr was ordained to the Diaconate by His Eminence Archbishop Haykazun Abrahamyan.
On 1971 graduated the Seminary with distinction. Upon graduation he taught New Testament Studies and served as Assistant to the Deana at the Seminary.
On 15 October 1972 he was ordained a celibate priest in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin; by Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan, and given the priestly name of Karekin.
In 1975 he was appointed to serve as apastor of the Armenian community in Germany, while continuing his theological education at the University of Bonn.
In 1979 he moved to Soviet Russia to continue his studies at the postgraduate course of the Moscow Academy of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In 1980 returning to Armenia, he was appointed to serve as the assistant to the Vicar General of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese.
In April 1983 was appointed to serve as the Vicar General of the Diocese.
On October 23, 1983 he was consecrated as a Bishop by the Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Vazken I, of Blessed Memory; and in 1992 was granted Archbishop's honor and title.
In 1995 His Eminence Archbishop Karekin Nersissian one of the possible candidates in the Catholicossal Elections, but he withdrew his candidacy in favor of Catholicos Karekin I.
From 1990 to 1999 has served as a member of the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Catholicosate of All Armenians.
On 30 November 1998 he was appointed as Catholicossal Vicar General by His Holiness Karekin I, Catholicos of All Armenians of blessed memory.
On 27 October 1999 was elected the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians by the National Ecclesiastical Assembly.
On 04 November 1999, the solemn procession led the newly elected Armenian Patriarch to the Mother Cathedral where “Օn Sunday, Commemoration day of Holy Patriarchs on the Main Altar flooded with prayer and light, was ordained and consecrated as the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; by the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia His Holiness Aram I, the Armenian Patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople: His Beatitude Archbishop Torgom Manukyan and His Beatitude Archbishop Mesrop Mutafyan, as well as in participation with the Armenian Archbishops and Bishops “ To receive the authority to be the first figure of our Apostolic Holy Church, as the Catholicos of All Armenians, the 132nd successor to Saint Gregory the Illuminator."
The 20-year activity of His Holiness was marked by the remarkable achievements in the fields of church building, propaganda of Christianity, patriotic, spiritual-educational, social-cultural and other spheres.