Death of Patriarch Shnork Kaloustian (March 7, 1990)

Archbishop Shnork Kaloustian was a prolific and active leader of the Armenian Church, who served in different capacities from Jerusalem to America to Istanbul, where he was the 82th Armenian Patriarch of Turkey for the last 29 years of his life. 

Arshag Kaloustian was born on September 27, 1913, in the village of Ighdel, in the region of Yozgat. His father was a victim of the genocide and he was separated from his mother. Little Arshag changed various orphanages in the years 1922-1927, from the former American college of Talas (Kayseri) to the American orphanages of Nahr Ibrahim in Lebanon and of Nazaret in Palestine. 

In 1927 he was admitted to the Armenian Seminary of Jerusalem and, upon graduation in 1932, he was ordained deacon, and in 1935 celibate monk by Archbishop Torkom Koushagian, Patriarch of Jerusalem. He received the name of Shnork. After becoming dean of the seminary in 1936-1937, he became director of the printing house of the Armenian Patriarchated and deputy editor of Sion, its official organ. In the same year, he received the four degrees of vartabed from Patriarch Koushagian. 

After becoming pastor of Haifa and its surroundings, in 1941-1945 Very Rev. Fr. Kaloustian became dean of the Theological Seminar of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia in Antelias. Afterwards, he was designated pastor of the Armenian parish of London (1945-1948). He moved to the United States in 1948, becoming pastor of St. Leon’s Church (Paterson, New Jersey, now in Fair Lawn) in 1948-1950 and of St. Mary Church (Irvington, New Jersey, now in Livingston) in 1950-1955. In 1952 received the twelve degrees of dzayrakuyn vartabed (archimandrite superior) from Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan. 

He was consecrated Bishop by His Holiness Vazken I, Catholicos of All Armenians, in 1956. On his way back to the United States, he stopped in Istanbul, where he met his mother, the only survivor of his family, after 33 years of separation. He was elected Great Sacristan of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem (1957-1960) and also edited Sion at the time. 

Due to the turmoil in the Patriarchate, he was forced to leave Jerusalem in 1960 and sojourn in Istanbul. After the death of Patriarch Karekin Khachadourian, he was elected Patriarch in October 1961 and was elevated to the rank of Archbishop by His Holiness Vazken I a few days later. 

Patriarch Shnork improved the relations between the Patriarchate and the Holy See of Echmiadzin, which had been strained due to the political situation in Turkey. Many churches and schools in Istanbul were renovated, and new archives and library were built for the Patriarchate. He created a Committee of Migrants to take care of the remaining Armenians migrating from the provinces to Istanbul. In 1973 he was granted the order of the Cross of St. Lazarus of the Hospitaliers Order of Jerusalem. 

Patriarch Shnork Kaloustian passed away on March 7, 1990, in a hospital in Yerevan after a fall suffered in Holy Echmiadzin, where he was visiting to provide financial and spiritual assistance to survivors of the earthquake of 1988. His body was transported to Istanbul and, after the last unction on March 18, was buried in the Armenian cemetery of Sisli. 

Patriarch Kaloustian was the author of many works, including the Modern Armenian version of the Gospels, published in four volumes in 1966, the Modern Armenian versions of St. Nerses Shnorhali’s General Encyclical (1973) and the poem Jesus the Son (1974), and works on the Great Lent (1971), Pentecost (1972), Good Friday (1974), biblical saints (1977), Christian saints (1978), Armenian saints (1982), etcetera.