Sunday School teachers from Armenian Church parishes throughout the United States will gather for a two-day retreat at St. Nersess Seminary from August 20-22, 2004. The teachers are currently participating in the bi-annual Mardigian Institute, an intensive teacher-training program sponsored by the Department of Religious Education of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America. The director of the D.R.E. is St. Nersess alumna Ms. Elise Antreasian-Bayizian.
Following four full days of classroom instruction and workshops at the Diocesan Center in New York, it has become a tradition for the teachers to cap their week with a retreat at St. Nersess. This year the retreat will be led by Mrs. Valerie Goekjian-Zahrisky, a graduate of St. Nersess Seminary who is married to Rev. Michael Zahirsky, a priest of the Orthodox Church of America.