Very Rev. Fr. Zareh Paronyan Enters His Eternal Rest
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin – April 2017
+Memory Eternal+
With deep regret, we were informed by the Armenian Diocese of Romania that on the morning of April 13, Very Rev. Fr. Zareh Paronyan, entered his eternal rest. Father Zareh was 76 years old. Father Zareh’s death is a great loss for the Armenian Apostolic Church. His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians and the Brotherhood of Mother See deeply mourn the loss of Very Rev. Fr. Zareh Paronyan.
On April 19, in the Church of Holy Archangel in Bucharest, the last rites and interment services will be offered. Following the Divine Liturgy burial service will be conducted.
Blessed be the Memory of the Righteous.
Very Rev. Fr. Zareh Paronyan
Very Rev. Fr. Zareh Paronyan (baptismal name Hakob) was born on October 2 1941, in Bucharest (Romania).
He received his primary education at the Armenian College in Bucharest from 1948 to 1955.
From 1955 to 1959 he studied at the Yerevan Pedagogocal Institute.
In 1961 he entered the Gevorkian Theological Seminary in Etchmiadzin and graduated the Auditorium department in 1965.
From 1963 to 1964 he studied at the Zagorsk Spiritual Academy of the Russian Orthodox Church and defended his thesis on “Archimandrite Stephen of Poland: Life and Work”.
He was ordained to the diaconate on September 1963 by His Eminence Archbishop Haykazoon Abrahamian, in Holy Etchmiadzin.
On January 1965, was ordained as a celibate priest by His Grace Bishop Asoghik Ghazaryan.
He studied in the Theological Seminary in Bucharest from 1967 to 1970.
On July 1969, he defended his Archimandrite thesis titled: “Archbishop Hovsep Arghutyan: Life and Work”.
In 1971 he defended his doctoral thesis titled: “Local assemblies and their place and role in the regulation of the Armenian Church”.
He received his Master’s Degree in Theology in 1976, defending his thesis titled: “The Liturgy of Armenian Church among other liturgies of the Eastern Churches”.
From 1965 to 2001 he served as spiritual pastor in Bucharest.
He served in the Armenian Diocese of Romania as Vicar General from 1973 to 2001.
Father Zareh is author of numerous articles and studies, and was awarded various awards.
