"We lost vehapar" on June 29

.

 Vaհe H Apelian

Catholicos Karekin I Sarkissian passed away on June 29, 1999. Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian wrote about his eye-witness account of the last days of and the last day of the Catholicos It would not surprise me that Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian’s narration of the last days and the last day of Catholicos Karekin I Sarkissian will go down in history as one of the finest Armenian church related writings.

After Catholicos Karekin Sarkissian’s death I remember reading some of the luminaries of Armenia at the time, among them the names Vazken Sargsyan, Silva Kaputikyan come to my mind, admitting that Catholicos Karekin Sarkissian was neglected and left alone. I quote Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian "No one knew that pain. The blow inflicted by the cancer was severe. The cancerous wound was open and deep. Everyone saw that wound. But the majestic soul died from other pains. To this day no one knows that pain and the depth of his other wound."

Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian’s narration is titled “The last day and the last day of Catholicos Karekin. The write-up was placed in the testimonial book about the archbishop,  titled “Living Faith, the Life & Service of Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian.”  The coffee-table size pictorial book was edited by Iris Papazian (1996)

. Catholicos Karekin Sarkissian is the only Armenian supreme patriarch of the Apostolic Church that occupied two pontifical seats, that of Cilician Catholicosate in Antelias and in Etchmiadzin. I linked below my translation of the archbishop’s Ashjian’s narration’s I had posted earlier in two segments, they are: 

1. The Last Day and the Last Days of Catholicos Karekin – 1/2 – “Srpazan, we lost Vehapar.” https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-last-day-and-last-days-of.html

2. The Last Day and the Last Days of Catholicos Karekin – 2/2 – “Srpazan, we lost Vehapar.” https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-last-day-and-last-days-of_29.html