REV. FR. NERSES KRAJEKIAN

ՏԷՐ ՆԵՐՍԵՍ ՔԱՀԱՆԱՅ ԳՐԱՃԷՔԵԱՆ

Fr. Nerses (Serop Krajekian) was born on August 11, 1970, in Kesab, Syria, and was baptized at his hometown church, Saint Mary Armenian Church. He has served in the same church since childhood and was ordained an acolyte in 1985. 

He received his primary education in an Armenian elementary school in his hometown and his middle and high school education at the public schools, first in Kesab and then in Latakia, where he graduated from the University with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. After gaining about a year of work experience, he moved to Dubai for a job opportunity. 

Upon the consecration of St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian church in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, he served on the altar and with the choir. In 2009, he was ordained subdeacon. 

Fr. Nerses is married to Yn. Sevan Torosian (from Aleppo), and they were blessed with two children: son Aram and daughter Meghry. He and his family moved from Dubai to the United States in 2015 and settled in Charlotte, North Carolina. There, he began serving at St. Sarkis Armenian Church and was ordained to the diaconate in August 2019. 

From January 2021 to May 2023, responding to the call to the priesthood, Fr. Nerses successfully completed the late vocation program at St. Nersess Seminary in New York and then completed the Clinical Pastoral Education program at Behavioral Health Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In April and May 2024, he made his final preparations in Armenia, first at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and then at the Vazkenian Seminary in Sevan, with the Kevorkian and Vazkenian seminarians. At the end of May 2024, he successfully passed the Episcopal Committee exam and returned to the United States. 

In July 2024, he began his outreach program, visiting various parishes. Then, he completed his internship at St. Mary Armenian Church in Washington, DC, until the end of December 2024, under the supervision of Fr. Hovsep Karapetyan.

On January 1st, 2025, deacon Serop was assigned as Deacon-in-Charge of the St. Sahag Armenian Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota. On February 22, 2025, he was ordained to the priesthood and was named Nerses after St. Nerses the Great. Fr. Nerses continues to serve the Armenian community at St. Sahag to this day.