A well-regarded priest in Armenia who has done extensive service to the Church has died in hospital after being severely injured in a robbery attack more than four months ago.

The Information System of the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin reported on Saturday that Archbishop Nerses Pozapalian died at Nairi Medical Center in the morning. He was 72.

Pozapalian was a victim of an attack during an attempted robbery on February 18. It was reported that the attacker -- someone the priest knew and someone who abused this acquaintance -- inflicted grave bodily harm on Fr. Nerses, who was hospitalized and unconscious. (The attacker was later arrested and is now in police custody pending trial.)

A report from the Mother See says that till his death in hospital Archbishop Pozapalian was under “a good care of the center’s staff.”

“The death of the holy father is a great loss for the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church and its faithful flock,” reads the statement released earlier today.

“Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, the Supreme Spiritual Council and the clergy of the Armenian Church are, with a praying heart, in mourning over the Holy Father’s death.”

The Mother See announced that Archbishop Pozapalian’s body will lie in state inside St. Gayane Monastery in Echmiadzin for public farewell beginning at 5.00 pm Monday, June 29, followed by a requiem service for the deceased at 7.00 pm the same day.

A divine liturgy will be served at Holy Martyrs Church (Kotayk Marz), built by Pozapalian himself, on June 30 (at 11.00 am) after which the priest’s funeral will take place inside the church yard where he will be laid to rest.

Archbishop Nerses Pozapalian (baptismal name Hakob) was born in 1937 in the province of Gregkhan, Cilicia. Two years later his family migrated to Beirut where he received his primary education. In 1957 Pozapalian’s family repatriated to Armenia where he continued his education at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin.

Pozapalian was ordained as a celibate priest in 1961 by the Catholicos of All Armenians His Holiness Vazken I and given the priestly name of Nerses.

As part of his extensive service to the Church, Pozapalian, in 1999, was elected to serve as Locum Tenens of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and organized the Catholicosal elections (of Karekin II) that took place on 27 October, 1999.

His Grace published 10 books of poetry and sermons, was a lecturer at the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of Echmiadzin and, among other activities, served as Director of the Publishing Department of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin before retiring at the Mother See in 2007.