His Grace Bishop Ashot Mnatsakanian (baptismal name Garoun) was born on November 4, 1972 in the village of Tatev, Region of Syunik, Armenia.
From 1979 to 1989 he attended the secondary school in his village. In 1989 he was admitted to the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of Holy Etchmiadzin and graduated in 1995, defending his thesis entitled `The Life and Dogmatic Views of Hovhan Vorotnetsi'.
In 1995, His Grace Bishop Anania Arabajian ordained him to the rank of Deacon. In 1996, he was ordained a celibate priest by His Eminence Archbishop Shahe Ajemian.
From 1996 to 2001, he was office director of the Commission for the 1700th Anniversary of Christianity as the State Religion of Armenia. On March 2002, he defended his doctoral thesis entitled `The Parable of the Prodigal Son in Armenian Literature' and was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite (Vardapet).
In October 2002, by the order of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, he was appointed as Vicar of the Armenian Diocese of Egypt.
In February 2004, His Holiness appointed him as Locum Tenens of the Armenian Diocese of Egypt.
In 2005, he was elected as Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Egypt.
