Armenian Apostolic Holy Church The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

 

Bishop Markos Hovhannisyan was born in 1973, in the village of Bardzrashen, in the Ararat Region, Armenia.

In 1990, he graduated from the № 5 secondary school, in the town of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), Armenia. 

From 1990 to 1996, he studied at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Following his graduation, he served at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in the "Alex and Marie Manoogian" Treasury House. 

In 1996, he was ordained to the diaconate, by His Grace Bishop Anania Arabadjian.

From 1998 to 2000, he was a spiritual servant in the Republic of Armenia Armed Forces.

On February 29, 2000, he was ordained a celibate priest by His Eminence Archbishop Shahe Ajemian, and given the priestly name of Markos. 

From 2000 to 2001, he was assigned the responsibility of overseeing the care and preservation of the buildings of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. 

From 2001 to 2002, he was assigned to serve as an Assistant to the Primate, in the Diocese of Russia and New Nakhichevan. Then, he served as the spiritual pastor of St. Gregory the Illuminator Church of Riga, Latvia. 

In 2003, Father Markos entered the Saint Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Moscow, where he furthered his theological study. 

In 2005, Father Markos received the rank of Archimandrite (Vardabet), after he successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled "Inscriptions from the Viewpoint of Ecclesiastical Studies".
 
In 2005, by the Pontifical Order of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians; he was appointed as a Locum Tenens in the Diocese of Gegharkunik․

On November 19, 2006, Father Markos was consecrated as a Bishop by His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians; in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. Bishop Markos served as the Primate of the Diocese of Gegharkunik.

In 2008, Bishop Markos attended the Congress of World Leaders and Traditional Religions in Astana, Kazakhstan. He served as a member of the Standing Committee. 

In 2009, His Grace was appointed to serve as a Member of the Public Council of Armenia by the RA President Serzh Sargsyan. 

Since 2009, Bishop Markos serves as a President of the Board of Trustees of the World Council of Churches Armenia Round Table Charitable Foundation. 

In March 2015, by the Pontifical Order of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; His Grace Bishop Markos Hovhannisyan was appointed to serve as the Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Ukraine.