Armenian patriarch of Jerusalem buried

Members of the clergy pray near the coffin of Armenian
Patriarch of Jerusalem Archbishop Torkom Manoogian
 during his funeral at the Armenian Church in the Old
City of Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 22, 2012.
Pix: Courtesy Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem- Hetq online

JERUSALEM,(Agence France Presse- AFP) October 23, 2012: The Armenian patriarch of Jerusalem, Torkom Manoogian, was buried on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 in a funeral attended by representatives of all the Christian Churches of the Holy Land.

A respected figure among local Christians, Manoogian died on October 12 aged 93 after being in a coma since January following a stroke. He headed the Armenian Orthodox communities in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.

He was buried in the Armenian cemetery of St Saviors on Mount Zion, after a five-hour ceremony attended by diplomats, Israeli and Palestinian officials and leaders of religious communities, including Muslims.

The funeral cortege included local boy scouts, Armenian seminary students and guards in the livery of Janissaries, the soldiers of the Ottoman Empire, an AFP photographer said.

Manoogian was born on February 16, 1919 in a refugee camp for survivors of the Armenian genocide, located near Baquba in the Iraqi desert.

He studied theology at the seminary of the Armenian patriarchate of Saint-Jacques in Jerusalem, and was ordained in 1939.

In 1946, he was transferred to the United States, where he served as New York's Armenian bishop and then primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America. He was elected 96th Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1990.

His successor will be elected at the end of the 40-day mourning period and must then be approved by Israel and King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Archbishop Aris Shirvanian has been named as temporary replacement.

The Armenian Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, a monastic order, is one of the custodians of the Christian Holy Places, along with the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches as well as the smaller Syriac and Coptic churches.

There are currently an estimated 2,000 Armenians living in Jerusalem, compared with 16,000 in 1948 when the state of Israel was founded.

Courtesy: The Daily Star

JERUSALEM (The Associated Press-AP),October 22, 2012 — Hundreds of cloaked clergymen have marched through the narrow alleyways of the Old City of Jerusalem to lay its longtime Armenian Patriarch to rest.

Torkom Manoogian died Oct. 12 after being hospitalized since January with cardiac problems. He was 93.

Since his election in 1990, Manoogian led a dwindling following of Armenians in Jerusalem. One of the four quarters of the Old City belongs to them. Armenians have a 1,600-year presence in the city. But a combination of political forces and the draw of a better life elsewhere have seen their numbers quietly drop below 1,000 people.

Manoogian previously led the Armenian church in the United States and was outspoken about the 1915 Armenian genocide committed against his people.

Courtesy: ctpost.com