Vazgen I

Vazgen I also Vazken I of Bucharest (Armenian: Վազգէն Ա Բուխարեստցի), born Levon Garabed Baljian (Լևոն Կարապետ Աբրահամի Պալճեան; September 20, 1908 – August 18, 1994) was the Catholicos of All Armenians between 1955 and 1994. Serving for a total of 39 years, his tenure as Catholicos was the fourth longest in the history of the Armenian Apostolic Church. A native of Romania, Vazgen began his career as a philosopher, before becoming a Doctor of Theology and a member of the local Armenian clergy. The leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church hierarchy in Romania, he became Catholicos in 1955, moving to Soviet Armenia. Vazgen led the Armenian Church through the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He was the first Catholicos in post-Soviet Armenia.