Karekin II Kazanjian

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Archbishop Karekin II Kazanjian (Armenian: Գարեգին Բ Գազանճյան; May 18, 1927 – March 10, 1998) was the 83rd Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, serving under the Catholicos of All Armenians. He was born Petros Kazancıyan in Istanbul, Turkey.

As a young man in Istanbul, he attended several Armenian schools before entering the Patriarchal Seminary of the St. James Brotherhood in Jerusalem in 1940. He was ordained a deacon in 1945 and a priest on January 22, 1950. From 1946 to 1949 he was the Assistant Dean of the Jerusalem Seminary and taught there and at the Tarkmançats School until 1951. He also held leadership roles in Jerusalem, including Chancellor of the Holy See and a member of the Brotherhood’s Executive Council.

In 1951 he returned to Istanbul to become the Dean of the planned Holy Cross Seminary. The seminary opened in January 1954, at which time he received the rank Dzayrakuyn Vartabed from Patriarch Karekin I. He taught Armenian literature and served as Dean until July 1959.

In 1959 he went to the United States to serve as pastor of St. Mary Church in Washington, D.C. He was ordained a bishop on October 24, 1966, by Catholicos Vazken I. He then became the first primate of the newly established Australian diocese, leading in Sydney until March 1981, when he was elected Grand Sacristan of the Brotherhood of St. James in Jerusalem. During this period he helped build churches, including ones in Washington, D.C. (1962), Sydney (1972), and Melbourne (1976). A headquarters building was purchased in Sydney to serve the Australian Diocese, and he worked to reduce its mortgage.

From 1981 to September 5, 1990, he served again as Grand Sacristan of the Holy See of Jerusalem and sat on a committee that audited the monastery’s finances, while also teaching seminary students.

In September 1990, Karekin Kazancıyan was elected Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. He passed away on March 10, 1998, in the Surp Pırgıç (Holy Saviour) Armenian hospital in Istanbul at the age of 70.