Bishop Datev Hagopian
Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Romania
Bishop Datev Hagopian (baptismal name Hratch) was born in 1966, in the city of Mosul, Iraq.
From 1972 to 1979, he studied at the secondary school of Baghdad.
From 1979 to 1986, he studied at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
On February 14, 1986, in the Holy Etchmiadzin, he was ordained to the Diaconate by His Eminence Archbishop Housik Santourian.
From 1986 to 1987, he served in the Armenian Diocese of Iraq as a Deacon.
On March 10, 1988, in the Gevorkian Theological Seminary, he successfully defended his thesis entitled: “Eusebius of Caesarea in the Armenian Bibliography” and received a mark of excellence.
From 1988 to 1990, through the sponsorship of the WCC, he studied at the University of Geneva. Simultaneously, he served as a Secretary and Deacon at the St. Jacob Church in Geneva and was a teacher in the Sunday school. He established the Armenian Youth Association of Geneva.
From 1990 to 1992, in the ecclesiastical administration of the Holy Spirit Church of Netherlands, he served as a deacon-secretary and advisor and founded a Sunday School.
On February 18, 1993, he was ordained as a celibate priest, by His Eminence Archbishop Avak Asadourian in St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in Baghdad. Following his ordination, he served as the Spiritual Pastor, delivered lectures on the “Christian Religion” in the Armenian Church loving Organization of “Holy Translators” and Sunday schools.
From 1993 to 1996, he wrote articles for the “Lraber” and “Dzayn” Iraqi-Armenian magazines.
From June to October of 1996, Father Datev served as a member of the editorial staff for the “Lraber” Weekly of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople and wrote a series of articles.
From 1996 to 1997, he was invited to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin; served in the Christian Education Center of the Armenian Church; gave lectures in the Sunday school of Etchmiadzin; prepared religion teachers for Sunday schools; delivered sermons via the TV programs of “Siretsek Zmimeans” and “Khoran Lusoy” of the Armenian public television station, as well as on the radio.
In September 1997, His Holiness Karekin I, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; appointed him to serve as the Spiritual Pastor in the Department of Loire, Saint Etienne, France.
From 1997 to 1998, he studied the French language and literature at Jean Monnet University in Saint Etienne.
From 1997 to 2004, while serving in St. Gregory the Illuminator the Church in Saint Etienne, he established the choir “Targmanchats”(Translators), the Sunday school, the Women’s Church Devotion Committee, Armenian language classes for the youth, and the Hay Luar Maqazin” quarterly newspaper.
From 2000 to 2004, he participated in the radio programs of the Radio station RCF of the Catholic Church of Saint Etienne and presented programs on the Armenian Church.
In 1999, he successfully defended his doctrinal thesis entitled “The Sacrifice in the Armenian Theology” in the Department of Armenology at the University of Lyon; and on September 12, he received the rank of Archimandrite (Vardapet) at the St. Jacob Church of Lyon by His Grace Bishop Norvan Zakarian.
In April 2004, by the Pontifical Order of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; he was appointed to serve as the Spiritual Pastor in the Armenian Diocese of Netherlands.
From 2004 to 2010, he established five ecclesiastical parishes in the Netherlands – in the cities of Arnhem, Dordrecht, Assen, Eindhoven, and Maastricht, as well as the choir “Geghard” in Almelo, a Sunday school, the Holy Scripture lecture, and the Armenian Church loving Organization (VAJA).
On October 14, 2007, he established the Armenian Church Youth Organization (ACYO) of Amsterdam.
In 2008, under the presidency of the Armenian Pontiff, he reconstructed the Holy Spirit Church.
In 2010, under the initiative of the authorities of Amsterdam, he installed a Khachkar-Memorial in the Timan sepulcher dedicated to victims of the Armenian Genocide. He published an illustrated Church calendar of the Armenian Spiritual Pastorate of the Netherlands and organized and prepared the translation of the Divine Liturgy into Dutch.
On September 21, 2010, Rev. Fr. Datev Hagopian was elected to serve as the Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Romania.
On November 06, 2011, he was consecrated as a Bishop by His Holiness Karekin II, in the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin.
On June 21, 2019, by the Pontifical Order of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; His Grace Bishop Tatev Hakobyan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Romania, at the same time, was appointed to serve as a Locum Tenens in the Armenian Diocese of Bulgaria.
His Grace is the author of several scientific and public articles for the Diaspora press.
