matthew i was born in 1845 in istanbul as simeon martirosi izmirlian (սիմէոն մարտիրոսի իզմիրլեան). he was ordained as priest in 1869 and served as the personal secretary to patriarch mkrtich khrimian when the latter was still armenian patriarch of constantinople in the early 1870s. he was elected in 1872 as secretary of the armenian religious council of constantinople, and raised to level of "dzayrakouyn vardapet" or supreme archimandrite in 1873 and bishop in 1876.