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of Calling to the Priesthood
ceremony. During this service the candidate’s life, faith
and readiness to enter the priesthood is examined by the Prelate.
His Grace Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian, Vicar General of the
Eastern Prelacy, Dn. Nishan’s spiritual sponsor, will
attest to the readiness of the candidate.
The next
day, Sunday, February 17, the centuries-old Holy Divine Liturgy
and Service of Ordination will begin at 10 a.m. Col. George
Rustigian, USAF (Ret.), will serve as Godfather to Dn. Nishan.
Following
the Service of Calling on Saturday evening there will be a reception
in the St. Stephen Church hall for all participants. A banquet
will follow the Liturgy and Ordination on Sunday in honor of
the newly ordained priest. Reservations
are required. Contact the church office at 617-924-7562 or Josh
Tevekelian at 617-926-9169.
A
journey that began early
Dn. Nishan
Baljian was born in Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, in 1979,
the youngest child of Rev. Archpriest Antranig and Yn. Arpineh
Baljian. At the age of 6, he began serving by his father’s
side at the Holy Altar of St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church
in Indian Orchard. It was there that, by the hand of the late
Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian, he received ordination first to the
minor orders and later to the Holy Deaconate.
He graduated
from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2001 with
a Bachelor of Music Degree in Theory and Composition.
In the
summer of 2001, Dn. Nishan formally requested candidacy for
the Holy Priesthood within the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian
Apostolic Church of America, to which he was accepted by His
Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan. In October of that year,
he left for Antelias, Lebanon, where he spent the next two academic
years at the Theological Seminary of the Great House of Cilicia,
pursuing the course of study for the married priesthood. He
graduated from the Seminary in 2003.
In the
fall of 2003, by arrangement of Archbishop Oshagan, he enrolled
in the joint graduate program of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox
Theological Seminary and St. Nersess Armenian Seminary (Eastern
Diocese) in the New York suburban communities of Crestwood and
New Rochelle. He successfully completed a vigorous and comprehensive
three-year program that granted him the degree of Master of
Divinity in 2006.
During
the time of his studies in the New York area, Dn. Nishan was
called to serve part-time as a Pastoral Assistant at Sts. Vartanantz
Armenian Apostolic Church in Ridgefield, New Jersey, where he
worked closely with the choir, altar servers and Sunday school.
He also preached monthly sermons and participated in sacraments
and visitations and led weekly Bible studies.
Upon his
graduation from St. Vladimir and St. Nersess, Archbishop Oshagan
assigned him as Pastoral Assistant to St. Stephen’s Armenian
Apostolic Church in Watertown, Massachusetts, a community he
had served as a Deacon as well as other capacities.
Dn. Nishan
is a long-time participant and the youngest graduate of the
Prelacy’s St. Gregory of Datev Institute. He was invited
to join the Institute’s faculty last summer. He has also
served at the Armenian Youth Federation’s Camp Haiastan
during the summers of 2004 to 2007.
Dn. Nishan’s
passion for preserving and propagating the Armenian Church’s
hymnological and liturgical tradition has been served well through
his accomplished music studies and skills. While at St. Nersess
he edited and published a volume consisting of the Penitential
Mankunk Hymns (in eight tones) along with textual translations
for use at the Seminary. In addition to this, under the auspices
of Archbishop Oshagan, Dn. Nishan collaborated with V. Rev.
Fr. Krikor Chiftjian of the Cilician Brotherhood in the production
of a compact disk—Deacon’s Guide to Singing the
Divine Liturgy—in which he accompanied Fr. Krikor’s
authoritative renditions of the deacons’ litanies, as
well as joined him in responding to those parts requiring antiphonal
singing.
Dn. Nishan
was married to Alice Tchobanian last May. Mrs. Baljian is a
registered nurse, currently serving at Boston’s Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center. |
