Catholicos of All Armenians Receives Participants of Clergy Training Program
22.05.2025
On May 22, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, received clergy from various dioceses of Armenia and the Diaspora, participating in the ongoing clergy training courses at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
His Grace Bishop Vahan Hovhanissian, Director of the Garegin I Educational Center and Clergy Training Programs at the Mother See, provided an overview of the current 2023–2025 phase of the program, which has engaged approximately 400 participants. He emphasized the importance of the courses and expressed gratitude to His Holiness for the care shown toward both the initiative and its participants.
His Holiness then offered his blessings to those present.
Catholicos Karekin II expressed satisfaction with the results achieved thus far, underscoring the importance of renewing theological knowledge, exchanging pastoral experience, and addressing the challenges facing the Church and society, along with the ways to overcome them.
He conveyed appreciation to Bishop Vahan and the Deputy Director of the program, Rev. Fr. Hieromonk Shnorhk Sarkissian, for their dedicated efforts in organizing the courses. His Holiness also announced that the next phase of the program will be thematically structured, focusing on both theoretical and practical theology in response to contemporary challenges and the evolving needs of spiritual ministry.
In conclusion, the Catholicos of All Armenians exhorted the clergy to continue their service to the Church, the nation, and the homeland with profound awareness of their calling and unwavering dedication, gathering and inspiring the faithful in every community to overcome present hardships and contribute to the strengthening of the homeland.
