ARMENIAN EVANGELICAL UNION HONORS GUEKGUEZIAN
By Alexander and Philip Tavlian
Belmont Citizen-Herald
news/lifestyle/religion/x2133275078/Armenian-Evang elical-Union-honors-Guekguezian
May 8 2009
Belmont, Mass. – More than 500 people gathered on the campus of
California’s oldest Armenian Church to salute a former Belmont cleric
for 55 years of pastoral ministry in the Old and New Worlds.
The Armenian Evangelical Union of North America paid tribute to
Reverend Bernard Asadoor Guekguezian at a gala banquet on March 21,
at the First Armenian Presbyterian Church of Fresno, boyhood church
of authors William Saroyan and A.I. Bezzerides.
The celebration included music by virtuoso pianist Michael Krikorian
and vocalist Jennie Gray, and warm testimonials by the honoree’s
sons, Rev. Ara Richard Guekguezian of Fresno and attorney Asbed
Bernard Guekguezian of West Newton, as read by eldest grandson,
Peter Guekguezian.
Rev. Berj Gulleyan and Rev. Gregory V. Haroutunian, Rev. Bernard’s
pastoral successors in Paramus and Belmont, respectively, spoke
movingly about his impact on the Armenian faith communities of the
Garden State and Middlesex County.
Andrew Torigian, executive director of the New Jersey-based Armenian
Missionary Association of America, praised the honoree’s passion
for Christian evangelism and missions work. Rev. Avedis Boynerian
of Watertown, and Rev. Joseph Matossian of Glendale, California paid
tribute to their colleague’s faithful labors in the Old and New Words
since his student days in the Near East.
Edward Saliba, chairman of the AEUNA Committee on Stewardship,
announced the creation of the Reverend Bernard and Mrs. Knar
Guekguezian Endowment Fund to prepare deserving graduate students
for pastoral ministry in the 21st Century.
The evening was rounded out by a video presentation entitled, "The
Life of a Faithful Servant," and the sharing of numerous official
proclamations, including the Fresno City Council’s declaration of
"Reverend Bernard Guekguezian Day" on March 21 throughout the City
of Fresno.
The youngest of nine children, Rev. Guekguezian was born near Antioch,
Turkey, in the summer of 1927. After attending local schools, he
immigrated to the Middle East in 1939 for further studies at Armenian
Evangelical educational institutions in Beirut, Lebanon and the Aleppo
College of Syria.
He completed a combined course of study at the American University
of Beirut and the Near East School of Theology in 1952, earning a
Bachelor of Arts degree and a Diploma in Theology.
Guekguezian served as a licensed pastor at the Armenian Evangelical
Church of Alexandria, Egypt for two years and then came to the United
States for additional ministerial training. He studied at Fuller
Theological Seminary in Pasadena and New York Theological Seminary,
where he earned a Master of Arts degree in Christian Education.
The Congregational Conference of Massachusetts ordained Guekguezian
a Minister of the Word in 1959. That same year he was called
to serve as pastor of America’s oldest Armenian congregation —
the Armenian Congregational Church of the Martyrs in Worcester,
Massachusetts. During his seven-year tenure in that pulpit, he engaged
in doctoral studies in Modern European History at Clark University.
In 1966, Rev. Guekguezian accepted a call to the Armenian Presbyterian
Church of Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey, where he served for
a dozen inspiring years. On Dec. 10, 1978, he was installed as the
tenth pastor of Fresno’s First Armenian Presbyterian Church.
Rev. Guekguezian’s ministry at the Fresno church was marked by outreach
to native Californians as well as to Armenian émigrés from the Near
East and Republic of Armenia. At the conclusion of his record 22 years
in the pulpit, the Fresno congregation named him Pastor Emeritus. He
then relocated to New England where he served as Interim Pastor of
the First Armenian Church of Belmont for three years (2001 to 2003).
In addition to his pastoral duties, Guekguezian has served multiple
terms as moderator of the AEUNA, vice-president of the Armenian
Evangelical World Council, vice-president of the Armenian Theological
Students’ Aid, Inc., and member of the Presbytery of San Joaquin
Committee on New Church Development.
He is married to the former Knar Kazanjian of Aleppo, Syria and
they have five grandchildren in addition to their two sons and
daughters-in-law.
Headquartered in Glendale, Calif., the AEUNA is an ecclesiastical
confederation of Armenian Protestant churches, missions,
and fellowships in the United States of America and Dominion of
Canada. Rev. Joseph Matossian is Minister to the Union and Rev. Avedis
Boynerian is the Moderator.