ST. ILLUMINATOR’S NAMES CATHOLICOSATE SEMINARY FUND FOR ARCHPRIEST FR. MESROB LAKISSIAN

On Monday, March 2, St. Illuminator’s Cathedral announced that its Board of Trustees have designated a portion of the benevolent assets of the Cathedral to be known as the St. Illuminator’s Mayr Yegeghetsi Archpriest Fr. Mesrob Lakissian Seminary Fund for the support of the Armenian Theological Seminary of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, in Bikfaya, Lebanon. 

The designation is made at the close of the 110th anniversary year of the founding of the Cathedral and the 30th anniversary year of the Enthronement of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, under the auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate. 

The Trustees designated $100,000 as the initial corpus of the fund and will make annual grants from the investment proceeds, supplemented by solicited donations, for the support of the Seminary and its programs. They will annually add to the principal from the Cathedral’s benevolent assets, supplemented by solicited donations. 

The trustees designated the Fund in acknowledgement of the 70 years during which Mayr Yegeghetsi has been under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholicosate and in recognition of the Seminary’s indispensable role in the education of its clergy. 

Citing the special obligation of the Mayr Yegeghetsi as the episcopal seat of one of the important Prelacies under the jurisdiction of the Catholicosate, to lead by example and support the Catholicosate and its ministry, the Trustees deemed it to be in furtherance of the essential purposes of the Cathedral to support the Seminary and its programs. 

The trustees named the Fund in honor of Archpriest Fr. Mesrob on the 20th anniversary of his ordination and in recognition of his thirty years of faithful service to the Cathedral, including twenty years as its spiritual shepherd, and for his special and lifelong devotion to the Seminary, where he received his education and training, and graduated in 1990. The trustees also recognized Yeretsgeen Ojeen Lakissian for her steadfast support of Archpriest Fr. Mesrob, with deepest gratitude for the indispensable role she has played throughout his ministry. 

The trustees announced their intention that the Fund be maintained in perpetuity as a living testament of the Cathedral’s obligations. To ensure that future trustees faithfully honor the commitment as a moral obligation, they pledged to educate subsequent generations of Trustees about the singular importance of the Seminary’s ministry to the preservation of Armenian Christian faith, the continued strength of the Armenian Church, and the vitality of Armenian Christian life.