Past NCC Presidents Andrew Young, left, and Elenie Huszagh, right, flank the new President-elect nominee Bishop Vicken Aykazian.
Hunt Valley, Md., Nov. 9, 2005 – Bishop Vicken Aykazian, a Turkish-born priest who represents the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) in Washington, has been nominated President Elect of the National Council of Churches USA at the NCC’s annual General Assembly.
If elected Thursday, Aykazian will assume office in January when the current President Elect, the Rev. Michael E. Livingston, assumes the presidency and succeeds Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt Jr. in that office. The President Elect automatically assumes the council’s presidency after serving a two-year term.
Vicken Aykazian was born in Siirt, Turkey, in 1951. He studied theology at the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem and was ordained a deacon in 1968 and later a celibate priest in 1971. In 1992, His Holiness Vasken I, Catholicos of All Armenians at Holy Echmiadzin in Armenia, ordained him a bishop.
Bishop Aykazian, who holds a Ph.D in history and is working on a second Ph.D in theology at Catholic University in Washington, is an active ecumenist. In addition to his contributions to the NCC as a member of the Governing Board, he has been active in the World Council of Churches as a member of the Mission and Evangelism Unit, the Orthodox Task Force and the Central Committee.
The Bishop is the Armenian prelacy’s legate in Washington and ecumenical officer.
He has also served as Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church in Switzerland from 1992 to 1996. As pastor of the Armenian Church of Switzerland from 1980 to 1992, he established and organized new church communities in Zurich, Bern, Kreazlingen and Lugano.
Bishop Aykazian is fluent in English, Armenian, French and Turkish.
The National Council of Churches USA General Assembly is meeting in Hunt Valley, Md., Nov. 8-10.
Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for ecumenical cooperation among Christians in the United States. The NCC’s member faith groups — representing a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, historic African American and Living Peace churches — include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.
Contact NCC News: Leslie Tune, 202-544-2350; Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2252
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