Bishop Gevork Saroyan
Primate of the Diocese of Masyatsotn
Bishop Gevork Saroyan (baptismal name Arman) was born in 1977, in Masis City, Armenia.
From 1983 to 1993, he received his primary education at the secondary school of Marmarashen, Armenia.
From 1993 to 1998, he studied at the Vaskenian Theological Academy in Lake Sevan.
From 1998 to 1999, he continued his theological education at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
On May 23, 1999, he was ordained to the diaconate by His Eminence Archbishop Voskan Galpakian.
In 2000, he was appointed to serve as the Division Administrator in the “Karekin I” Scientific Center of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
In 2000, he successfully defended his thesis entitled “Biography of Grigor Khlatetsi According to the Manuscripts of the Matenadaran of Echmiadzin”.
On January 14, 2001, he was ordained as a celibate priest by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; in the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, and was given the priestly name of Gevork.
From 2002 to 2003, Father Gevork studied at the Faculty of General Psychology and Philosophy at the Concordia College of New York.
From 2003 to 2005, he studied at Leeds University, Great Britain, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology and Pastoral Studies.
From 2005 to 2006, he studied at Oxford University and received a Master of Arts degree in Theology.
From 2006 to 2007, he was assigned to serve as a Deputy Director in the “Karekin I” Scientific Centre.
In 2007, he was appointed to serve as the Vice Dean in the Vaskenian Theological Academy, and from 2008 to 2010, he worked there as a Dean.
In 2010, he defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Yervand Ter-Minasyan’s works in church-related science and the relations to the school of liberal Protestantism”. Later that year, he received the rank of Senior Archimandrite (Dzayraguyn Vartabet) by His Grace Archbishop Ararat Galtakjian.
On December 10, 2010, he was appointed to serve as the Dean of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary.
On November 06, 2011, Father Gevork was consecrated as a Bishop by His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians; in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. He was appointed to serve as Chairman of the Bible Society of Armenia.
On February 20, 2012, Bishop Gevork was appointed to serve as the Dean of the Educational Institutions of the Mother See.
From 2013 to 2017, His Grace studied at the Faculty of Theology at Yerevan State University.
In 2014, he entered Durham University, UK, for a Ph.D. in Historical Theology.
In 2017, Bishop Gevork defended his thesis at the Faculty of Theology of Yerevan State University and received his Ph.D. in history and theory of religion.
In November 2018, by the Pontifical Order of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; Bishop Gevork was appointed to serve as the Dean of the Ararat Region of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese.
In January 2021, by Pontifical order of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; His Grace Bishop Gevork Saroyan was appointed to serve as the Primate of the newly established Diocese of Masyatsotn.
