ARMENIAN PONTIFF COMING TO L.A.\New spiritual leader making his first official tour of U.S.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

The spiritual leader of more than 6 million Armenians worldwide - 350,000 of them in Southern California - will arrive Thursday to visit his flock in the Los Angeles area.

Karekin I, appointed leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church in April, is the 131st pontiff in a line dating back to the fourth century. Karekin replaced Vazgen I, who died in August 1994 at age 85. Vazgen had been pontiff for nearly four decades.

Armenians regard Karekin I's status as equivalent to Pope John Paul II's position among his worldwide Roman Catholic flock. Just as Catholic popes have followed in a 2,000-year line of succession dating back to St. Peter, 130 Armenian pontiffs carry on the line of their first leader, St. Gregory the Illuminator, who established the church in 301 A.D. in Etchmiadzin, Armenia, which remains church headquarters to this day.

Born Neshan Sarkissian in Syria, Karekin I, 63, carries the title Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. This visit will be his first official pontifical tour of the U.S.

It also marks the first time a Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians has visited Southern California since Armenia gained its independence in 1991.

Karekin's predecessor came here in 1987, said Walter Karabian, a Los Angeles attorney helping organize the pontiff's visit.

"This is a very big thing to Armenian Christians," Karabian said. "It strengthens the Armenian people when they have the rewarding experience of a visit by their spiritual leader."

Pasadena Mayor Bill Paparian, whose mother and grandparents were immigrants from Armenia, and city officials will hold a reception for Karekin I on Feb. 3 in the courtyard of Pasadena City Hall. About one-tenth of the city's population is of Armenian descent, he said.

Paparian, baptized and married in the Armenian Apostolic church, sent his sons to an Armenian private school and said he is looking forward to Karekin's visit as a member of a religion that has guided him. "It's a stabilizing influence in my life. It's been a compass for me," Paparian said.

He plans to tell Karekin how well Armenian immigrants have assimilated in Southern California. "The Armenian-American community has prospered and has remained faithful to our Christian traditions and beliefs," Paparian said.

The Rev. Shnork Demirjian is pastor of St. Peter's Armenian Apostolic Church, where Karekin I will celebrate the liturgy Feb. 4. The Van Nuys congregation, established in 1957, has worshipers from Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Armenia. "In those diverse cultures, the only thing that keeps us together is the faith," Demirjian said.

"We feel that we are really blessed by his visit. We believe that by the pontifical visit of His Holiness, there will be a spiritual revival in the hearts of the faithful, and this will help in the advancement of the Christian Orthodox faith," Demirjian said.

Karekin last visited St. Peter's two years ago, and during his Southern California stay the Northridge Earthquake struck.

"He came and visited our earthquake-stricken church. He said a prayer for the parish and for all the people of the Northridge area who were victims of the earthquake," Demirjian recalled.

The church since has been repaired. "It will be an opportunity for him to see the church that came out of the rubble, to serve the people as a rebuilt sanctuary," Demirjian said.

Upon his arrival at Los Angeles International Airport from Vancouver, B.C., Karekin will perform a blessing at the terminal before embarking on stops at an Armenian school and cathedral in Hollywood.

On following days, the pontiff's itinerary includes a Los Angeles City Council meeting, a visit with students at Hollywood High School, services at an Armenian apostolic church in Hollywood, a youth rally in Pasadena and a banquet in Century City for local dignitaries and Armenian-Americans.

Karekin also will place a wreath at the Armenian Martyrs Monument in Montebello and perform a requiem service.

The pontiff also will visit an Armenian convalescent hospital in Eagle Rock and conduct a prayer service with parishioners of an Armenian apostolic church in Ladera Heights. After leaving Los Angeles, Karekin I will visit Fresno, San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland.

The Armenian and Armenian Apostolic churches trace their origins to 301 A.D., when St. Gregory the Illuminator converted the Armenian king - who once persecuted Christians - and the monarch in turn declared Christianity the national religion. Armenian historians say St. Bartholomew and St. Thaddeus, two of Jesus Christ's original apostles, introduced Christianity to the country in the first century.

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Photo Karekin I is the 131st pontiff of the Armenian Apostolic Church.