Transcript St. Grigor Narekatsi Speaking with God from the Depths of

St. Grigor Narekatsi
Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart
THE LIFE
St. Grigor Narekatsi was one of the greatest poets in
the history of the Armenian Church. His poems
focused on the mystery of his relationship with God.
Narekatsi was born circa 950 to a family of
scholarly churchmen in the village of Narek on the
southern shore of Lake Van. He grew up in an
atmosphere infused with ritual and Bible. He was
educated and encouraged by his father, bishop
Khosrov Andzevatsi and his uncle, the famous
scholar Anania, and spent his entire life at the
monastery of Narek.
THE EPOCH
• Shortly before the first millennium of
Christianity,Narek Monastery was a thriving
center of learning. These were relatively quiet,
creative times before the Turkish and Mongol
invasions that changed Armenian life forever.
Armenia was experiencing a renaissance in
literature, painting,architecture and theology, of
which St.Gregor was a leading figure. Armenian
creativity flourished also with church-building,
miniature painting, music and science.
THE NAREK
• At the request of his brethren, Narekatsi set out to
find an answer to an imponderable question: what
can one offer to God, our Creator, who already has
everything and knows everything better than we
could ever express it? To this question he gives a
humble answer - the sighs of the heart – expressed
in his Book of Prayer, also called the Book of
Lamentations or simply THE NAREK. Narekatsi
considered his sublime mission to translate the
pure sighs of the “broken and contrite” heart into
an offering of wards pleasing to God:
• The voice of sighing heart, its sobs and mournful cries,
I offer up to you,O seer of Secrets, placing the fruits of
my wavering mind as a savory sacrifice on the fire of
my grieving soul to be delivered to you in the censer of
my will.
Compassionate Lord, breathe in this offering and look
more favorably on it than upon a more sumptuous
sacrifice rich with smoke. Please find this simple string
of words acceptable. Do not turn in anger. (Prayer 1).
The Narek is a comprehensive course of prayer and
meditation based on a distillation of biblical wisdom
and Christian doctrine. Where some theologians
analyzed with the head, St.Gregor plumbed the depths
of the heart in search of God’s loving truth.
Beginning each prayer with the incantation
• “Speaking with God from the depths of the
heart”, he referred to himself as “a living book”
and to his book as a compendium of prayers for
all times and nations – “its letters like my body,
its message like my soul (Prayer 54e). Thus, the
man equated himself with the book, and ever
since, the book has been equated with saintly
man. So the book like the man came to be
known affectionately as Narek.
• The Narek is a masterpiece of intuitive and direct
communion with God.According to tradition, St.
Grigor saw God, to which he gives witness in
Prayers 5c and 27f, where he regrets his
wrongdoing “toward the one, whom I saw with
my own eyes.” St. Grigor also testifies that the
book, an “edifice of faith”. (Prayer 10b), was
written by the finger of God and it was, it appears,
his second attempt to compose the book: (Prayer
34j).”It is full of metaphors and images:
Two cups in two hands,
one filled with blood, the other with milk,
two censers flickering,
one with incense, the other with crisp fat,
two platters piled with delicacies,
one sweet, the other tart,
two goblets overflowing
one with tears, the other with brimstone,
two bowls at the finger tips
one with wine, the other with bile,
two windows of sight
one crying, the other erring,
two refiner’s cauldrons
one heating, one cooling,
two outlooks on one face
one mildly affectionate, the other fiercely raging,
two lifted hands
one to strike, the other to shield.(Prayer 30c)
A CURE FOR BODY
AND SOUL
• For St. Grigor, prayer was
powerful medicine for the body
and soul (Prayer 28f, 35a,42b,
43b). And he was in need of
powerful medicine. His body
was collapsing, while he was
besieged by doubt from within
and criticism from without.
The work of his mature years,
various passages in the Book of
Prayer seem to indicate that St.
Grigor, although only in his
fifties, was suffering from a
life-threatening, debilitating
illness (Prayer 18k).
• In this Book of Prayer Narekatsi pleas for God to
be a healer not a judge. St. Grigor had a profound
belief in the power of praye to make us whole
(e.g., Prayers 3e, 53a, 66a). He grasped the power
the power of the book he was inspired to compose.
From his original manuscript, some 150 copies of
his work were copied by hand and passed from
generation to generation.
The Narek is considered so full of strength and
life, and to have healing and magical powers that
IT WAS AND STILL IS placed at the side or
under the pillow of the sick in hopes of curing
their illnesses.
THE
TRANSLATION
• Written shortly before the first millennium of
Christianity, the prayers of St. Grigor of Narek
have long been recognized as gems of Christian
literature. St. Grigor called his book
an”encyclopedia of all nations”. Although he
wrote in Classical Armenian, he believed he was
inspired to write this book for all people and
hoped that it would be translated and recited by
many nations, by people of all stations and in all
times serving as a guide to prayers. (Prayer 3b,
55a, 66a, 88b, 90f).
• The English translation of The Armenian Prayer
Book by Grigor Narekatsi is a four- -year labor of
love by linguist Thomas Samuelyan. He holds his
Ph. D. in Linguistics from the University of
Pennsylvania, Columbia University and St.
Nersess Seminary.
In a sense, the entire Book of Prayer is a search for
a way to teach prayer by example, like that the
Apostles when they asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us
to pray(Luke 11:1).” In short, these are prayers
aimed at learning how to pray.
• 2003 is the year of 1000th anniversary of
THE NAREK. Different conferences and
forrums are held in the honor of St. Grigor
Narekatsi and his masterpiece – THE
NAREK.