Foundation and early history with a
pediment supporting a spire. The inscribed date "1835" commemorates the year the church's
foundation was laid. The church was commissioned by the first twelve Armenian families that settled in Singapore. It was designed by
George Drumgoole Coleman, the architect of many of Singapore's early buildings who also became the first
Superintendent of Public Works. The church is dedicated to
St Gregory the Illuminator, the first
Patriarch of the
Armenian Church. The
Armenians were among the earliest merchants and traders to arrive in Singapore after
Sir Stamford Raffles established it as a trading port in 1819. The community already held religious services in Singapore by 1821, and the first priest, the Reverend Krikor Hovhannes (Gregory John), arrived in July 1827. A request for land to build the church was made by the Armenian community in 1833, and the government granted the land at the foot of
Fort Canning in 1834. The foundation stone was laid on 1 January 1835 by the Supreme,
Archimandrite Reverend Thomas Gregorian, who also opened and consecrated the new church on
Easter Sunday in 1836. He was assisted by
Reverend Khachig Hovhannes, the priest for the local community. The Armenian Church was
gazetted as a
national monument on 6 July 1973. On 17 September 1979
vardapet Daron Djerejian, an Armenian priest from
Nice, France, visited the church and conducted a
Divine Liturgy. At that point, the church had been abandoned religiously for decades. In 1985 the Armenian Church celebrated the 150th anniversary of the church. Archbishop Aghan Baliozian, the primate of the diocese of Australia, led a group of Armenian pilgrims from Australia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, and San Francisco, U.S. to Singapore in June 1985.
Current state Serzh Sargsyan inside the church, during his state visit to Singapore (2012)
Divine Liturgy was performed at the church in 2001, on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of adoption of Christianity as a state religion of Armenia. On 27 March 2011 some 160 Armenians from 20 countries gathered at the church to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the church. On 29 March 2016 by the Pontifical Order of
Karekin II, Supreme
Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, Fr. Zaven Yazichyan, a member of the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin, was appointed to serve as the Pastor of the Armenian Spiritual Pastorates of Singapore, Myanmar and Dhaka. Yazichyan, who is based in
Yangon, Myanmar, Yazichyan was moved to be an assistant to the Grand Sacristan of the
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin on 7 September 2017. Currently, visiting clergy from other countries occasionally preside over the
Divine Liturgy (Holy Badarak/Patarag), including Fr. Movses Sargsyan from Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy and Davidian Girls’ School in Kolkata before the severe outbreak of
COVID-19 in Singapore during the years of 2019 and 2020 and Archbishop Haigazoun Najarian (Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Australia and New Zealand) in 2018 and after the decline of COVID-19, most recently on 12 January 2025. On 20 May 2016 the church received a grant from the government of Singapore for restoration, which was still ongoing as of February 2017. The small
Coptic Orthodox community in Singapore occasionally hold services in the building. The St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates Holy Mass on the first Saturday evening and Sunday morning of each month. Additionally, the
Saint Flannán Mission conducts Divine Liturgy at the church (previously 2nd and 4th Thursdays at 7p.m., currently first Thursday of each month), and the
Taizé Community holds regular prayers on Saturday evenings of every other month. Armenian lessons also take place on Sundays from 12 to 1:30p.m. for children 2 to 14 years of age. ==Architecture==