Past Bishops

Born in Athens, Greece, in 1929, Bishop Batakian studied theology and philosophy in Rome from 1946 to 1954. Ordained to the priesthood in 1954, he occupied a number of various positions within the Armenian Catholic Church.

He was pastor of the Armenian Catholic Parish of Holy Saviour in Lebanon. In 1978 he was elected Vicar General of the Patriarchal Clergy Institute of Bzommar and Superior of the Monastery of Our Lady of Bzommar-Lebanon. In 1984 he served as Pastor of the Armenian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Paris and Vicar of the Armenian Catholic Exarch in France. In 1990, he was nominated rector of the Pontifical Armenian College in Rome; he was a judge of the ecclesiastical tribunal of the patriarchal eparchy in Beirut for many years.

In March 1995, he was elected as Vicar General of the Patriarchal Eparchy of Beirut, Lebanon, and ordained as Bishop on March 12, 1995, in Beirut, Lebanon.

On November 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II appointed Most Reverend Manuel Batakian, as the new Apostolic Exarch for North America. Bishop Batakian was installed as the new Exarch on January 20, 2001, at St. Ann’s Cathedral in Manhattan.

Upon the request of the Synod of Armenian Catholic Bishops, headed by His Beatitude the

Catholicos-Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX, Pope Benedict XVI, on September 12, 2005, raised the Apostolic Exarchate for Armenian Catholics to Eparchy. Bishop Manuel Batakian became thus the first Eparch, the Eastern Churches’ term for Bishop.

Born in Aleppo, Syria, Tertsakian was ordained a priest for the Congregazione Mechitarista on September 8, 1948. Before becoming a bishop, he served as the Abbot General of the Order of the Mechitarists, and as the rector of St. Ann's Cathedral in New York City. Pope John Paul II named Batakian as the Titular Bishop of Trapezus degli Armeni and the Apostolic Exarch of the United States of America and Canada on January 5, 1995. He was ordained a bishop by Patriarch Jean Pierre XVIII Kasparian of the Armenian Catholic Church on April 29, 1995. The principal co-consecrators were Eparchs Grégoire Ghabroyan, I.C.P.B. of Sainte-Croix-de- Paris and Mikail Nersès Sétian, the Exarch Emeritus of the US and Canada. He was installed in St. Ann's Cathedral on May 7, 1995. Tertsakian served as exarch until his resignation was accepted by Pope John Paul on November 30, 2000. He died at the age of 78 on January 28, 2002.

Bishop Setian was born on October 18, 1918 in the town of Zara in Sebastia (Asia Minor). He completed his secondary studies at Saint Louis High School in Istanbul. He was seventeen when he went to Rome to study for the preisthood at the Levonian Armenian Pontifical Seminary. He studied philosophy, theology and canon law at the Gregorian University of Rome where he received a degree in theology and his Ph.D in Canon Law in 1945. In 1946, Reverend Setian was nominated as pastor of the Cathedral Parish of Istanbul. He was in charge of the Archdiocesan Archives, and he served on the Diocesan Church Tribunal. Thus, besides his pastoral activities, he taught in the Colleges of Getronagan, Yesayan, Mekhitarist Fathers and Ferikoy classical Armenian and literature, philosophy and experimental psychology to several generations of young Armenians in Istanbul. His Eminence, Gregory Peter XV Cardinal Agagianian, called on Reverend Setian in 1960 and entrusted to him the responsibility of preparing future generations of priests; he was given the task of Rector of the Armenian Levonian Pontifical Seminary in Rome. He was still in this post when nominated Apostolic Exarch for Armenians of the United States and Canada on July 17, 1981. It was in 1966 that Reverend Setian founded the Armenian Section of Vatican Radio. In 1976, he was the driving force in the establishment of the Armenian School and Cultural Centre in Lyon, France: Naregian School. His Excellency has participated in the Eucharistic Congresses in Munich, Italy, Bombay, Melbourne and Philadelphia. He was a member of the Committee for the Revision of the Eastern Canon Law. Reverend Setian has published many magazine articles, edited and compiled the letters of Cardinal Agagianian, published the Soorp Hagop (St. James) monthly in Istanbul and Romgiah quarterly in Rome. In 1959, he released the Memoirs of Levonian College. Bishop Setian conducted his office as Prelate for 14 years. From 1995 on, he divided his time between California and Armenia for missionary purposes.