After completing the customary 40-retreat, newly ordained Rev. Fr. Garabed Telfeyan will celebrate on Saturday, March 20, his first Divine Liturgy at St. Illuminator’s Cathedral, in New York, on occasion of the feast of St. Gregory’s Commitment to the Pit.
The following day, Archbishop Anoushavan will appoint Fr. Garabed Pastor of St. Stephen’s Church in New Britain, Connecticut. On that solemn opportunity, the newly ordained priest will celebrate his inaugural Badarak as Pastor.
In that role, Fr. Garabed succeeds Fr. Vahan Kouyoumdjian, who selflessly served as Pastor of St. Stephen’s for two years.
Fr. Taniel to serve in Granite City
Also on Sunday, March 21, Rev. Fr. Taniel Manjikian will celebrate his inaugural Divine Liturgy as Pastor of St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in Granite City, Illinois. Rev. Fr. Taniel, a graduate of the Seminary of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, has been in the United States since last year and has been serving the Prelacy as Visiting Pastor under the immediate auspices of Rev. Fr. Antranig Baljian, Pastor of St. Stephen’s Church of Watertown, Massachusetts, and its Board of Trustees.
The Religious and Executive Councils of the Prelacy extend their heartfelt congratulations to Rev. Fathers Garabed and Taniel, confident that they will serve the Armenian Church and God following the example of the Good Shepherd and the living witness of Christ, St. Gregory the Illuminator.