George VI of Armenia

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His Holiness

George VI of Armenia

Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians
Kevork VI 2018 stamp of Armenia.jpg
ChurchArmenian Apostolic Church
SeeMother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
Installed1945
Term ended1954
PredecessorKhoren I of Armenia
SuccessorVazgen I
Personal details
Birth nameGheorg Khachaturovich Cheorekchian (or Tcheorekdjian)
Born(1868-12-02)December 2, 1868
Rostov-on-Don, Don Host Oblast, Russian Empire
DiedMay 9, 1954(1954-05-09) (aged 85)
Etchmiadzin, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
BuriedMother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin

George VI of Armenia (Armenian: Գևորգ Զ. Չորեքչյան (Նորնախիջևանցի), Kevork VI Cheorektjian; December 2, 1868 – May 9, 1954) was the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church from 1945 to 1954.[1]

The position had remained vacant from 1938 to 1945 because of the Joseph Stalin purges against religion, culminating in the murder of the then catholicos Khoren I in 1938. Etchmiadzin was ordered closed and the position of Catholicos of All Armenians remained vacant for 7 years from 1938 to 1945.

But when Stalin himself ordered easing of restrictions against religion, it was allowed for the assignment of Bishop Gevork as new Catholicos of All Armenians as Gevork VI (also known as George VI of Armenia) and was eventually allowed to return to Etchmiadzin.

During the Soviet regime, the press praised George VI as one of the most outstanding supporters of the "struggle for peace".

He died in 1954 and a new catholicos Vazgen I was elected in 1955 as Catholicos of All Armenians.

Tombstone of George VI, Catholicos of All Armenians, at Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin

George VI is buried near the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin.

References[]

  1. ^ "Patriarchs of Constantinople, Armenia, and the East". spiritualrestoration.org. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
Preceded by
Khoren I of Armenia
followed by
Vacant position
(1938–1945)
Catholicoi of the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin and All Armenians
1945–1954
Succeeded by
Vazgen I
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