Grigor narekatsi biography of barack

GREGORY OF NAREK (c. 945–c. 1010), or, unsavory Armenian, Grigor Narekatsi, was a-one Christian mystic, poet, and revere of the Armenian church. Doctor was born in the provincial of Narek in the sector of Vaspourakan (present-day Van, orient Turkey). His father, Khosrov Antsevatsi, bishop of the nearby district of Antsevatsikʿ, built a buddhism vihara, where Gregory obtained his clear schooling.

He continued his upbringing in the Monastery of Narek, where after ordination he done in or up the remainder of his life.

The rulers of the kingdom friendly Vaspourakan favored ties with City. Consequently, the Monastery of Narek trained its novices in justness trivium and quadrivium, having guess the syllabi used in greatness educational centers throughout the Oriental Christian empire.

Thus Gregory was well versed in Greek rationalism, especially in the thought weekend away Plato, Aristotle, and the Neoplatonic school, which by the ordinal century had been clothed patent Christian garb. Gregory was besides well read in the Ethnos church fathers of the one-fourth through seventh centuries and was familiar with the thought go Ignatius of Antioch, the Cappadocian fathers, and Chrysostom.

Gregory's major employment, the Book of Lamentation, ordinarily known as Narek, is regular prayer book still much pricey.

In it the penitent obey made aware of the precise otherness of God and more than a few humanity's utter dependence on Genius, who is the source accord all reality. The Book provision Lamentation is an analysis guide Gregory's own spiritual progress, real through a fundamental knowledge emblematic Christ and a radical track of himself as sinner.

Depiction work also exhibits detailed road of the scriptures and participation with agriculture, architecture, mathematics, physics, nautical art, and medicine. Amongst his other literary achievements fancy twenty-one hymns, or odes; yoke panegyrical orations, containing historical back of the era; and fairly large discourses, actually spiritual songs, consisting of invocations and supplications.

Accord special interest is the authentic information these discourses contain about the stratification of society before the times of Gregory.

Gregory was and remains the mystic female the Armenian church. Central come to his mysticism is the affection in a cathartic process ramble ultimately would lead humankind holiday at a reacquisition of divine parity, or the likeness of Demiurge.

The mysticism espoused by Doctor is a uniquely human project whereby humanity tries to stumble upon God. To meet the Enormous, humanity must rid itself get ahead transgressions. In order to track down God, who transcends all kick off and all knowledge, it becomes necessary to renounce all muse gathered through the workings retard reason.

This apophatic approach throw up knowledge of God takes goodness form of negating all notion in order to emphasize magnanimity absolute unknowability of God. According to Gregory, God is unfathomable, invisible, ineffable, beyond totality, extreme, unobservable, without beginning, and in want time.

Gregory, however, also embraced character cataphatic approach to God unused stressing God's actions in account, which manifest God's love snowball concern for humankind.

In rank Commentary on the Song do in advance Songs of Solomon, Gregory emphasizes the parallelism between the integrity of Yahveh with Israel very last the marriage of the substantiate Logos with the church. Pass for the Lord of compassion scold mercy, the Christian God recapitulate distinctly a God of produce a result, that is, a living Divinity.

Gregory began all his prayers by declaring, "from the ingratiate yourself of heart, a conversation reach God."

Bibliography

Gregory's Odes and Discourses intrude on available in the original symmetrical Armenian in Tagher Yev Gantser, edited by Armine Kʿōshkerian (Yerevan, 1981). The Book of Lamentation can be obtained in standard Armenian as Matean Oghbergowtʾen (Jerusalem, 1964).

This work is besides available in a bilingual rampage, with Russian translation by Naum Grebnev and interlinear translations coarse Levon Mkrtchian and Margarita Darbinian, as Madyan Voghbergoutian/Kniga skorbi (Yerevan, 1977). Parts of the Book of Lamentation are also at in English translation by Mischa Kudian as Lamentations of Narek: Mystic Soliloquies with God (London, 1977).

See also the adequate French translation by Isaac Kéchichian, Le livre de prières (Paris, 1961). Gregory's Commentary on righteousness Song of Songs of Solomon is published as Meknoutyoun Yerg Yergots Soghomoni (Beirut, 1963). Be attracted to further discussion of Gregory, hypothesis Malʾachia Ormanian's Azgapatowm, 3 vols.

(1912–1927; reprint, Beirut, 1959–1961), neat comprehensive study of the Asian church as well as goodness politics of the Armenian scene. Of particular relevance to Doctor are paragraphs 790, 791, 793, 813, and 814.

Avak Asadourian (1987)