{"id":5209,"date":"2018-07-15T12:39:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-15T16:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stjameswatertown.org\/?p=5209"},"modified":"2018-07-16T13:18:20","modified_gmt":"2018-07-16T17:18:20","slug":"in-memoriam-rev-fr-dajad-davidian-1934-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/in-memoriam-rev-fr-dajad-davidian-1934-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"In Memoriam – Rev. Fr. Dajad Davidian (1934-2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is with a deep sense of loss and\u00a0sorrow\u00a0that we share the news of the passing of\u00a0our former Pastor, Rev. Fr. Dajad Davidian, who entered his eternal rest on July 14, 2018.\u00a0Fr. Dajad faithfully served as Pastor of St. James Armenian Church from 1969-1999.\u00a0He served our parish with great faith, love, zeal and devotion for\u00a030 years. Fr. Dajad was a dedicated priest, gifted homilist, and loyal leader. He had an ability to connect with faithful of all ages with his\u00a0charismatic personality, warm smile, and love for others.\u00a0He touched the lives of countless parishioners and friends of St. James, always proclaiming, without reservation, the importance of God and the Armenian Church in our lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fr. Dajad, whose baptismal name before his ordination to the Order of the Holy Priesthood was Arthur, was the beloved husband of the late Yeretzgin Rosemarie (Abrahamian) Davidian, who herself was a treasured Yeretzgin of our parish. He was the devoted father of Ari Davidian, Susan and her husband Joseph Ferro III, and Raymond A. Davidian and his wife Seta. He was the proud and loving grandfather of Nicholas, Grayce, Gregory and Nairi. He was the brother of Raymond Davidian and Albert Davidian and his wife Patty, and uncle of Lori Kashgegian and her husband Mark, and of Sara, Paul and Angela Davidian. Fr. Dajad is also survived by many loving family, friends, and parishioners.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nFr. Dajad was born in Worcester\u00a0in 1934. He\u00a0attended the Theological Seminary of the Armenian Catholicosate in Cilicia, through the arrangement of then-Primate\u00a0Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan, from 1952-1955. In 1957, Archbishop Mampre Calfayan ordained him as\u00a0a deacon. Upon his return to America, he continued his education at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, graduating in 1958.\u00a0\u00a0He served as a pastoral assistant at the Holy Cross Church in New York City and in 1958, was assigned as deacon-in-charge at the Armenian Church of Bergen County.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nAlmost sixty years ago, on July 17, 1960, Fr. Dajad was ordained a priest by Archbishop Sion Manoogian in Worcester. Additionally,\u00a0he was appointed Executive Secretary of the Armenian Church Youth Organization of America and Editor of\u00a0The Armenian Guardian<\/em>. He was appointed to the staff of St. Nersess Armenian Seminary in 1962 and became the Pastor of St. Mesrob Armenian Church\u00a0of Racine, WI.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nIn 1969, Fr.\u00a0Dajad was assigned as Pastor of our St. James parish, where he faithfully served until his retirement in 1999. \"Retirement\" for Fr. Dajad, however, only meant the beginning of a new chapter in his ministry, as he began to spend most of his time in Armenia,\u00a0where he\u00a0was actively engaged in preaching, teaching, and organizing new parishes in our homeland. He also organized and directed youth groups in Armenia, performed pastoral ministry with the poor, handicapped and elderly, and conducted Christian preaching and education.\u00a0Read an article<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0watch a video (in Armenian)<\/a>\u00a0where Fr. Dajad\u00a0talks about his move\u00a0to Armenia.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond our parish, he served on the Diocesan Council of the Eastern Diocese from 1967-1977 and 1993-2001, serving as its vice-chair and secretary, and was elected as a delegate of the Eastern Diocese to the\u00a0National Ecclesiastical Assembly in Holy Etchmiadzin. He has also served on the Board of Directors of St. Nersess Seminary, and has been involved in extensive ecumenical activities.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nFr. Dajad\u2019s leadership, influence and love deeply touched our St. James parish, the Armenian Church, and the greater community. The seeds of faith that he planted throughout his decades of ministry will continue to grow and flourish.\u00a0\u00a0He will be\u00a0missed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrangements for the funeral services for Fr. Dajad\u00a0are as follows:\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span>VISITING HOURS<\/u><\/strong><\/span>
\nThursday, July 19, 2018<\/strong><\/span>
\n4:00 - 8:00 pm<\/span>
\nDahn Gark<\/em>\u00a0Wake Service: 7:00 pm<\/span>
\nV. Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan, Primate, presiding,<\/span>
\nwith the participation of our former<\/span>
\nPrimate Abp. Khajag Barsamian and\u00a0Armenian clergy. \u00a0<\/span>
\nSt. James Armenian Church<\/strong><\/span>
\n465 Mount Auburn St.<\/span>
\nWatertown, MA<\/span><\/p>\n

DIVINE LITURGY AND FINAL ANOINTING<\/u>
\nFriday, July 20, 2018<\/strong><\/span>
\n10:00 am<\/span>
\nV. Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan, Primate, presiding,<\/span>
\nwith the participation of our former<\/span>
\nPrimate Abp. Khajag Barsamian and\u00a0Armenian clergy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nSt. James Armenian Church<\/strong><\/span>
\n465 Mount Auburn St.<\/span>
\nWatertown, MA<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

INTERMENT<\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/div>\n
Ridgelawn Cemetery<\/span>
\nWatertown, MA<\/span><\/div>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

At the request of the family, please\u00a0refrain from sending flowers.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
IN\u00a0LIEU OF FLOWERS DONATIONS<\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

At the family's request, in lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made\u00a0to:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0St. James Armenian Church<\/strong><\/span>
\n\u00a0Memo: In memory of Fr. Dajad Davidian<\/span>
\nMail to:\u00a0St. James Armenian Church<\/span>
\n465 Mt. Auburn Street, Watertown MA 02472\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Click here to make a memorial contribution to St. James online.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Armenia Tree Project<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
Memo: In memory of Fr. Dajad Davidian<\/span>
\nMail to: Armenia Tree Project<\/span>
\n400 West Cummings Park, Suite 3900, Woburn, MA 01801\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is with a deep sense of loss and\u00a0sorrow\u00a0that we share the news of the passing of\u00a0our former Pastor, Rev. Fr. Dajad Davidian, who entered his eternal rest on July 14, 2018.\u00a0Fr. Dajad faithfully served as Pastor of St. James Armenian Church from 1969-1999.\u00a0He served our parish with great faith, love, zeal and devotion for\u00a030 years. Fr. Dajad was a Continue Reading<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5210,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","cat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5209"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5215,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5209\/revisions\/5215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjameswatertown.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}