Born: January 1, 1879, Fatih İlçesi, Istanbul, Türkiye.
Died: December 24, 1933, New York City. He was assassinated while preparing to conduct mass at Holy Cross Church.
Buried: Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church, New York City.
After attending seminary in Armash, Armenia, Tourian served as Vicar General of the Ormanian Patriarch for six years.
In 1909, he became Chancellor of the Patriarchate of Istanbul.
He went to Bulgaria in 1915, and eventually became Prelate of Bulgaria.
In 1920, he became Prelate of Smirna (now İzmir), Türkiye. Fleeing persecution there in 1922, he was rescued from the sea by a British ship which took him to Athens.
He later became Prelate of Prelate of Greece (1922), Prelate of England (1926), and Primate of the Armenian Church in North and South America (1931).