Bishop Sebouh Chouldjian

Bishop Sebouh Chouldjian (, also Sepouh, Sepuh, Chuljian, Tchuljian, Chuljyan) is the Primate of the Diocese of Gougark of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church.
Bishop Sepouh was born on 24 March 1959 in Malatya, Turkey. He received his primary education at the Nersisian College of Istanbul. In 1969, his family repatriated to Armenia and settled in the city of Gyumri, where he continued and finished his primary education.
In 1978 he entered the Gevorkian Theological Seminary at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. In 1979 he deferred the continuation of his education to serve in the Soviet army. After the completion of his tour of duty, he continued his studies at the Seminary. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1985, by the Grand Sacristan of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Archbishop Hoosik Santourian. He successfully defended his final theses entitled The Translation Works of Lukas of Kharpert in March 1986. Upon his graduation from the seminary he was appointed to serve in the Secretariat of the Pontifical Administration.
He was ordained as a celibate priest on 7 June 1987, the Feast of Pentecost, by Archbishop Nerses Pozapalian, and given the priestly name of Sebouh. Following his ordination, he continued his service in the Pontifical Administration.
By the appointment of Vazgen I, Catholicos of All Armenians, he served as the Vice Dean of the Gevorkian Theological Seminary at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in September 1987. In November 1989, he successfully defended his Doctoral thesis entitled, “Fast in the Armenian Apostolic Church”, and received the rank of Archimandrite (Vardapet).
In 1990, Vazgen I appointed Father Sebouh to serve as the spiritual pastor of the Armenian faithful of Geneva Switzerland. He returned to Armenia in 1991, to serve as the Vicar of the Diocese of Shirak.
After the independence of the Republic of Armenia, vast administrative tasks were placed on the Armenian Church. In June 1995, Sebouh was appointed to serve as the Director of the Reserve Stewardship Inventory Committee. Also in that same year, he was appointed to serve as the Director of the committee responsible for tracking the return and receipt of all previously confiscated church buildings, land and construction projects from the Republic of Armenia to the Armenian Church. All churches, buildings, structures and properties belonging to the Church had been seized by the State during the time of the Communist Regime.
In 1996, he served as the representative of the Armenian Church on the Humanitarian Aid Central Committee of the Republic of Armenia. On 3 June 1996, by the Pontifical Encyclical of the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin I, he was appointed to serve as the Primate of the Diocese of Gougark.
Sebouh was consecrated as a Bishop on 15 June 1997 by Karekin I. He was a member of the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Armenian Church during 2000-2007.
Bishop Sebouh presently serves as the Primate of the Diocese of Gougark in Armenia. 
He is member of the Armenian branch of the International Academy of Natural and Social Sciences (since 2000). He holds Fridtjof Nansen Golden Medal (2005), Republic of Armenia Prime Minister's Medal for vast contribution in State-Church relations (2006).
On March 24, 2009, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan warmly congratulated Bishop Sebouh on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of birthday. In his message he emphasized Bishop Sebouh's input in organizing Christian education, revivification of church life and restoration of ethnic and spiritual identity of the Armenian nation.
==References==
==External links==
*Bishop Sebouh Chouljian
*The Armenian Church
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*Bishop Chuljyan, potential replacement for Patriarch Mesrob II, talks of peace
*Pilgrimage to Western Armenia (The Historical Memory of the Turkish People Ninety-four Years Later)
*Diocesan Summer Camp "Tsitsernak" Opens in Vanadzor
*Five New Priests Ordained in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
*Consecration of the 6th century St. Gevorg church in Archovit (Ghoursali)
*Camp Antranig Opens in Armenia
*A meeting with Turkish historian and journalist Osman Koker in Vanadzor
*Presentation of the Lord to the Temple Celebrated in Vanadzor, Armenia
*About Malice - Bishop Sepouh Chouljian, Primate of the Armenain Apostolic Church Diocese of Gougark
*Baptism in a Shak
Category:Bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church
Category:Oriental Orthodox primates
Category:Armenian people
Category:1959 births
Category:Living people
Category:Armenian Oriental Orthodox Christians
Category:People from Malatya