“The Seminary is an institution but our graduates leave as persons of vision with the mission to serve our people” stated His Holines Aram I

www.armenianorthodoxchurch.org – June 2016

12 June 2016. On Sunday evening, His Holiness Aram I presided over the graduation ceremony of the Seminary in the presence of the clergy and the community.

After Rev Boghos Tinkjian welcomed the audience, seminarians, who had participated in a special two-year music module, performed a short musical programme, followed by a presentation by the Armash Choir.

Following the musical program, Rev Oshin Choualertanian spoke on behalf of the graduating class. Then, Very Rev Torkom Donoyan presented the annual report and presented a reflection on the centuries-long vocation of the Seminary. He invited the graduates to follow the journey of spiritual life and diakonia of their predecessors and serve the diaspora communities wherever they may be called.

To conclude the ceremony, His Holiness Aram I distributed the diplomas and addressed the graduates. He said, “Diplomas are symbolic expressions of the knowledge you have acquired through your studies. However, the seminary not only provides knowledge, it builds character and forms the person.” The Catholicos continued, “Our graduates leave the seminary enriched by spiritual values and shaped by our national ideals. They transform their seminary experience into mission in service of the people.” He then reminded the graduates and those present that the Armenian Church is not a self-centred institution. Repeating the words of the Seminary anthem, he said that the seminary forges its graduates and prepares them for service by combining the spirituality of the church with the dreams, aspirations and hopes of the nation.

The graduation ended with the singing of both the Seminary anthem and “Cilicia,” the Catholicosate anthem.

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