Celebrating Ancient Prayers

His words are ancient, but they still stir the soul.

Though written in 1003 A.D., the prayers of St. Gregory of Narek--a Christian mystic, Vartabed, and Bishop of the Armenian Church--continue to touch our modern lives.

In 2003, the Armenian Church is celebrating the 1,000-year anniversary of the creation of St. Gregory's masterpiece, his Prayer Book of Lamentations, also known by the title of one of its 95 chapters, Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart.

Thomas Samuelian, a native of Philadelphia who founded and runs a public-interest law firm in Armenia, recently released a new English version of the entire prayer book.

It was a four years of labor for Samuelian, who woke every morning to translate as much as he could before starting the day. But translating the entire set of prayers was important, he said, because St. Gregory intended readers to journey though the work.

"It's an elaborate formula to promote spiritual growth," Dr. Samuelian said earlier this year as he spoke to members of the Armenian Church Youth Organization of America. "It's spiritual growth by prayer. You will learn to pray. It will help you build a relationship with God."

The prayers of St. Gregory of Narek are noted for their variety and uniqueness. In his translation, Dr. Samuelian tried to also capture the poetic nature of the original Armenian.

St. Gregory--who was born in 951 and educated in the Monastery of Narek--called his book an "encyclopedia of prayer for all nations", hoping it would serve as a guide to prayer for people around the world.

"St. Gregory's charming and poetic, colorful, and descriptive prayers have captivated the imagination of the world," said Fr. Zenob Nalbandian, pastor of the Armenian Church at Hye Point, Massachusetts, during a St. Gregory of Narek lecture hosted by Sts. Sahag and Mesrob Church of Providence, Rhode Island. "They have also enticed and enthralled the listeners and transformed their lives fundamentally. The Book of Narek belongs to the world. All nations ought to read the astonishingly beautiful prayers that lead the contrite and perturbed soul to tranquility, purity, cleanness, and perfection."

ACYOA leaders have urged its members to spread the teachings of St. Gregory of Narek by following the lead of the ACYOA chapter of St. Mary Church of Washington, D.C., which is raising money to buy copies of the book to give to non-Armenian seminaries in the area.

Many parishes throughout the Eastern Diocese are also organizing events this year commemorating the life and words of St. Gregory of Narek.

Last November, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, issued a special Pontifical Encyclical dedicated to the 1,000th anniversary of St. Gregory's prayer book, wherein he invited the Armenian people to celebrate the milestone.