Armenian Apostolic Holy Church The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

On June 30, with the blessing of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; the closing ceremony of the 2022-2023 academic year of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary took place in the Auditorium of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary.

The event began with the Lord's prayer, following which the hymns of RA and Gevorkian Seminary were sounded.

Following which, Proto- Archimandrite Shahe Ananyan, Dean of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary and Vaskenian Theological Academy, welcomed the attendees.

Archimandrite Shahe, referring to the past academic year of the Seminary, emphasized that the Seminary was not spared from the emotions and challenges storming the homeland and the Armenian people- prayed that the Almighty Lord would keep the Armenian church and the faithful children of the Armenian people under His Holy Right Hand, away from all evil and trials.

"Truly, the Seminary shining with hope and a bright vision of the future for a century and a half cannot exist in any other way. For the seminary and its students, not believing in the victory of hope and love means being unfaithful to the great and glorious legacy that Malakia Ormanyan, Komitas, Karapet Ter-Mkrtchyan, Gevorg Chorekchyan, Garegin Hovsepyan, and many more have given us since 1874 and even before that. many famous seminarians down to the present day…

Not hoping and not believing that these well known names will be reborn and incarnated among the students of the seminary would mean leaving the trench of spiritual awakening and vigilance, turning your back on the enemy and running away from the mighty mission. After all, we have an order from St. Paul the Apostle. "Do not quench the Spirit." (1 Thess. 5:19)," stated Archimandrite Shahe, adding that the student who enter the Seminary is a child of a great vision, the same vision with which the Father of our faith, St. Gregory the Illuminator, built the Holy Etchmiadzin; Saint Sahak and Saint Mesrop turned the Bible into Armenian script, enlightening the hearts and minds of Armenians; Saint Vardananks painted the first pages of the book of Armenian heroic battles with the blood of martyrs, the famous and Christ-loving kings strengthened and built our homeland, theological professors ennobled our priceless manuscripts, our Patriarchs led the Armenian people to enlightenment in spiritual and corporeal wars.

In his remarks, the Dean wished good and blessed service to the deacons who graduated from the seminary, asking that the Almighty God always direct and keep in them the zeal of apostolic preaching, the unyielding diligence of the spiritual cultivator and the love towards God, the Holy Church and the Armenian people. 

At the conclusion, Archimandrite Shahe expressed his gratitude to the Patriarch of All Armenians for the Paternal care and attention shown towards the Seminary, and for the sake of the seminary inspection, thanked the Brotherhood of the Mother See, the teaching staff of the Seminary for their dedicated work and responsible and conscious attitude towards the Seminary.

Afterwards, the choir and students of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary performed and recited spiritual and national songs.

On behalf of the teaching staff, Associate professor PhD. Laura Avagyan conveyed her remarks to the attendees, and on behalf of the students, the student of the 6th graduation lecture class Dn. Gevorg Mkrtchyan conveyed his remarks.

During the ceremony, an award ceremony was held in the name of the Blessed Dn. Narek Petrosyan, who was a Spiritual Servant of the RA Armed Forces and died heroically in the 44-day Artsakh war. A number of seminarians were awarded cash prizes for presenting the best social service programs of the church.

The dedication ceremony, which has become a beautiful tradition, was also held. Awards were given to the students of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary, the Vaskenian Theological Academy of Sevan, and the Priest Accelerated Course, who have made high progress in their studies by His Eminence Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan, Director of the External Relations and Protocol Department of the Mother See

At the conclusion of the event, Archbishop Nathan delivered his message and blessing to the attendees.

Archbishop Nathan, conveying the paternal love and blessing of the Catholicos of All Armenians to those present, emphasized that the future generation of spiritual Armenia, the guardian of the identity of the Armenian soul, is being nurtured in the seminary. The Archbishop also expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the inspection staff and professors of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary and the Vaskenian Theological Academy  of Sevan, Priest Accelerated Course, who are making every effort to provide the best education for the students.

The Archbishop urged the graduating deacons to permanently arm themselves with knowledge so that they can make heavenly life on earth possible and fight for the holy Christian faith.

The ceremony was concluded with the "Protector" prayer of  His Eminence Archbishop Nathan. 19 students graduated from the seminary in the 2022-2023 academic year.