Nerses Pozapalian

Hakob Pozapalian was born in 1937 in the town of Kırıkhan, French Syria (nowadays in Turkey).

In 1939, his family migrated to Beirut where he received his primary education at the Noubarian Armenian College, the Armenian Seminary of Antelias, and the Central High College of Beirut. In 1957 his family repatriated to Soviet Armenia. Here he continued his education at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

He was ordained to the diaconate that same year by Archbishop Haikazoon Abrahamian. He continued his education at the Academy of the Russian Orthodox Church in Zagorsk. He was ordained as a celibate priest in 1961 by the Catholicos of All Armenians Vazken I and given the priestly name of Nerses.

In 1962 upon the successful defense of his thesis, Nerses received the rank of Archimandrite (Vardapet) and, in 1965 he received the rank of Senior Archimandrite (Dzayraguyn Vardapet).

From 1963 to 1965 Nerses studied at the Department of Theology at the College of the Resurrection in Yorkshire, England. At the same time he participated in summer courses in English culture and literature at Cambridge University. Upon his return from England, he served as the dean of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary until 1969.

From 1969 to 1970 Nerses studied at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey in Geneva. He served as the pastor for the Swiss-Armenian community from 1969 to 1972. He served as the Primate of the Diocese of England from 1973 to 1982 and in 1974 he was consecrated as a bishop by Catholicos Vasken I.

In 1977 Nerses was awarded a special Letter of Gratitude by the Queen Elizabeth II. At the request of Vasken I he returned to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in 1982 and was appointed to serve as the Chancellor of the Catholicosate of All Armenians.

In 1986 Bishop Pozpalian was elevated to the rank of Archbishop by a Pontifical Encyclical of Vasken I. On 4 July 1999 he was elected to serve as Locum Tenens of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and organized the Catholicosal elections that took place on 27 October 1999.

Holy Martyrs Church

Starting in 2000 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood Pozapalian sponsored the construction of the Holy Martyrs Church in the village of Teghenik, in memory of his parents, Grigor and Makrouhy Pozapalian. The church was consecrated in 2003. On this occasion he was awarded the order of St. Gregory the Illuminator by the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II. He published 10 books of poetry and sermons. He has served as a lecturer at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of Etchmiadzin delivering lectures in Ecumenism, National Constitution, and "Pologenia". He also served on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, the Jinishian Benevolent Foundation, and established the Bible Society of Armenia in 1982. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Bible Society of the Middle East. In 1999, he was elected a full member of the Humanitarian Academy of Russia. Archbishop Pozapalian served as the Director of the Publishing Department of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin until 2007 and was retired at the Mother See.

Archbishop Nerses was seriously injured in a robbery attack in his home at the Mother See on February 18, 2009, and was hospitalized in a coma. Four months later he died.[1]