Fall Semester Brings Five More Students to St. Nersess 

St. Nersess Armenian Seminary accepted five new students for the fall semester. “We are happy to welcome five new students who will study for service in the Armenian Church,” remarked the Rev. Fr. Mardiros Chevian, Dean.

New student Dn. Albert Hambardzumyan was born in Armenia and graduated from the Theological Seminary of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem in 2014. Following his graduation, he continued his service at Sts. James Armenian Cathedral as a deacon and choirmaster. He is pursuing the joint Master of Divinity Program at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and St. Nersess Armenian Seminary. The second new seminarian, Dn. Arman Galstyan, was born in Yerevan and resides in Toronto, Canada with his family, where he serves at the Holy Trinity Armenian Church. He graduated from the Gevorgyan Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin in 1996 and is enrolled in the seminary’s “St. Nersess the Great Program”, a program for late vocations.

New student Timothy Aznavourian was born in Boston, MA and grew up attending the Sts. Sahag and Mesrob Armenian Church in Providence, RI. He graduated from Rhode Island College with a degree in Philosophy and is also pursuing the joint Master of Divinity degree at St. Nersess and St. Vladimir’s Seminaries. The fourth new seminarian is Johnny Chadoyan. He was born in North Hollywood, CA, and later moved to Virginia where he grew up and served at St. James Armenian Church in Richmond. He recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Virginia Tech and is taking courses at St. Nersess Seminary. The fifth new student is Razmig Kalanjian. He was born in Michigan and grew up attending the St. John Armenian Church in Southfield, MI. Razmig is taking limited courses at St. Nersess while completing his bachelor’s degree.

In addition to the new students, four seminarians will continue with their studies at St. Nersess. Levon Asdourian is completing his last year in the joint Master of Divinity program and plans to graduate in May 2017, while Deacons Michael Sabounjian and Alex Calikyan have begun their second year in the joint Master of Divinity degree program. Eric Vozzy continues his studies on a part-time basis.

While all the students are engaged in coursework during the academic year, seminarians are also required to spend their summers in educational programs. These include: studying at Holy Etchmiadzin or Jerusalem for a summer, participating in a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program another summer, and working at a Diocesan or AGBU summer camp for the final summer. Following their graduation, they spend a full year at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to complete their studies.