Yeghishe Derderian of Jerusalem

Who was Yeghishe Derderian of Jerusalem?

Patriarch Yeghishe Derderian was Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem serving the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem as bishop under the authority of the Catholicos of Armenia and of all Armenians of the Armenian Apostolic Church from 1960 to 1990.

Yeghishe Derderian was born in Van, then the Ottoman Empire, now Turkey, in 1910. He lost all of his relatives in 1915, during the Armenian genocide. In 1922, he came to Jerusalem at the age of 12, to study at the St. James Theological Seminary. He served eventually as the dean of the seminary, before being named deputy patriarch of Jerusalem upon the death of in Patriarch Guregh Israeli. The position of Patriarch of Jerusalem remained vacant from 1949 to 1957 and 1958 to 1960, with a brief period from 1957 to 1958, when Tiran Nersoyan was elected Patriarch, but not consecrated.

In 1960, Yeghishe Derderian became the 95th Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem and served for thirty years until his death in February 1990.

His period as patriarch was marred by a number of controversies. Most notably, a financial scandal involving the Patriarchate prompted calls for Derderian's resignation. In August 1983, a five-man church auditing committee issued a report charging Derderian with impropriety in handling church funds. Derderian issued an eighty-page response denying the allegations that he had misappropriated church funds. He continued to serve despite the controversy.