hrvatski

Armenija: domovina svetoga Vlaha

The book Armenia, Homeland of Saint Blaise by the Russian linguist Artur R. Bagdasarov and the Croatian historian Vinicije B. Lupis was written with the aim of introducing the Armenian people, its culture and heritage to the Croatian public, as the first easy to understand scientific book on recognizable symbols of Armenia in the Croatian language. It is the result of an almost ten year period of publishing scientific works and articles by Vinicije B. Lupis, and the endeavours of Artur R. Bagdasarov to get the two nations to get to know each other through his articles published in several Croatian magazines and electronic media. In the first chapter entitled Recognizable Symbols of Armenia, Artur Bagdasarov informs the Croatian reader about the basics of Armenian history, their system of government and national characteristics. The Republic of Armenia is situated in the southern part of Transcaucasia, stretching over an area of 29, 074 km2. It borders on Georgia in the north, on Azerbaijan in the east and south- east, on Iran in the south and on Turkey in the west. Armenia is divided into 11 administrative units, including its capital Erevan. Mount Ararat, the capital city of Erevan and Lake Sevan each hold a special place amongst the national symbols of Armenia. First associations with the Armenian heritage include the Garni Temple, the ruins of Zvartnots Cathedral, the Matenadaran Library, the Armenian khachkars and the Armenian genocide. Zvartnots is the medieval Cathedral of St Gregory the Illuminator, located in the Ararat plain close to the airport of the same name. Translated from Armenian, Zvartnoc means „the cathedral of wakeful forces“. It was built in the 7th century by Catholicos Nerses III, at the meeting place of St Gregory the Illuminator and King Tiridates III, and destroyed in the 10th century, most likely by an earthquake. The Matenadran, or the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, is a scientific and research centre with the Republic of Armenia's government. It is one of the world's largest repositories of ancient manuscripts. In Old Armenian, the word matenadaran means: „a library of manuscripts“. The Matenadaran Institute was founded in 1920, on the basis of the nationalised manuscript collections from the Etchmiadzin Monastery. The cultural phenomenon of khachkars (Armenian hač 'cross' + kar 'stone' = 'a stone cross') is a type of Armenian historic monument, i.e., an upright memorial stele with a carved cross. Bagdasarov points out that the musical instrument the duduk is also one of the recognizable symbols of Armenia. He also elaborated on one of the saddest episodes in modern Armenian history, the Armenian genocide. Every year, Armenians all over the world mark 24 April, Armenian Genocide Day. For many years, they have been trying in vain to persuade Turkey to admit to the tragic and barbarian events it committed from 1894 to 1896, and in 1915. Even today, Turkey denies the crimes of genocide committed against the Armenian people, claiming that they were „merely individual tragic episodes in a civil war context“. The Armenian people's sense of humour is reflected in their folk proverbs, which are included at the end of this chapter. In his chapter on the ethno-linguistic cultural heritage, Artur R. Bagdasarov writes about two major personalities in the field of Armenian spirituality: St Gregory Lusavorich and St Mesrop Mashtots. St Gregory the Illuminator / Lusavorich (239 -325/6) is a saint in the Armenian, Catholic and Orthodox Church, as well as the founder and first official head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Pope Benedict XVI mentioned him as a saint who „led his people from darkness into the light“. The main source of information about the life of the martyr St Gregory the Illuminator is the Armenian History written by Agatangeghos, secretary of King Tiridates III (287 - 330). St Gregory Lusavorich converted the Armenian people to Christianity, and thus Armenians became the first Christian nation in the world. Mesrop Mashtots (around 361 - 440) was an Armenian linguist, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet, missionary, translator of the Holy Writ, founder of education and pedagogic thought in Armenia, and the second pillar of Armenian spirituality. The original Armenian alphabet, created around 405/406, consisted of 36 letters, 7 of which were vowels and 29 consonants, while two letters (Օ and Ֆ) were added after the 12th century. Mesrop determined the phonetic and spelling rules of the Armenian language and, following the Greek orthography, introduced the method of writing from left to right, unlike the Syrian system of writing where it was the other way round. Readers are given basic information on the Armenian language, which belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. It is one of the languages with very old written records. As the official language in the Republic of Armenia, it is also spoken all over the world: in Georgia, France, Lebanon, Russia, the USA, Syria and elsewhere, and used by more than six million speakers. The majority of researchers believe that the Armenian language is based on the language of the Hay (Armenian) alliance of tribes within the Kingdom of Urartu (Kingdom of Van). The Armenian nation was formed in the 7th century B.C. on the Armenian Plateau. The linguistic history of the Armenian standard (written) language is divided into three periods: Old Armenian (or grabar 'written') from the 5th to the 11th centuries, Middle Armenian from the 11th to the 17th centuries, and New Armenian from the 17th century until today. The origins of Old Armenian go back to the early 5th century, when the Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots (405 – 406). The verbal Old Armenian went out of use in the 11th century, while grabar was used until almost the end of the 19th century, in competition with the new-Armenian standard language. It has been preserved as the language of the church. The second period is marked by the beginning of the formation of modern Armenian dialects (a group of dialects). The standard Middle Armenian language is characterized by changes in the consonant system (occluding the voiced consonants and voicing the voiceless consonants), the monophthongization of diphthongs, the use of new indicators for the plural, a shift in the system of guttural sounds, lexis, etc. From the 17th century onwards, a new standard Armenian language has been formed. The Armenian language has two versions: Western Armenian based on the Constantinople dialect, and Eastern Armenian based on the Ararat dialect. The eastern version has spread in the Republic of Armenia, in the eastern regions of historical Armenia, and partially in Iran. The eastern version of the standard Armenian language is multifunctional and used in the fields of science, culture, education, the press and extensively in literature. The western version has spread among the numerous Armenian emigrants from modern day Turkey (in Lebanon, France, Italy, the USA, Syria, etc.). Armenians today mark the Feast of the Holy Armenian Translators.The powerful cultural and educational movement - the forming of the alphabet, the establishment of schools, the translations of the Bible, theological and philosophical books headed by St Mesrop, St Sahak and an eminent group of their students - was one of the reasons for the canonisation of the translators. The Armenian Church established a special memorial day to the Holy Translators, commemorating, for instance, Mesrop Mashtots, Bishop Yegishe, Movses of Khoren and Gregory of Nareg. On the Day of the Holy Translators a pilgrimage is made to the grave of Saint Mesrop in St Mashtots' Church (the village of Oshakan, Armenia), literary awards are given, and performances of folk dances and songs are held. Special attention is paid to Armenian printing. In 15th century Armenia, the printing of books was not possible because of constant wars, conquests, political instability and lack of cultural relations with Europe. In 1475, the German traveller Johannes Schitberger printed the first book in the Armenian language in Mainz. It was the Lord’s prayer written in the Latin alphabet. Schitberger dedicated several chapters of his book to Armenia, including Armenian words written in Latin letters. He claimed that he had learned the Lord's Prayer from the Armenians of the Highland Karabakh. Bernard von Breindenbach's book Pilgrimage to the Holy Land from 1486 included an Armenian woodcut with the Armenian alphabet, alongside a parallel list of Armenian letters. Therefore, the first printed texts in the Armenian language appeared during the earliest period of typography (incunabula). The first print of an Armenian book is linked with the name of the priest Hakob, who called himself “Meghapart“, meaning „sinner“. The title of the book which Meghapart printed in Venice in 1512 was Urbatagirk (literal translation: The Book of Friday). Abgar Tokhatetsi is considered to be the second Armenian publisher. A major figure in the Armenian liberation movement in the late 16th century, he secured permission from Pope Pius IV to set up a printing press in Italy. In 1565, Tokhatetsi printed a calendar and a psalter in his own printing press in Venice. He later travelled to Constantinople where he printed six more books from1567 - 1569. The most important event in the history of 17th century Armenian printing was the establishment of the Oskanian printing press. With the aim of setting up a permanent printing press for Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the Armenian Catholicos Hakob Jugayetsi sent the church notary Matteos Caretsi to Europe. From 1658 to 1660, he established the printing press of St Echmiadzin and St Sarkis in Amsterdam. In 1664, Oskan Yerevantsi, a respected representative of the Armenian intellectuals of the time, became head of the printing press. It was moved from Amsterdam to Livorno in 1669, and later to Marseilles (having obtained special permission from the French court), where it operated till 1686, printing more than 40 Armenian books on various subjects. Armenian Benedictine monks were called Mekhitarists, after the founder of their order, Mekhitar of Sebaste (1676 - 1749). In 1712, the Apostolic See acknowledged Mekhitar as Abbot of the Congregation, and in 1717, the Pope issued a special decree placing the Island of San Lazzaro in Venice at their disposal. A group of Armenian monks moved to Trieste in 1773, and to Vienna in 1810. Members of the Mekhitarist Order established printing presses in all the aforementioned locations, and were widely known as excellent printers. They printed their books with the aid of imperial grants from Maria Theresa, Joseph II and Francis I. The Armenian Mekhitarists printed more than 200 books by Croatian authors from 1815 to 1986. The finest printed biographies include that of Toros Roslin, a 13th century Armenian miniaturist. Anania Shirakatsi (c. 610 – c. 685) was one of the most prominent Armenian scientists, and also a geographer, cartographer, historian, astronomer and mathematician. Komitas is a major and tragic figure in Armenian national culture. Founder of Armenian ethnomusicology, to which he made an invaluable contribution, Komitas collected a large number of Armenian folk songs and traditional chants entitled the Ethnomusical Anthology, with more than 255 musical pieces. Komitas'music notebooks contain more than 200 chants. Worth mentioning is his pedagogical work at the Etchmiadzin Academy, as well as his work with church choirs. In the field of Armenian musical culture, Komitas' Divine Liturgy (Badarak) is a masterpiece. History does not slacken its pace, and modern Armenian music draws on its rich and ancient cultural heritage. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Armenian name Hovhannes Aivazian, 1817 - 1900) is a world famous Russian marine painter of Armenian origin. A special place among 20th century Armenians is reserved for Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan (1886 - 1955), the Armenian military strategist, statesman and publicist. The chapter on the Armenian religion and the church is about the distinctiveness of the Armenian Apostolic Church and its martyr-like path, as well as about the two religious centres St Etchmiadzin and Sis in Cilicia. The Armenian Apostolic Church (or the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church) belongs to the group of Christian churches (Eritrean, Ethiopian, Indian, Coptic, Syrian) that acknowledge only three ecumenical councils and therefore have a somewhat different Christology from that of Rome and Byzantium after the schism at the Council of Chalcedon. During the Christological debate held at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, there was a debate on whether Christ had two natures: Godhead and manhood, or a single one, his divine nature. The Council of Chalcedon clearly defined that there were two natures in Christ, which did not obliterate each other, and that the Godhead did not eliminate the manhood. Such doctrine was not accepted by the Armenian Church, which saw it as a divergence from the doctrine of Cyril of Alexandria about the single nature of Christ. Therefore, the Armenian Church considered that it should have been acknowledged that Christ „was of two natures“ and not „in two natures“. Nevertheless, in the second half of the 20th century, the Armenian Miaphysite doctrine was accepted as a possible interpretation of the orthodox understanding of Christian faith, which was confirmed by the supreme head of the Catholic Church, John Paul II and the ecumenical Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew I. The joint statement of Pope John Paul II and the Armenian Catholicos Garegin II, announced on 13 December 1996, confirmed that the theological dispute -which had once led to the schism - was resolved, and that the Armenian Christological religion conformed and was in accordance with Christian doctrine, while another joint church declaration was signed on 27 September 2001. Holy Father John Paul II on one occasion attended a joint liturgy in Armenia celebrated by Garegin II, Catholicos of all Armenians. The history of Armenian spirituality is closely linked with the phenomena of venerating the holy relics of Christ's image from Edessa and the spear with which Christ was pierced. Armenian culture is distinctive for its architecture which abounds in valuable surviving monuments in both the areas of historic Armenia and the present-day Republic of Armenia, such as the church on the Island of Akhtamar dating from the 10th century, St Hripsime's Church and the Church of St Gayane. Armenian monasteries have been spiritual and educational centres for many centuries. The medieval Tatev Monastery is located in the south-east of Armenia, in the area of Armenia's old Syunik Province, and near the city of Goris. The monastery was built on a plateau, on the edge of a deep canyon of the River Vorotan (the Armenian word vorotan translates as 'thunderous'). Encompassed by thick walls, with towers and a huge gate, the monastery was a spiritual and cultural centre of medieval Armenia. In 1345, the Armenian philosopher and pedagogue Hovhan Vorotnetsi (1315 - 1388) established the University of Tatevin in the monastery. After his death, the university was run by his pupil, Grigor Tatevatsi (1346 - 1409). From 100 to 300 students attended the university, and the education lasted 7 to 8 years. The University of Tatev educated religious teachers, preachers, pedagogues, musicians and experts in the fields of science and the arts. This book elaborates on the following monasteries and churches: Tsitsernavank, Goshavank, Noravank, Gandzasar, Sevanavank, Marmashen, Haghpat, Arichavank, Sanahin, Kecharis, Saghmosavank, Makaravank, Kobayr, Aruch and Odzun. The destruction of the Armenian heritage and churches did not only take place on its own soil during the 20th century, but also in its diaspora. Amongst a whole series of culturocides committed during the Communist regime against numerous cultural and religious monuments is the Armenian Catholic Church of the Mhitarist Congregation in Novi Sad. In 1949, for the purpose of widening King Lazar Street, the Armenian parish house was pulled down, and in October 1963 so was the Armenian Catholic Church of Gregory the Illuminator. An entire chapter in the book is dedicated to the historic Armenian towns of Ani, Mush and Sebaste. Ani is a ruined medieval Armenian town located in the Turkish province of Kars, bordering on Armenia. From 961 to 1045, Ani was the capital of Ani Kingdom (the Armenian Kingdom of Bagratuni). The Kingdom of Ani was founded by „the king of kings“, as the Arabian Abbasid dynasty called him, and later King Ashot I, the Great, from the Armenian Bagratuni dynasty. The Kingdom of Ani flourished in the late 10th and the early 11th centuries, during the rule of King Gagik I (989 - 1020). The kingdom ceased to exist in 1045, after the loss of its capital, Ani. Mush is a historic Armenian town, the capital of Mush Province in Turkey. It is situated west of Lake Van, in the southern part of the Mush Valley, north of the Armenian or Eastern Tavrus (a ridge in Asia Minor), at the foot of the Korduk and Ciranakatar Hills. Armenian Sebaste is an ancient town in Armenia Minor, today's administrative centre of the Turkish Sivas Province. The town of Sebaste is extremely important for Christian civilisation because of its numerous martyrs, above all Saint Blaise and the Forty martyrs. A complete chronology of Armenian history is included at the end of the book. In the second part of the book, Vinicije B. Lupis - who also contributed to the first half of the book with his texts - presents the studies and essays which he has published over the course of almost a decade. In his study Paradigm of the Armenian Genocide, Lupis elaborates on the problem of the role of small nations in world politics. The eastern question - the legacy of European and world politics of that time, including the solving of the Croatian question, as well as the Armenian and Assyrian questions in the East - is still topical in many aspects. The crime against the Armenians, i.e., one of the greatest genocides in human history - which is, in all its elements, the first holocaust against a nation and religion, committed by the top military and political echelons of Constantinople, followed by a media hush-up and ignored by the international community, which had armed the Turkish army to the teeth and trained it to commit the act - has its own paradigmatic significance. The study on the goldsmith’s trade puts the spotlight on this marginal art. The author bases his research on the postulates of the Croatian theory of art history by the art historian Ljubo Karaman, presented in his book The Problems of Peripheral Art. In manifestations of this peripheral art, he noticed a particularly interesting way of syncretizing Venetian and Armenian goldsmithing. A special coine of the Armenian and Western goldsmith’s trade is manifested in the borrowing of figural solutions from the ensemble of Venetian Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque goldsmithery. The finest example of the influence of Venetian goldsmithery on its Armenian counterpart is the altar Crucifix from Artsakh dating from 1770. This is actually a free version of a Gothic Crucifix from the Venetian cultural circle, which the Armenian goldsmith used as a model for his altar Crucifix, adapted to the liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Venetian – Armenian coine of goldsmithing influences belongs to a whole series of peripheral effects of the Venetian goldsmith’s trade on Greek Catholic communities in the Greek region and on Greek goldsmithery in the Baroque period. Anyway, this contemplation on Armenian goldsmithery is with the aim of opening up an insufficiently known world of peripheral arts created by a cultural blend of Christian nations within the Ottoman Empire. On the basis of a Study of Croatian – Armenian Contacts, a bilateral contract on cultural collaboration between Croatia and Armenia has been signed. As an important trading centre between East and West, Dubrovnik has always been a meeting place of different peoples and cultures. Armenians have been among the numerous foreigners who have resided in Dubrovnik. A special bond between Dubrovnik and Armenia is also the cult of the city’s patron saint, St Blaise, who came from the Armenian town of Sebaste, alongside the City’s older patron saints St Zenobius and St Zenobia, who were originally from Lesser Armenia, as is the cult of the Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste. The most important figure among Dubrovnik's Armenians, mostly merchants, was Giuro Baglivi Armeno. Archbishop Rajmund Jelić from Dubrovnik was a religious leader of the Catholic Armenians in Asia Minor in the early 18th century. He corresponded with the priest Mekhitar, the founder of the Armenian Catholic Mekhitarist Order. The most important link between the Armenians and Croats is the Jesuit Josip Marinović of Perast ; he wrote the first history of Armenians in the West, thus laying the foundation for modern research into Armenian history in Europe. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the people of Dubrovnik maintained contacts with the Armenians, which resulted in the Archbishop of Sebaste’s visit to Dubrovnik in 1902.The interest Dubrovnik residents have in the native town of their patron saint has continued up to this day, which is proof of a permanent spiritual bond between the Croatian and Armenian peoples.Vinicije B. Lupis has given an extensive interview to the Armenian magazine Zham from Moscow about the cultural ties between the two peoples. The book includes a chapter with essays and articles published in the magazines Dubrovački List and Hrvatsko Slovo, from 2006 to 2014, dealing with Armenian themes. For many years, the author has informed the Croatian public about the Armenian – Croatian connections and the problems regarding the Armenian cultural heritage, basing his work primarily on the importance of St Blaise for both Dubrovnik and Croatia, as the greatest bond between the two peoples. The authors of this book have joined forces in opening up a series of problems and themes that trouble both nations, writing in the Croatian press and electronic media. Their joint intention is to provide Croatian readers with general information on the Armenian people, its culture and spirituality, as well as to point out their numerous ties. The Armenian cultural heritage has been reviewed in its entirety - regardless of which country it had been part of in the past - and in its historical context and time, from the earliest years of Christianity until the early 20th century.

Armenija; genocid; Ani; Sebasta; sv. Vlaho

Knjiga posjeduje saetke i naziv knjige na armenskom, ruskom i engleskom jeziku.