Story of a pilgrimage

Story of a pilgrimage

Yerkir.am
July 21, 2006

There was a surprise waiting for me in the newsroom. Robert Arakelian’s
"In the Footsteps of the Past" was on my desk.

An actor, Arakelian had been working for the Yerevan Drama Theater
until 1992 when he moved to Lebanon and settled down in Ainchar,
a town with a significant number of Armenians. Since then he is the
director of the "Lusardzak 40" troupe of the "P.Sevak" branch.

Sponsored by the Hamazkayin, his first book, "In the Footsteps of the
Past," has been published by the Vahe Satian Publishing House. This is
a story of a pilgrimage, or to put it more accurately, a long return
of an Armenian from Lebanon to Cilicia and Cappadokia. To say that
an Armenian pilgrim is just a tourist is equal to saying nothing.

Every town is a historic holy site and no matter how hard the current
owners of those lands try to erase the traces of the Armenian presence,
those traces remain and speak of themselves.

The language of the book is a unique combination of the Eastern and
Western Armenians.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS