Book Presentation in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
02.03.2020
On March 02, in the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Library of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, under the presidency of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; and with the participation of His Beatitude Archbishop Sahak Mashalyan, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople; an event entitled “The Firstborn – in a new way” was held, dedicated to the republication of the first complete Eastern Armenian (Western Armenian, translation by M. Gochunyan (Qasim)) translation of St. Gregory of Narek's "Book of Lamentations".
The ceremony began with the Lord’s Prayer, following which Rev. Fr. Ararat Poghosyan, Director of the Library of the Mother See, welcomed the attendees. Then, Head of the Inter-Church Relations Department of the Mother See Very Rev. Fr. Senior Archimandrite Shahe Ananyan delivered a report on the translation.
During the presentation, soloists of “Geghard” choir (Artistic director, Honored Art Worker of RA, Professor Mher Navoyan) Luiza Yeremyan and Anahit Papayan performed hymns (sharakan), and Honored Artist of RA Davit Hakobyan read a passage from the St. Gregory of Narek's prayer book.
At the event, Chief Editor of the “Time” daily of Constantinople Ara Gochunyan delivered his heartfelt speech. Speaking about the scientific and cultural value of the book, Mr. Gochunyan also expressed his gratitude and thankfulness to His Holiness and the Publishing Department of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to play an important role in assisting the republication of the book and making “Narek” accessible to all classes of people.
At the conclusion, Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople His Beatitude Archbishop Sahak Mashalyan conveyed his Blessings and massage to the attendees.
“When we speak about “Narek”, we speak about prayer. Prayer is the power of the human and prayer is the power of the nation. If we summarize the book in a word, we will say – alms – alms of God. The Holy Narek teaches us that we are not so strong and we need the God's mercy for our next day. The Prayerbook was born to teach the human to ask for the God's mercy”, - stated Patriarch Sahak exhorting everyone to pray, as the prayer is light and connects human being to the light of God.
“I am proud, that 100 years later, again the value from the embrace of Constantinople, is brought to the public for the benefit of All Armenians”, - emphasized the Patriarch congratulating and expressing gratitude to the editor of the “Time” daily, who did not leave his family heritage on the shelves of libraries.
The Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople delivered his speech of gratitude to the Pontiff of All Armenians for the republication of the book and making it accessible to the people.
