Larger groups began arriving in the 1880’s and 90’s to escape Ottoman Turkish oppression, especially the massacres of 1895-96. The influx of Armenian immigrants to the New World reached its peak in the aftermath of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, when large numbers of Armenian living in Turkey were systematically persecuted, deported and exterminated by the Ottoman regime.

Beginning in the 1950’s and continuing through the 80’s, another wave of Armenian immigrants, originating from such countries as Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq, came to America, a result of the rising political unrest in then Middle East. Immigration from America itself was rare during that country’s period under Soviet domination, but this has reversed in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of a free and independent Republic of Armenia.

The first Armenian Church in America was built in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1891.

The first Armenian clergyman had arrived earlier, in response to a petition by 300 Armenian residents of the city. By 1897, as the number of immigrants grew, there were six clergyman serving the Armenian Church in America. With the exception of Worcester, services were held in non-Armenian sanctuaries, notably Episcopalian churches. The Armenian Church of America was officially established by Catholicos Mkrtich Krimian in 1898.

There are about one million Armenians in the United States and Canada today. The church has two dioceses in the U.S. The Eastern Diocese, known officially as the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, has jurisdiction over all of the United States except California, Washington, Nevada, and Arizona. The Western Diocese, consisting of the above western states, was constituted in 1928. There are 59 organized and mission parishes in the eastern Diocese. (A third diocese governs all of Canada.)

The head of the Eastern Diocese is the Primate, currently His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, who is elected by clerical and lay representatives of the parishes at the Diocesan Assembly, which meets annually. The Primate is president of the Diocesan Council, consisting of lay and clerical members who govern s the affairs of the Diocese.

Archbishop Barsamian presides over St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in New York City. The Cathedral, consecrated in April 1968 by the late Catholicos Vasken I, resembles the world’s first cruciform church, the Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, built in the 4^th century near Yerevan, Armenia.

Adjacent to the St. Vartan Cathedral is the three-story Gulbenkian Cultural Center and Diocesan House. The complex includes a cultural center, museum, library, religious and language departments, office and meeting rooms, and various other facilities. The center also contains the Haik and Alice Kavookjian Auditorium, as well as the Krikor and Clara Zorab information Center, a research facility dedicated to scholarship and the dissemination of information about Armenian-related topics.

Major centers of Armenian population in the United States include the greater New York area: Boston and its environs, Worcester MA, Detroit MI, Philadelphia PA, Los Angeles CA, and Fresno CA. Substantial and expanding communities exist in Wisconsin, Texas, and Florida.

Article written by: Christopher Zakian- New York, USA

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