Nshan Topouzian

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Nshan Ara Garabed Topouzian ( Western Armenian Նշան Թօփուզեան , Persian نشان توپوزیان, Traditional Eastern Armenian Նշան Թոփուզեան Nshan Ara Karapet Topuzian , reformed Նշան Թոփուզյան , * 2. April 1966 in shtora , Bekaa Valley , Lebanon ; † April 27, 2010 in Yerevan , Armenia ) was an Armenian Apostolic clergyman. From August 2002 to April 2010 he was prelate and from 2006 bishop in Tabriz based Diocese Atrpatakan ( Azerbaijan ) in Iran , which the Holy See of Cilicia is subject.

Life

Ara Topouzian was born in the village of Shtora on the Bekaa plain in Lebanon on April 2, 1966 and baptized on April 13, 1966. Ara went to the Armenian primary school in Zahlé and at the age of 12 came to the Armenian Seminary of the Catholic of Cilicia in Antelias . After 5 years he completed the seminary and became a deacon in 1984 . After attending the three-year college he was in 1987 by Catholicos Karekin II. For celibate ordained priest and was named Nshan ( Armenian Նշան , "sign"). In February 1991 he was sent to the diocese of Atrpatakan in Tabriz, Iran, and in May 1991 Karekin II appointed him pontifical legate of Atrpatakan. In August 2002 he was elected prelate of the Atrpatakan diocese. Catholicos Aram I appointed him Bishop of Atrpatakan on June 4, 2006 .

The monastery of St. Thaddäus became a UNESCO World Heritage Site during the time of Bishop Nshan.

During Nshan's tenure as prelate of Atrpatakan, the four Armenian churches of Tabriz - the Tabriz Church of St. Mary (Surp Mariam), the Tabriz Church of Saint Sarkis (Surp Sarkis), the Church of St. Mary of Maralan (Mariam Nanna or Na-Na) and the Tabriz Schoghakat- Church - as well as the prelature completely renovated and a new church built in Urmia . When he was a prelate, the Ararat Cultural Complex in Tabriz was also built on Valman Street (opposite the Presbyterian Church in Tabriz) near southern Shariati Street and the neighborhood Baron Avak with its Armenian Saint Sarkis Church. Due to the efforts of Nshan Topuzian and other Armenian priests in collaboration with the Iranian government on July 8, 2008, three old church complexes of the Armenian Diocese Atrpatakan were under the name of Armenian monasteries in Iran in the UNESCO - World Heritage Site that: added St. Thaddeus Monastery , the St. Stephen's Monastery and the Chapel of Dzordsor .

Azerbaijani soldiers destroy the Armenian cemetery in Jugha . We owe the documentation of this destruction to Bishop Nshan Topouzian and other clergy from Tabriz.

After hearing reports of the destruction of Armenian cultural sites in the Republic of Azerbaijan , Nshan went several times between 1997 and 2007 to the banks of the Arax near Jolfa , where he witnessed the destruction of the Armenian cemetery in Jugha by Azerbaijani soldiers . Together with other Armenian clergy and Iranian architecture experts, he photographed and filmed the demolition work of the Azerbaijani soldiers and how the rubble of the Khachkars and tombstones were unloaded with trucks on the banks of the Arax. He wrote several articles for the Tehran daily Alik , where his photos of the destruction of cultural heritage were also published.

languages

In addition to his mother tongues, Western Armenian and Arabic , Bishop Nshan was fluent in Eastern Armenian , Persian, spoken in Armenia and by the Armenians in Iran , and Azerbaijani, which is very similar to Turkish and widely spoken in Northern Iran .

Death and burial

Bishop Nshan Topouzian's funeral at the Schoghakat Church in Tabriz , May 5, 2010

At the beginning of April 2010, Bishop Nshan was admitted to the Nork-Marash Hospital in Yerevan with liver cell carcinoma , but could not be helped because of an advanced disease that was noticed too late. He died in hospital on April 27, 2010 at the age of 44.

The Last Unction was held on May 2, 2010 in the Jacob's Church in Kanaker , a district of the Armenian capital Yerevan, by Ararat Kaltakjian from the Holy See of Saint Etchmiadzin and All Armenians, by Tehran's Archbishop Sepuh Sargsjan and by Isfahan's Bishop Papken Tcharian . He was buried on May 5, 2010 in Tabriz in the Armenian cemetery at the Shoghakat Church in Tabriz .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ICESC profile 1995 (updated December 7, 2007). In: www.solami.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2018 ; accessed on March 30, 2019 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c In Memoriam: Nshan Topouzian, the bishop of Aderbadagan. In: theorthodoxchurch.info. April 29, 2010, accessed March 30, 2019 .
  3. ↑ In Memoriam Bishop Nshan Topouzian (1966-2010) ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Saint Gregory Church of Philadelphia, Prelacy, Secretariat.
  4. ↑ Տ. Նշան եպս. Թոփուզեանի վախճանման 6-րդ տարելիցը ՝ Ատրպատականում - «ԱԼԻՔ» Օրաթերթ. In: alikonline.ir. May 14, 2016, accessed March 30, 2019 (Armenian).
  5. ↑ In Pictures: The Cemetery Site After Being Converted Into A Military Shooting Range. In: djulfa.com. Djulfa Virtual Memorial and Museum, September 2007, accessed March 30, 2019 .
  6. ↑ When Does Targeting Monuments Become a Human Rights Abuse? In: amnestyusa.org. Retrieved March 30, 2019 .
  7. ^ Azad-Hye Middle East Armenian Portal (The last anointing service of the departed Prelate of Aderbadagan Bishop Nshan Topouzian). In: www.azad-hye.net. Archived from the original on January 26, 2018 ; accessed on March 30, 2019 (English).
  8. ↑ تصاویر: تشییع اسقف نشان توپوزیان - تابناک. Photos from the funeral. In: tabnak.ir. May 6, 2010, Retrieved March 30, 2019 (Persian).
personal data
SURNAME Topouzian, Nshan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Topouzian, macaw; Topouzian, Nshan Ara Garabed; Topuzian, Nshan Ara Karapet; Topusian, Nshan Ara Karapet; Թոփուզեան, Նշան (traditionally Eastern Armenian); Թոփուզյան, Նշան (Eastern Armenian, reformed); Թօփուզեան, Նշան (Western Armenian); نشان توپوزیان (Persian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Armenian clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH April 2, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Shtora , Bekaa Plain , Lebanon
DATE OF DEATH April 27, 2010
Place of death Yerevan , Armenia