Armenian Apostolic Holy Church The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

 

Bishop Hovakim Manukyan (baptismal name Vardkes) was born on October 19, 1976, in the village of Voskehat, Republic of Armenia.

From 1983 to 1993, he received his primary education at the secondary school of the village.

From 1994 to 1999, he studied at the Vaskenian Theological Academy at Lake Sevan.

In 1998, he also took a course at the Bossey Ecumenical School, Geneva, Switzerland.

From 1999 to 2000, he continued his education at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

On July 16, 2000, he was ordained to the diaconate by His Eminence Archbishop Mesrop Grigorian.

From 2000 to 2002, he was assigned to serve in the Inter-Church Relations Department of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

On October 22, 2001, he successfully defended his thesis entitled "Extracts from the History of the Coptic Orthodox Church" and received a “very good” mark.

On November 11, 2001, he was ordained as a celibate priest, by His Eminence Archbishop Voskan Galpakian.

In 2001, he studied Social Theology at the Diaconal School in Aarhus, Denmark.

From 2002 to 2004, he studied at the Spiritual Academy in Sergiyev Posad, Moscow, and received a Theological Ph.D. degree.

In 2004, he was reappointed to serve in the Inter-Church Department of the Mother See. 

In August 2005, he was appointed to serve as the Head of the Office of the Inter-Church Relations Department of the Mother See. 

On April 21, 2006, he presented and successfully defended his doctrinal thesis entitled "Ecumenism in the 20th Century and the Armenian Church", and received the rank of Archimandrite (Vardapet) at the St. Mesrop Church of Oshakan by His Eminence Archbishop Yeznik Petrosian. 

In 2010, he received his ordination and consecration as a Bishop by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. 

In 2005, he was elected as a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Armenian Round Table Charity Foundation. 

From 2004 to 2009, he served as a Member of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CEC). 

In 2009, he was appointed to serve as a Member of the Central Committee of the CEC. 

Since 2004, he is a Member of the Ecumenical officials of the World Council of Churches. 

In 2006, participated in the 9th WCC Assembly held in Porto Alegre, Brazil; in 2007 - the third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu, Romania; and in 2009 - the 13th Assembly of the Conference of European Churches in Lyon. 

In 2010, he was a member of the Delegation of the Catholicos of All Armenians during his visit to Baku, and in 2011- a member of the Delegation of the Catholicos of All Armenians during his visit to Georgia. 

From 2012 to 2015, His Grace Bishop Hovakim Manukyan was the Primate of the Diocese of Artik and the Head of the Inter-Church Relations Department of the Mother See.

In 2013, he was a member of the Delegation of the Catholicos of All Armenians during the 10th Conference of the World Council of Churches in Busan. 

From 2014 to 2015, he accompanied His Holiness during his visits to the Vatican. 

On July 15, 2015, by the Pontifical Order of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians; His Grace was appointed to serve as the Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Great Britain and Ireland.