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A Journey to the Priesthood

By Florence Avakian
In a centuries-old inspiring ceremony replete with Armenian religious tradition, Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), ordained Deacon Justin Avedis Ajamian into the holy priesthood, at the St. Sarkis Armenian Church of Dallas, TX on Sunday morning, August 25. Hundreds of parishioners as well as the young priest’s family members and several priests took part in the inspiring ritual.

The newly-named Rev. Fr. Ghevond Ajamian is now at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary in New York for the traditional 40-day solitary period of introspection, meditation, prayer, and fasting.
Following his seclusion, Fr. Ghevond will return to Dallas to take up his pastoral duties. It will be the latest step in a journey that began when he was a boy.
Justin Avedis Ajamian was 15 when he realized that he wanted to be a priest, said the newly ordained priest in a phone conversation with this writer.
“My family had moved to a new town, Waldwick, N.J., which was close to St. Leon Armenian Church [in Fair Lawn]. And I was forced to go to the St. Nersess Summer conferences by my uncle Vartan Ajamian, who was a 1988 seminary graduate and a deacon at Bayside’s Holy Martyrs Armenian Church. Once there, though, I enjoyed the priests, participants, morning and evening services, and courses in Armenian history and culture.”
Receiving a Calling
Around that time the Rev. Fr. Diran Bohajian, pastor of the St. Leon Church, asked Justin to serve on the holy altar-and that’s where he received a calling. When he graduated from Waldwisk High School, Justin “knew and wanted to go to St. Nersess,” where he was greatly encouraged and inspired by the seminary dean, the Very Rev. Daniel Findikyan (who was the sponsoring priest at the August 25 ordination).
The Rev. Fr. Stepanos Doudoukjian and the Very Rev. Fr. Ghevont Samoorian also took him under their wings.
While attending Ramapo College (where he majored in world history) the teenage Justin attended classes at St. Nersess once a week. Following his college graduation in 2006, he attended classes full time at both St. Nersess and St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary for four years. “My stay at the seminaries helped me to become a better future priest for the American-Armenian community,” he said with obvious pride.
In 2003, he made his first pilgrimage to Armenia, which he continued to do through 2005 with the Diocesan ACYOA’s “Armenian Service Program.” There he studied Armenian history and classical Armenian at Yerevan State University and served at Yerevan’s Holy Trinity Church.
His studies continued in 2011 with a six-month period at Jerusalem’s Armenian Patriarchate where he strengthened his knowledge of liturgics, hymnology, classical and modern Armenian. This was followed with an internship at the St. David Church in Boca Raton, Fla., with the Very Rev. Fr. Nareg Berberian. In 2011 the deacon was assigned to the St. Sarkis Church in Dallas.
A New Chapter
In the days prior to his priestly ordination, having already served two years as deacon-in-charge of a parish, and having embarked on life as a husband and father, Dn. Justin still expressed a sense of awe over the next chapter in his ministry.
“I do sometimes feel overwhelmed about serving God in a different capacity-about joining the ranks of the apostles, and the many priests of our church,” he said reflectively.
“And St. Sarkis is a special church” he revealed, adding that it was the first church that Archbishop Khajag Barsamian consecrated after becoming Primate.
“With one chapter of my life closing and this new and very significant chapter now beginning, I look forward to ministering to the people, celebrating the Divine Liturgy and preaching God’s message. As the head of this parish, it means I will take responsibility. As President Harry Truman once said, ‘The buck stops here.'”
Justin Avedis Ajamian was born 29 years ago in Akron, Ohio, to an Armenian father and a non-Armenian mother. He was named after his great grandfather Avedis Koondakjian-only one of five brothers to escape the Armenian Genocide.
“Ours was not a typical Armenian household, where you have pilaf and dolma every night,” he recalled. “I knew I was Armenian when I went to the summer conferences at St. Nersess. My mother-who is of Irish, Sicilian, and German heritage, and whose brother was a Roman Catholic priest-was very accepting of my life choice.”
During his 13 trips to Armenia he met his future wife Hasmik, whom he married in 2008. Their daughter Noelle Srbouhi was born two years ago.
“This chapter of my life which began at age 15 has come to fruition,” he said in conclusion. “We are now in the process of building a new church in Dallas on a four and a-half acre property.”
Most of the parishioners of St. Sarkis have come from Beirut, Turkey, Iran, and Armenia. But their children are born here, he explained. “We needed a larger church to get these two generations involved.”
The new Fr. Ghevond Ajamian says he is happy he grew up in America. “It means that I know what the youth are going through, and might go through in the future.”
The new church will have a Sunday school, Armenian school, large hall and gym. “We hope to break ground by 2015, the 100th anniversary of the Genocide, to celebrate a new chapter in our history, in a place I never thought Armenians existed.”
“We need this new church for future generations,” he remarked with gusto, already dedicated to his new ministry, and enthusiastically mapping out his future goals.

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