Zareh I Payaslian () (14 February 1915, Marash – 18 February 1963,

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

) was Catholicos of Cilicia and the Whole Armenian Apostolic of the World Church of the Armenians from 1956 to 1963.

Life

Zareh I was born in 1915, in Marash,

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

as Simon Payaslian. Escaping the events of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

, his family moved to

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, residing in the city of

Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...

, then in

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

. He received his primary education in Mesrobian and Haygazian schools in Aleppo. He received his secondary education in the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Seminary in Aleppo. Later, he became a graduate of the

Antelias Antelias () is a city in Lebanon in the Matn District of the Mount Lebanon Governorate. It is located around 5 km to the north of Beirut. Etymology The name is originally Greek, ἀντήλιος – from ἀντί(anti) "contra" and ἥλ� ...

Seminary of the Armenian Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia. In 1935, he was ordained as a priest and took the name Zareh. He continued his higher education in Belgium between 1937–1940. Starting in 1940, he served in the Armenian prelacy of Aleppo. He became

Primate of Aleppo Primates is an order of mammals, which is further divided into the strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and lorisids; and the haplorhines, which include tarsiers and simians (monkeys and apes). Primates arose 74–63 mi ...

, Syria in 1943 until 1956. in 1946, he founded the Karen Jeppe Armenian College of Aleppo. On 20 February 1956, Zareh Payaslian was elected as Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia, during very acrimonious times between various Armenian political factions that had left the position vacant for around 4 years since the death of Catholicos Karekin I in 1952. He was anointed catholicos at the cathedral in Antelias on 2 September 1956 by two Armenian bishops and a Syrian Orthodox bishop. After his election, Zareh I tried to restore some harmony between various Armenian factions, particularly after the inter-Armenian strife in Lebanon in 1958. During his reign, the Catholicosate became a full member of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

in 1962, and sent observers to the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

. Zareh died in 1963 at the age of 48.

Legacy

On 2 April 1946, Zareh Payaslian was awarded the Syrian Order of Merit of the First Degree by the

Syrian government The government of Syria takes place in a presidential system and is currently in a transitionary period under and led by a transitional government. The seat of the government is located in Damascus, Syria. On 8 December 2024, after the succ ...

, for his national patriotic role against the French mandate over Syria. A street in Aleppo is named after the Catholicos Zareh I. His statue was erected in the Karen Jeppe College yard. He wrote a number of studies about John the Golden Mouthed.

References

{{Authority control Catholicoi of Cilicia 1915 births 1963 deaths Religious leaders from Beirut Lebanese people of Armenian descent Armenian Apostolic Christians