His Grace Bishop Armash Nalbandian (baptismal name Hagop) was born on January 29, 1973 in Aleppo, Syria. He received his primary education in “Cilicia” High School of Aleppo.
In 1987, he was admitted to the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. In September 1991, on the Feast of Exhalation of the Holy Cross, he was ordained a deacon by His Eminence Archbishop Nerses Bozabalian.
In 1993, he graduated form the Gevorkian Theological Seminary defending his thesis entitled `The Life and Works of Catholicos Gevork V Sureniants of All Armenians (1911-1930)'.
In December 1993, at the invitation of Archbishop Karekin Bekdjian, primate of the Armenian Diocese of Germany, His Holiness Vasken I Catholicos of All Armenians of blessed memory, sent him to Germany to study and serve the Armenian community as a pastor.
From 1995 to 2000, he studied New Testament Theology at the University of Erlangen-Nierenberg. He also studied the languages of ancient Greek and Latin simultaneously.
In November 1998, he was ordained a celibate priest in Cologne, Germany, by His Eminence Archbishop Karekin Bekdjian and assumed the responsibilities of spiritual pastor for Southern Germany.
In December 2003, he defended his doctoral thesis entitled `The Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church from the 5th Century to Present' and was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite (Vardapet).
In 2004, he was elected as a Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Damascus.
