George VI of Armenia

George VI of Armenia (Armenian: Գևորգ Զ. Չորեքչյան (Նորնախիջևանցի), Kevork VI Cheorektjian; December 2, 1868 – May 9, 1954) was the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church from 1945 to 1954.[1]

His Holiness George VI of Armenia Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians
Church	Armenian Apostolic Church
See	Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
Installed	1945
Term ended	1954
Predecessor	Khoren I of Armenia
Successor	Vazgen I
Personal details
Birth name	Gheorg Khachaturovich Cheorekchian (or Tcheorekdjian)
Born	(1868-12-02)December 2, 1868 Rostov-on-Don, Don Host Oblast, Russian Empire
Died	May 9, 1954(1954-05-09) (aged 85) Etchmiadzin, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
Buried	Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin

The position had remained vacant from 1938 to 1945 because of the Joseph Stalin purges against religion, culminating in the murder of the then catholicos Khoren I in 1938. Etchmiadzin was ordered closed and the position of Catholicos of All Armenians remained vacant for 7 years from 1938 to 1945.

But when Stalin himself ordered easing of restrictions against religion, it was allowed for the assignment of Bishop Gevork as new Catholicos of All Armenians as Gevork VI (also known as George VI of Armenia) and was eventually allowed to return to Etchmiadzin.

During the Soviet regime, the press praised George VI as one of the most outstanding supporters of the "struggle for peace".

He died in 1954 and a new catholicos Vazgen I was elected in 1955 as Catholicos of All Armenians.

Tombstone of George VI, Catholicos of All Armenians, at Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin

George VI is buried near the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin.