Bishop Daron Djeredjian

BISHOP DARON DJEREDJIAN

Bishop Daron Djeredjian (baptismal name Jirayr) was born on July 11, 1937, in Beirut Lebanon. He received his primary education at the Sahagian and Apkarian Schools of Beirut.

 In 1952, he entered the Seminary of the Great House of Cilicia. In 1957, he was ordained to the diaconate. In 1959, he graduated from the Kevorkian Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. From 1960 to 1963, he continued his theological studies in England, first at the Holy Mission College of Kilham then continued at the King’s College of London. 

In 1963, he was ordained as a celibate priest by Bishop Serovpe Manougian, and given the priestly name of Daron. 

In 1964, Father Daron was appointed as the spiritual pastor of the Armenian community of Valance. On April 23, 1965, he successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled “The Seven Sacraments of the Armenian Church” and received the rank of Archimandrite (Vartaped) by the Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Vasken I, of Blessed Memory, in the Church of Oshagan, Armenia. In 1966 he returned to France and was assigned to serve in Marseilles as the pastor of the St. Garabed Church by His Holiness Vasken I, of Blessed Memory. In October 1969, by order of the Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Vasken I of Blessed Memory he was appointed to serve as the vicar in Damascus. 

In 1972, he was invited to deliver lectures at the Kevorkian Theological Seminary. In 1972, he was appointed to serve as a spiritual pastor in Nice, France. In 1978, he received the rank of Senior Archimandrite from Archbishop Shahe Adjemian, defending his thesis entitled “80 Sermons.” In 1991, Father Daron was elected to serve as the Primate of Marseille and Vicar General of the Pontifical Legate. In 1992, Father Daron was consecrated as a Bishop by His Holiness Vasken I.

 In August 2003, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood, he was granted the order of “St. Nerses the Graceful” by the Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin II. In 2003, His Grace retired after 40 years of service to the Armenian Church. For 40 years of clerical service, the Armenian communities of Valance, Marseille, Leon, Cannes, Nice, Damascus, where Bishop Daron Djeredjian has served, stayed awake and alive. His contributions to educational and cultural projects deserve to be appreciated: the establishment of schools in Valance, Marseille, and Nice, the “Sayat Nova” Choir in Nice, and the “Keghart” periodical in Marseille with 19 years of publishing history. 

He lived in the locality of Opio, Grasse, in the south of France. Bishop Daron Djeredjian died on 5 December 2023.