Clergy, parishioners gather to honor late Bishop Bagdasian

Funeral services were held for the late Bishop Houssig Bagdasian on August 2, at the St. Mary Church of Livingston, N.J. The church, where Bishop Bagdasian served as pastor for many years, was filled with clergymen, family of the bishop, and parishioners.

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian presided over the service, during which Bishop Vicken Aykazian celebrated the Divine Liturgy. The Primate read a message from His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, in which he expressed his condolences for the loss and prayed for the eternal rest of Bishop Bagdasian, the first Armenian-born bishop of the Armenian Church.

Following the badarak, the mourners attended a hokejash, served by the parish Women’s Guild chapter. Bishop Bagdasian was buried in his hometown of Providence, R.I., on August 3.

What follows is the eulogy delivered by the Primate during the funeral service.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24

These words of our Lord are not only true in a literal sense, but also when they are applied to all circumstances. Human life itself bears testimony to this. It began with God breathing life into the nostrils of the first man that He formed out of dust, and gave man the mystical gift of regenerating the human race with the seed of his loins. Similarly, behind every great and positive accomplishment in life there is a grain of wheat, that sparkles in the human mind in the form of an idea or a dream. If the grain is sown in fertile soil, in time it buds, blossoms and bears much fruit.

Bishop Houssig’s example, from his childhood to his demise, reminds us of our Lord’s parable on the grain of wheat. His entire life was devoted to serving our church and our people. As a pastor, his flock always held a special place in his heart. He left his mark by planting the seeds of leadership in people who lead our church today, and in others who will lead it in coming years.

Born on American soil in the city of Providence, R.I., this grain of wheat budded in the Sts. Sahag and Mesrob Church of the same city. He attended the parish schools and began serving in the church as a choir member and altar boy. This tells us something about the wisdom and importance of exposing our young boys and girls to our liturgy, traditions and parish life from the very beginning. Some will hear the calling from above, while others, who are not given that gift, will spend their lives in the spiritual sphere of the church, practicing their faith.

Bishop Houssig was one of those youth who received the calling from above and hearkened to the Divine voice that led him to Jerusalem, the center of the Christian faith. There for four years he tolerated the rigors of seminary life, which were very different than the life he knew in his parents’ home in Providence. Finally, the grain of wheat that had budded in Providence and had been transferred to the fertile soil of the St. James Monastery bloomed, as he was ordained a celibate priest and accepted into the brotherhood of St. James.

Instead of returning to the United States after his ordination, Bishop Houssig stayed in Jerusalem and held several responsible positions in the monastery. As a member of the St. James Brotherhood, he was deeply involved in guarding the rights of the Armenian Church at the Dominical sites. This was a great service to our church, since our holdings in the Holy Land and our custodianship over the central sites of Christianity make our church and people visible in the international world. Bishop Houssig was at various times responsible for the properties of the Armenian Patriarchate. In 1960 he was appointed Patriarchal Vicar of Israel, and was responsible for the Armenian community in Israel as well as for the properties of the Armenian Patriarchate on the Israeli side of the border. During his 11 years of service in the Holy Land, Bishop Bagdasian helped renovate several Armenian churches, including St. Nicholas in Jaffa, St. Elijah in Haifa, and St. Krikor Loosavorich in Jerusalem. In accordance with the words of the Prophet Isaiah, “[Blessed] is he that has a child in Sion and household friends in Jerusalem [Isaiah 31:9]”, our entire Diocese and Bishop Houssig’s family were blessed that an American-born Armenian priest played such an important role in the Holy Land.

Returning to the United States in 1971, Bishop Houssig was assigned to the St. Mary Church, then in Irvington, N.J. He led the church in its move to Livingston in 1974. After the church was destroyed by fire in 1980, Bishop Bagdasian’s leadership was key in helping the parish faithful pull together to rebuild the church, which was consecrated in March 1982.

His service to the Diocese was not limited to the St. Mary parish. He was appointed Vicar General of the Diocese, headed the Diocesan Finance Committee, and served on several other committees. He had also been a member of the Diocesan Council. For a short while he was the chancellor of the Diocesan Center. And he was dedicated to the Armenian homeland, leading a group of 26 ACYOA members to the region devastated by the 1988 earthquake to help with reconstruction.

In 1991 the General Assembly of the Brotherhood of St. James elected Bishop Houssig as a member of the Executive Council of the Patriarchate. He accepted, and returned to Jerusalem. At the request of the Patriarch and the Brotherhood, he was consecrated a bishop in 1992 by the hand of Catholicos Vasken I. Through his consecration he became the first American-born bishop of the Armenian Church. For over five years, the bishop was in charge of all the properties of the Patriarchate.

Bishop Houssig was a great leader, a dedicated pastor, and above all else, a kind friend to so many. His dedication to the faith he was called to serve was strong, as was his love for his flock. He will surely be missed in Livingston, throughout the Diocese, and in the worldwide Armenian Church family.

Tomorrow he will be buried in the bosom of the land where he was born. I pray that his remains, which we consecrated earlier, will be a source of blessing and inspiration to us all and particularly to the young generation. May the Lord sow many grains of wheat in the fertile soil of His church, and may those grains bud and blossom, so that we have others who will follow Bishop Houssig’s footsteps.