The Daily Star, Lebanon
May 3 2004
Cancer claims life of Armenian Orthodox archbishop
Archbishop Zareh Aznavorian of the Armenian Orthodox Church has died of
lung cancer, a church statement said Saturday. He was 57.
Aznavorian, chairman of the religious council and director of the
Christian Education Department of the Armenian Orthodox Church of
Cilicia, died Friday at the church’s seat in Antelias, north of Beirut,
the statement said.
The bishop, whose condition deteriorated in the past few days, had
received treatment in New York. Born in Beirut in 1947, Aznavorian
studied priesthood in the Antelias seminary and later in the Rome
Theological University. In the early 1980s, he was the Armenian
Orthodox Vicar of Cyprus based in Nicosia. In the past few years,
Aznavorian had been engaged in translating the Old and New Testament
from archaic Greek and Hebrew originals into modern Armenian.
He will be cremated in Antelias on Monday. –