AN UNFORGETTABLE PRESENCE: THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF ARCHBISHOP MESROB ASHJIAN’S PASSING

The Eastern Prelacy and our parishes evoke with gratitude the much-missed figure of Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian (1941-2003), who indefatigably served as Prelate of the Eastern United States and Canada in 1978-1998. He was in New York for the presentation of his latest work, The Chronicles of Etchmiadzin, at the Prelacy headquarters, when he suddenly passed away on December 3, 2003. He was key in developing many of the initiatives that currently the Prelacy pursues with the same vigor and has expanded, including ANEC’s Siamanto Academy, AREC’s St. Gregory of Datev Summer Program, the Nerses the Great Charitable and Social Organization, and others. May God illuminate his soul.