Khajag Barsamian is an Armenian religious figure. He was the Primate of Diocese of Armenian Church of America and is the president of the Fund for Armenian Relief. He was the longest serving Diocesan Primate, leading the Armenian Church of America from 1990 to 2018.
Early life
Barsamian was born in Arapkir, Turkey on July 4, 1951. At age 13, he began his religious studies at the Holy Cross Armenian Seminary in Istanbul. Encouraged by Archbishop Shnork Kaloustian, he went to Jerusalem to study at the Seminary of the St. James Armenian Patriarchate from 1967 to 1971. He was ordained a celibate priest in 1971 and achieved the ecclesiastical degree of vartabed two years later. His later educational pursuits led him throughout the United States and Europe: to New York'sGeneral Theological Seminary, St. John's University in Minneapolis, the Gregorian University in Rome, and Oxford'sOriental Institute. He has lectured in the United States, Italy, England, Germany, Jerusalem and Armenia, and has conducted research at the Manuscript Library of Yerevan, the Mekhitarist Institute of Venice and the Manuscript Library at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. His publications have appeared in various educational and scholarly journals. In October 1991, General Theological Seminary awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree.
Career
Concurrent with and subsequent to his education, he took on pastoral duties in Istanbul; in the Armenian communities in Jaffa, Haifa and Ramleh; and throughout the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America—in Worcester, Massachusetts; Minneapolis – Saint Paul and at the St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in New York City, where he served as Vicar General and director of Ecumenical Relations.
Primate
Barsamian was elected Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America in the spring of 1990, and was subsequently elevated to the rank of bishop by Vasken I, at the Cathedral of Holy Echmiadzin. In 1992, he received the rank of archbishop. In May 2018, Barsamian announced that he would not seek an eighth term as Primate. His 28-year reign as Primate is the longest in the history of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America. On May 4, 2018, Daniel Findikyan was elected as Barsamian's successor and confirmed by Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Spiritual Leader of the Armenian Church.
