Vazgen I

Vazken I. Baljian ( born September 20, 1908 in Bucharest; † August 18, 1994 in Yerevan ) was the " Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians ", ie of Echmiadzin, in the Armenian Apostolic Church.

After the massacres of 1895/96 from Istanbul Levon Garabed Baljian comes from an Armenian family fled to Romania. He learned his school and university education in Bucharest. He then worked as a journalist and teacher. In 1943 he was ordained a celibate priest in Athens and took the name Vazken. 1951 consecrated him Catholicos Kevork VI. in Echmiadzin (then Soviet Republic of Armenia ) to the bishop for Romania. On September 29, 1955, he was elected Echmiadzin Catholicos consecrated on October 2.

He provided a translation of the Bible in the New Armenian and became very busy traveling to the communities of the Armenian Diaspora and other church leaders. In 1970 he visited the Vatican for the first time.

Through him, the Catholicos of Echmiadzin in 1962 a member of the World Council of Churches. In his nearly forty -year tenure Armenia became independent. In 1991 he took before the swearing in of the first president. 1993 awarded him the Armenian Parliament the title of " National Hero of Armenia ".

In old age he died of cancer. On August 28, 1994, he was buried in the Echmiadzin Cathedral.