Nshan Topouzian

He went to the Armenian primary school of Zahlé, and at the age of 12 he entered the Theological Seminary of the Holy See of Cilicia in Antelias.

After finishing the Undzayaran (college) program, he was ordained a celibate priest and given the name Nshan by Catholicos Karekin I Sarkissian in 1987.

In February 1991 he was sent as a visiting priest to the Diocese of Atrpatakan (Tabriz, Iran) and appointed Pontifical Legate by Karekin I in May 1991.

He was elected Prelate of the Diocese of Atrpatakan in August 2002 and received the rank of Bishop from Catholicos Aram I on June 4, 2006.

Together with other Armenian clergymen and Iranian experts of architecture, he photographed and filmed the soldiers when they were destroying the khachkars and gravestones.