Zareh I

His Holiness Zareh I Payaslian ( ) (? - died Beirut, Lebanon, 1963) was Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church from 1956 to 1953. 
He was the first graduate of the Seminary of Antelias of the Catholicossate. Before his election as Catholicos of Cilicia, he served as Primate of Aleppo, Syria for 16 years. He was elected during very acrimonious times between various Armenian political factions that had left the position vacant for around 4 years since the death of the Catholicoss Karekin I in 1952. 
He was elected in 1956 and tried to restore some harmony between various factions, particularly after the inter-Armenian strife in Lebanon in 1958. 
During his reign, and in 1962, the Catholicosate became a full member of the World Council of Churches and sent observers to the Vatican Council II. 
Category:Catholicoi of Cilicia
Category:1963 deaths
Category:Armenian Oriental Orthodox Christians