Joe Simitian

Joe Simitian is a politician.

In December 2005 Simitian as a State Senator (D-Palo Alto), representing the 11th Senatorial District of the State of California, visited the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

He visited the Holy Land together with eight other members of the California State Legislature as part of a group organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council.

They attended the Vesper Services in the Cathedral of St. James.

Following the religious service, Bishop Aris Shirvanian, the Patriarchate's Director of Ecumenical and Foreign Relations, led Senator Simitian on a brief tour of the St. James Armenian Convent, pointing out the various buildings within its walls: the residential quarters of the St. James Brotherhood, the Alex and Marie Manoogian Seminary and Theological School; the Calouste Gulbenkian Library; the Edward and Helen Mardigian Museum; the Holy Translators School; the Convent of the Holy Archangels.

There was also an audience held with Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Archbishop welcomed the Senator and spoke about the religious, educational and cultural missions of the Patriarchate, and the hopes for the future of the Armenian community in Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

Simitian expressed his thanks for the privilege accorded him to become better acquainted with Armenian Jerusalem, and his admiration and appreciation for the devoted service rendered by the religious and lay communities of the Armenian Quarter. He promised to convey the blessings of the Patriarch and Bishop Shirvanian to the Armenian community of California, and to encourage their support and their pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Sources

• State Senator Joe Simitian Visits Jerusalem Armenian Patriarchate