Lévon Zékian

Infobox Christian leader type = Archbishop name = Boghos Lévon Zékiyan native_name = Պօղոս-Լեւոն Զէքիեան native_name_lang = hyw church = Armenian Catholic Church title = Archeparch Emeritus of Istanbul archdiocese = Archeparchy of Istanbul term = 21 March 2015 – 21 October 2024 predecessor = Hovhannes Tcholakian successor = Sede Vacante previous_post = Apostolic Administrator of Istanbul (2014-2015)Titular Archbishop of Amida degli Armeni (2014-2015) ordination = 21 May 1967 ordained_by = consecration = 13 September 2014 consecrated_by = Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni

He completed his PhD dissertation "The Principle of Interiority in St. Augustine's Theory of Knowledge and the self-knowledge of the knowing subject" at the State University of Istanbul in 1973. From 1982 to 1985 he was the Principal of Moorat-Raphael College. He was the Secretary of the Armenian Academy of the Mekhitarist Fathers at San Lazzaro in Venice (1974–81).

His scholarly interests include Armenian studies, particularly literature and philology, history and identity, as well as philosophical and theological issues.

In 2014 Pope Francis appointed Archpriest Levon Zekiyan as apostolic administrator “sede plena” of the archieparchy of Istanbul of the Armenians, Turkey, elevating him to the dignity of Archbishop.

In September 2021, following the death of Patriarch Krikor Bedros XX Ghabroyan, he participated in the Elective Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church convened by Pope Francis at the Pontifical Armenian College in Rome. He was part of the body of bishops that elected Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian as the new Patriarch of Cilicia.

He knows Armenian (old, modern), Italian, French, English, German, Turkish, Russian and Modern Greek (both elementary), Georgian (initial), Latin, Old Greek, Biblical Hebrew (element.).

Publications The first steps of Modern Armenian Theatre and the Movement of Armenian Rebirth in the 18th century, Venice, 1975 (in Armenian). An Ecumenical Dialogue in the 12th century. The negotiations between St. Nerses Shnorhali and the Imperial Legate Theorianos in view of the Union of Churches, Venice, 1978 (in Armenian). Augustinian interiorism. The ontopsychological structure of the Augustinian interiorism and "memoria sui", Genova, 1980 (in Italian). Humanism. Conceptual contents and historic roots, Istanbul, 1981 (in Turkish). The Armenian way to modernity. Armenian identity between tradition and innovation, specificity and universality, Venice, 1997 (in English). Dialectics between Value and contingency. From cultural phenomenology towards an axiological refunding, Naples, 1998 (in Italian). Armenia and the Armenians: Restless «polis» and Spiritual Homeland. The challenge of a Survival, Milano, 2000 (in Italian).