Archbishop Mikael Ajapahian
Primate of the Diocese of Shirak
- General Information
Born on December 27, 1963, in Gyumri. Baptismal name is Gevorg.
From 1971 to 1981 - Secondary School No. 20 named after G. Sundukyan, Gyumri.
From 1981 to 1987 - Gevorgian Theological Seminary.
From 1982 to 1984 - Service in the Soviet Army.
From 1995 to 1997 - Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome (Master of Eastern Ecclesiastical Studies).
- Ecclesiastical titles and ordination
In 1986 - Ordained to the Diaconate by His Eminence Archbishop Housik Santourian.
In 1988 - Ordained as a Celibate Priest by His Eminence Archbishop Housik Santourian.
In 1988 - 4 levels of private preaching, rank of Archimandrite by His Eminence Archbishop Anannia Arabajian (Thesis: “The Capital of Cilicia, Sis, 1890–1920”).
In 1994 - Rank of Senior Archimandrite by His Eminence Archbishop Nerses Pozapalian (Thesis: “St. Clemes, Bishop of Rome”).
In 2001 - Consecrated as a Bishop by His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians.
In 2019 - Granted the Rank of Archbishop by the Encyclical of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians.
- Tenure
In 1987 - Secretary of the Catholicosate.
In 1988 - Grand Sacristan of the Mother Cathedral.
From 1988 to 1989 - Lecturer and Vice Dean at the Gevorgian Theological Seminary ("Interpretation of the Holy Liturgy".)
In 1988 - Member of the Mother See committee assisting the victims of the Spitak earthquake.
In 1989 - Abbot of the Holy Cross Monastery, Yeghegnadzor.
In 1990 - Abbot of Gandzasar Monastery.
From 1990 to 1991 - Center for Christian Education and Preaching, Mother See.
From 1991 to 1992 - Vice Rector of the Gevorgian Theological Seminary, lecturer (Patrology, General Church History, Old Testament Interpretation).
From 1992 to 1994 - Vice Grand Sacristan of the Mother Cathedral.
From 1994 to 1995 - Secretary of Catholicosal Locum Tenens Archbishop Torkom Manookian.
From 1996 to 1997 - Staff-bearer of His Holiness Karekin I, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.
From 1997 to 1999 - Assistant of His Holiness Karekin I, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians (Department of Interchurch Relations).
From 1999 to 2000 - Director at the Armenian Philanthropic Academy of Calcutta.
In 1999 - Member of the "Faith and Order" Commission of the World Council of Churches.
From 1999 to 2001 - Locum Tenens of the Diocese of Shirak.
From 2000 to 2001 - Patriarchal Legate to India for the Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin II.
Since 2001 - Primate of the Diocese of Shirak
Since 2023 - Member of the Supreme Spiritual Council.
