Author: Nahapetian Samvel

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian
CROSSROADS E-NEWSLETTER – September 23, 2004
STS. VARTANANTZ CHURCH IN PROVIDENCE
CELEBRATES 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF
MOURAD ARMENIAN SCHOOL
Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan was in Providence, Rhode Island, last Saturday
to attend the gala celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Mourad
Armenian School. Joining the celebration were the former pastor of the
parish, Archpriest Mesrob Tashjian and the current pastor Rev. Fr. Gomidas
Baghsarian. Also attending were Gilda Kupelian and Nayiri Balanian,
Executive Director and Chair, respectively, of the Armenian National
Education Committee.
Appreciation and thanks were extended to the past and present teachers and
administrators. A booklet marking this occasion was produced which included
a history of the Mourad School written by Archpriest Mesrob Tashjian.
In his remarks, Archbishop Oshagan noted that in all parts of the world the
Armenian School has held a unique role of transmitting our culture, language
and history, and has been in the forefront of the wholesome education of our
children.
FIVE SESSION COURSE ON THE LITURGY
WILL BEGIN MONDAY, OCTOBER 18
A five-session introductory course on the Soorp Badarak (the Eucharist),
will start on Monday, October 18, 2004, at the Armenian Prelacy on the first
and third Mondays of the month, from 7:15 pm to 8:45 pm. Classes will be
taught by Dn. Shant Kazanjian, Executive Director of the Armenian Religious
Education Council (AREC). Prior registration is required. The $25 course fee
(for five sessions) includes a light supper. To register, please contact the
AREC office by telephone (212-689-4481) or by email
([email protected]).
NEW ENGLAND SEMINAR FOR EDUCATORS
The Armenian National Education Committee (ANEC) is sponsoring an educators
seminar in the New England area on Saturday, October 23, 2004. It will be
hosted by the Mourad School of Sts. Vartanantz Church, Providence, Rhode
Island. The theme of the seminar is Teaching Armenian and History and
Teaching Methods for the non-Armenian speaker. To register or obtain
additional information contact the Executive Director of ANEC, Gilda
Kupelian, 212-689-7810, [email protected].
MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO ARCHBISHOP MESROB ASHJIAN
A Memorial Tribute to Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian, of blessed memory, will
take place on Friday, October 15, at St. Peter Church, 619 Lexington Ave.
(at 54th Street), New York City, at 7:30 pm. The evening is organized by the
New York Hamazkayin and is under the auspices of His Eminence Archbishop
Oshagan Choloyan. The evening will feature remembrances by Dr. Ashot
Melkonian, Director of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences
in Armenia, and the Honorable Judge Sarkis Teshoian. Archbishop Oshagan will
deliver the final message of the evening and the benediction. Cultural
program includes the singer Hasmik Mekhanedjian and pianist Janet Marcarian.
A video presentation of the Life and Work of Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian,
narrated by the recorded voice of the late Archbishop. Free admission. For
information, 718-459-2757.
REGISTER BEFORE OCTOBER 15 FOR
NEW ENGLAND RETREAT
The New England area Retreat, We Are Family, will take place on Saturday,
October 23. Registration deadline is October 15. The September 16 issue of
Crossroads gave some details of the retreat. New Englanders should contact
their local parish for information and registration form. Back issues of
Crossroads is on the Prelacy web page,
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR
A CHILDRENS HOLIDAY CONCERT
The Prelacy is sponsoring a Family Holiday Concert on Saturday, December 4,
2004, 3 pm at Florence Gould Hall, the Alliance Francaise, 55 East 59th
Street, New York City. The concert features Nvair and her HyeFamily friends,
special guest from California, Taline, and Gaghant Baba. For tickets and
information, 212-689-7810.
MID-ATLANTIC DEACONS SEMINAR
IN PHILADEPHIA IN NOVEMBER
A Mid-Atlantic Deacons Seminar will take place at St. Gregory the
Illuminator Church, 8701 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia, on Friday and Saturday,
November 12 and 13. For information contact the AREC office, 212-689-7810.
ST. GEORGE THE COMMANDER AND
HOLY CROSS OF VARAG
This weekend the Armenian Church commemorates St. George (Kevork) and the
holiday of the Holy Cross of Varag.
On Saturday, St. George the Commander is remembered. Although there are no
exact records about St. George, he is a popular legendary hero among all
Christian people. He is considered to be the patron saint of soldiers and
boy scouts. As in other cases, the Armenian people have given St. George the
Commander an Armenian national character. The name George (Kevork) has been
used extensively by Armenians starting in the fifth century. There are many
large churches named in his honor. Perhaps the one we know best is Sourp
Kevork of Moughni (St. George of Moughni), the church in Armenia that the
late Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian restored to its original glory through the
generosity of his friends in the United States and Canada. The monastery
complex stands today in living testimony to the dedication and patronage of
the late Archbishop.
On Sunday the Armenian Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Cross of
Varag. The Hripsimiantz Virgins, after coming to Armenia, lived near Mount
Varag. Hripsime always carried a small wooden cross, which some considered
to be made of a piece of the true cross. One day, in order to escape
persecution, she found refuge on the mountain where she hid the cross among
the rocks before escaping to Vagharshapat. According to tradition, in the
year 563, a hermit named Todik, was searching for the hidden cross. He
followed a brilliant light that illuminated the mountain that guided him
inside the church to the altar and a fragment of the cross. The light
remained for twelve days. In memory of this event, Nerses Catholicos
established the Feast of the Cross of Varag.
Mount Varag is located in the southeastern region of Van in historic
Armenia. There, in honor of the Cross, the monastery of Saint Nishan was
built on the site where St. Hripsime had hidden her cross. The monastery
attained special importance especially during the leadership of Khrimian
Hyerik.
Some of us here at Crossroads had the opportunity to visit this site, among
others, with the late Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian in a pilgrimage organized by
Armen Aroyan. It was a thrill to visit Varaga Vank, but so sad to see ruins
and stones instead of a thriving monastery.
Apart from religious ceremonies honoring the Cross, the reverence shown
toward the Cross by the Armenian people is prominent. The Cross has been the
source of creativity in many areas of the arts. Perhaps the greatest of
these is the Armenian khachkars (cross stones), of which there are so many
beautiful examples.
We end with a poem, Khackkarere (the Cross Stones) written by Hovhannes
Shiraz:
I know not why, when a child,
I kissed the cross stones so,
When with my mother, I, barefoot,
Like a lamb, climbed the hills to the Vank.
I still kiss them now,
But now I know why.
I kiss them, O my forebears,
Your skilled hands made them emit light.
Fashioned of hard, harsh rock,
Miraculous works of the soul,
In kissing your holy presence
I kiss your immortality.
Visit our website at

City News Service
September 22, 2004 Wednesday
Missing Man
GLENDALE
Detectives sought the public’s help today to find Gregor “Vrej”
Adamyan for questioning in the disappearance of a 33-year-old medical
clinic manager, authorities said. Martin Pogosian was last seen in
Los Angeles on Jan. 23, 2003, at 3:30 p.m. after leaving a business
meeting in Glendale, said Sgt. Tony Futia. “He was in a dispute over
the telephone and went downtown to handle that,” Glendale police Sgt.
Steven Davey told the Daily News. “He was missing after that.” Police
believe Adamyan had dealings with Pogosian, the Daily News reported.
Pogosian’s family had talked to him on a cellular telephone on Jan.
24, 2003, a few hours before a large kidnap-ransom demand was
delivered to an unknown Armenian in Los Angeles, the Daily News
reported. The Glendale Police Department’s Special Investigation Unit
has developed new leads in the case and is asking for the community’s
help, Futia said. Anyone with information on Adamyan’s disappearance
was asked to call Davey at (818) 548-6485.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Messenger
Sept 22, 2004
Protesters plan to block Tbilisi-Baku railway
Inhabitants of the Gardabani region are going to block the Tbilisi-Baku
railway on Wednesday to demand the creation of a state commission studying
the corruptibility of local officials. Representatives of the Labor Party
told Prime News that they are also going to go on hunger strike.
According to the party, on August 18 the protestors addressed President
Mikheil Saakashvili, Labor leader Shalva Natelashvili and Minister of
Justice Giorgi Papuashvili with the request that corrupt local officials be
punished. They complain that the president’s representative in Kvemo Kartli,
Soso Mazmishvili, the majority MP of Rustavi Gogi Salakia and also the
Chairmen of the Board of Gardabani region conducted illegal personnel
changes.
Pipes from the gas pipeline Russia-Armenia are stolen and sold as scrap
metal, they allege, and bread prices were deliberately raised. GEL 3,8
million, which was allocated for carrying out repair works of the
Rustavi-Vakhtangisi highway, disappeared, the inhabitants declare.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Ecumenical News International, Switzerland
Sept 22 2004
Trading, and possession, of nuclear weapons denounced by WCC head
Peter Kenny
Geneva (ENI). Revelations that nuclear weapons technology have been
traded are a scandal, but it is equally disgraceful that countries
possessing nuclear arsenals are unwilling to renounce their use and
are even developing terrifying, new technologies, the head of the
World Council of Churches, Samuel Kobia said on Tuesday.
Kobia, who is general secretary of the world church grouping, said
that the United Nations has called on all its member states to
observe 21 September as the International Day of Peace and the WCC
observed it in accordance with the International Day of Prayer for
Peace.
“Nuclear proliferation is an outrage to all humanity,” said Kobia,
noting that “violence as the opposite of peace, as a damage to the
image of God in us, takes many forms, including poverty.
“Poverty degrades human dignity and the human spirit,” said Kobia.
“Indifference to poverty and to the aspirations of those who have
been subjected to historical humiliation is as big a threat to global
peace as terrorism.”
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Orthodox
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I of Constantinople, and the head
of the Evangelical Church in Germany Bishop Wolfgang Huber were among
more than a dozen Christian leaders and peace-makers from all over
the world who affirmed churches’ and faith communities’ work for
peace and justice in a series of messages broadcast and Web cast
around the world.
Tutu said: “God weeps over God’s world, aching because of conflict in
Darfur, in Beslan, in Harare, in Colombia, in Jerusalem, in Belfast.”
The retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town said, God depends on
Christians to use their “influence on the powerful to use their power
for justice, for peace, for compassion, for gentleness, for caring,
for sharing”.
Patriarch Bartholomeos, who has spiritual authority over the world’s
300 million Orthodox Christians said in his message: “All of the
ideologies and convictions on the necessity and effectiveness of
violence are wrong and are to be condemned.”
His message was backed by Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian
Apostolic Church and WCC central committee moderator who said: “Peace
is an essential dimension of our Christian life and witness. Peace is
a gift of God given to humanity through the incarnation of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Peace is also a God-given vocation that must be
fulfilled in obedient response to the call of God.”
:: Peace messages of church leaders Web cast on:

SAMVEL BABAYAN FREED
A1 Plus | 20:31:38 | 17-09-2004 | Politics |
On September 17 NKR President Arkadi Ghukasyan looked through the
applications on amnesty of the sentenced.
Under the decision of Arkadi Ghukasyan, NKR ex Defense Minister Samvel
Babayan and Erik Faramazyan who had attempted life of NKR President
on March 22, 2000 are among those granted amnesty.

Fencing coach rides donkey with dignity
BY JESSICA FEINSTEIN, Staff Reporter
Yale Daily News
Sept 16 2004
Fencing head coach Henry Harutunian — whose office in Payne Whitney
has served him for 34 years — helped Yale become the first Ivy to
introduce a women’s fencing program. The 72-year old tour de force
shows no sign of slowing down when it comes to the sport he loves.
(ALEXANDER WHITE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Somewhere on the seventh floor of Payne Whitney Gymnasium, beneath
piles of sabres and gloves, sits the desk of fencing head coach
Henry Harutunian.
Only the desk’s general form can be made out beneath papers, broken
fencing gear, old rosters, promotional packets and the occasional
trophy. The clutter, accrued over nearly 35 years of coaching, spills
from the overwhelmed cabinets and boxes onto the floor and climbs
the walls. Harutunian’s office is a three–dimensional collage.
On Tuesday morning, like another piece of lost fencing gear, Harutunian
sat in the middle of it all, indistinguishable from the milieu around
him were he not shouting about a donkey.
“Screw the world — whatever!” said Harutunian, making a sweeping
hand gesture. “You need to keep your dignity riding the donkey!”
Harutunian was trying to explain an Armenian proverb. Through his
choppy English, the plot is hard to distinguish, but its punch line
is clear: If you are stuck on a donkey instead of a horse, ride
with pride.
It may seem odd for a man like Harutunian, who has dedicated his life
to the art of fencing, to compare the sport he loves to a donkey. At
nearly 72, with more than half a century of fencing experience,
numerous coaching accolades and a smattering of successful pupils, it
is clear that Harutunian owes a lot and has given a lot to the sport.
The force behind both Yale’s fencing teams and the founder of the
women’s fencing program, Harutunian has made a career out of turning
football players and track and field stars into All-American fencers.
He operates on the theory that good fencing translates into a good
life.
“Coach Harutunian is a legend,” Associate Director of Varsity Sports
Colleen Lim said. “He has developed so many world-class fencers and
so many world-class people.”
After three decades at Yale, Harutunian’s influence spreads over
multiple generations. This summer Harutunian watched Sada Jacobson
’06, the daughter of his first All-American fencer, David Jacobson
’74, win the bronze medal at the Athens Olympic Games. Although
Harutunian has attended his share of Olympics — he was a U.S.
Olympic coach in 1984 — this year he viewed the Games on television.
Sitting behind his desk on the seventh floor of the gym, where
he arrives around 5 a.m. every morning, Harutunian has a fairly
intimidating presence. The volume of his voice can rise unexpectedly
when he is trying to convey a point. The movements of his hands are
the calculated swaths of a fencer.
Meanwhile, on the walls all around him are the mementos of his
long coaching career: photographs and posters of former and current
athletes. Many of these alumni still call and drop by for visits,
when Harutunian — who rarely drinks — will pull a bottle of alcohol
from one of the cabinets and take a “symbolic” shot with them.
“They’re unbelievable,” Harutunian said of his former athletes, who
take him to tennis matches in New York and house him in their homes
when he is traveling.
In fact, Harutunian’s entire career at Yale is due, in part, to an
early student. In 1966, Harutunian moved to the United States from
Armenia and, with no English language experience, began teaching
conversational Russian at Harvard. There, he met a Yale graduate who
persuaded him to apply for the job of fencing coach at Yale.
Harutunian procured an interview and visited the seventh floor of
Payne Whitney Gym. It was love at first sight.
“I looked down from the balcony and saw what a beautiful place [it
was] for fencing,” Harutunian recalled. “I closed my eyes and said,
‘God, please give me a chance to work here.'”
Four years later, in 1970, his wish came true when he took over
the role of men’s head coach. In 1974, after women matriculated
at Yale, Harutunian helped Yale become the first Ivy to introduce
women’s fencing as a varsity sport. On top of coaching two teams,
he makes himself available to his athletes at most times of the day
year-round and regularly teaches beginning fencing classes for the
Athletic department.
But Harutunian’s path to Yale may never have happened were it not
for the donkey proverb.
As a schoolboy in Armenia, Harutunian was first attracted to fencing
by romance literature like “The Three Musketeers,” with its “ladies,
blades and honor.” When he finally learned to fence, however, the
young Harutunian became disillusioned. The white fencing suits and
masks and the blood–free quality of the sport were not at all what
he had expected.
“I was so disappointed,” Harutunian said. “You can’t see blood,
you can’t see the face of the other person.”
Luckily, remembering the donkey proverb, Harutunian chose to stick with
the sport — to ride with pride. And to his pleasure, he soon found
that the donkey was not a bad ride after all. Fencing, he discovered,
was all about grace, agility and speed.
“I am very thankful I found the sport,” he says. “The more you know,
the more you love it.”
After 34 years at Yale, Harutunian has practically become part of
architecture of the seventh floor. At an age well past when many
men retire, he looks 15 years younger than he really is and shows no
signs of slowing.
“He’s one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met,” women’s captain
Erica Korb ’05 said. “He’s got more energy than about 30 college
students. I have no idea how he does it.”
Harutunian credits fencing with his vigor. A lifelong sport, clean
lifestyle, and coaching, he said, are the keys to youth.
“No matter how much older you get,” he said, “you feel the same as
your students.”

Armenia purchases 10 SU-25 fighters from Slovakia
Noyan Tapan news agency
7 Sep 04
Yerevan, 7 September: Azerbaijan newspaper Zerkalo has reported that
Slovakia has sold Armenia 10 SU-25 military jets. A Noyan Tapan
correspondent has tried to get details of the deal from the head
of the Armenian community of Slovakia, Ashot Grigoryan, who is on a
business visit in Armenia.
Grigoryan said that the deal was struck in August but fell through
at the initial stage, and the issue found its way into the Slovak
press since there were suspicions that the deal breached the law. In
particular, the major Slovak TV company Markiza carried reports in this
regard for several days in a row. The things reached a point where the
Ministry of Economy of Slovakia revoked the licence of the company
selling the planes and the government instructed the State Control
Committee to investigate terms of the deal and its legal aspects.
Grigoryan started negotiations on all official levels to renew the
deal. As a result, he received the consent of the Ministries of Defence
and Economy of Slovakia to strike the deal. Grigoryan said that after
the purchase of 10 (not 12) planes, Azerbaijan sent a note of protest
to the government of Slovakia.
Some interested parties put pressure on Slovakia at the initial stage
to sell the planes to Azerbaijan rather than Armenia. Thus, Armenia
has not only purchased modern military aircraft but also strengthened
political and economic ties with Slovakia, and disagreements between
Azerbaijan and Slovakia have aggravated. Doubtless this is the result
of Armenian-Slovak relations that have been steadily developing
recently.

What is Coptology?
Eight years after Coptic studies was made an independent discipline at the
congress at Munster a proper definition of the field of study still eludes
academics, writes Jill Kamil
al-Ahram Weekly On-line
19 – 25 August 2004
Issue No. 704
The only absolute certainty is that ‘Coptic’ has to do with Egypt,” observed
Professor M Tito Orlandi of Rome’s University of La Sapienza in his
presidential address to the eighth International Association for Coptic Studies (IACS)
congress in Paris last week.
The astounding fact is that, apart from linguistics (which alone can be
clearly defined) there is neither an obvious character, nor can the limitations be
set, on all other fields of Coptic studies, whether history, geography,
literature or art. This vitally important subject concerning Orthodox Egyptian
Christianity has been conscientiously considered, deliberated on and studied in
depth at an international level for the last 30 years. But while there have been
specialised studies by scholars around the world, seven international
congresses and seminars in Egypt and abroad, its parameters are still being debated.
The IACS is an offshoot of the International Committee founded in 1976 for
the publication of the Nag Hammadi codices, and its congresses take place every
four years. This year Paris was the host city, following Rome, Warsaw,
Louvain-la-Neuve, Washington, Munster and Leiden. There were some 280 participants,
and the proceedings were conducted at two venues: L’Institut d’Art et
d’Archaeologie de la Sorbonne, and L’Institut Catholique, both not far from the
Luxembourg Gardens.
Ever since Coptic studies was declared a separate discipline at Munster in
1996 it has seemed unable, despite all efforts, to carve a niche for itself — a
claim to legitimacy. There remain so many imponderables on the “Copticity”
of, say, a work of art, its manifestation in literature, or as evidence of
architectural change or continuity, because it overlaps with other cultures,
whether Roman, Byzantine or Islamic. As a result the conference, rather than ironing
out the creases between the diverse cultures of the ancient Middle East and
establishing a distinct niche for Coptic studies, succeeded in doing just the
opposite, it fanned uncertainty and made the concept just as difficult to
define as it always has been.
Professor Orlandi had this to say: “After long mediation I have come to
believe that the following statements may be accepted, if considered without
prejudice and with a fair mind. First, it is important that Coptology as an academic
discipline be neither forgotten nor passed over in silence when it is
opportune that it be discussed. Second, that while it would be idle, indeed
irrelevant, to try and establish a precise definition which is valid for each
specialisation, we should recognise the nucleus, the core, made by a few disciplines,
as well as a group of others, equally important, whose legitimacy depends on
the existence of core studies. This blend,” he suggested, “would produce a
flexible but sufficiently consistent definition of Coptology.”
While admitting that Coptology could not, like Latin literature or Byzantine
art, be identified as a distinct discipline, Orlandi said that it must be
considered among a group of disciplines that share certain characteristics and
images, whether in archaeology, Christian theology, political history, biblical
philology or monasticism, “Coptic may be a part, but it lies within a
structurally and methodically coherent whole,” he said, stressing the desirability of
establishing whether there existed “a Copticity”, a kind of peculiar, spiritual
attitude or character that, when studied by Coptologists in religion,
literature, art, history, music etc, could be shown to create a common cultural
ground.
“I mean,” Orlandi amplified, “whether the word ‘Coptic’ may refer not only to
a historical period or geographical location but to one more or less
coherent, unifying spiritual factor. This I, for one, and possibly most of us, would
like to see clearly established.”
With the congress’s 280 participants presenting 20-minute papers on a wide
range of subjects, in five languages, in three lecture halls on alternate floors
of the Institute d’Art, the grand marble stairway graced by classical works
of art was packed with people hurrying up and down — because the single lift
was “un peu fragile” and it was recommended that only those not capable of
tackling the stairs should use it. The Tower of Babel must have been a little like
this — scholarly patriarchs with bearded chins slightly raised in disdain
when they discovered the microphone was not working, dignified monks in their
habits mingling with the crowds, eager young students palpably trembling with
excitement, Professor Godlewski with his body of devotees, and other
participants united in a common bond of Egypt’s contribution to Orthodox Christianity.
A certain panic ensued when lecture hall venues had to be changed at the last
minute because the equipment proved inadequate: a microphone did not work, a
power point linkup could not be made, or because of last minute cancellations.
But technical problems were quickly resolved and, unlike the babbling hordes
in the Tower of Babel, there were common languages and a spirit of
camaraderie.
Language did prove to be a problem, however. It was unfortunate that, unlike
at the recent seminar on Coptic studies at Wadi Al-Natrun, translations were
not handed out.
The presentations covered archaeology and art history, the Gnostics and
Manacheism, documentary sources including the Nag Hammadi codices, papyrus
collections, ostraca and specific inscriptions from various sources, discoveries of
wall paintings in abandoned hermitages and in a cave church, and studies on
Copts and Muslims in the Late Antique and early Islamic periods. Numerous studies
have been made in recent years on textiles, monasticism, theology and magic.
Four important and useful papers were given on the progress made in the
period 2000-2004: Research and Publications in Coptic Papyrology by Terry Wilfong
of the University of Michigan, Research and Publication in Coptic Art by Karel
Inemée, Actualitiés des Musées et Expositions by Dominique Benazeth, and
Copto-Arabic Studies by Mark Swanson.
The core disciplines referred to by Orlandi in his presidential address
included the study of the Coptic language in all its synchronic aspects, the study
of Coptic literature written in Coptic (although from the intertextual and
historical points of view it cannot be distinguished from respective contemporary
Greek, Arabic, and Demotic literature); the study of the Egyptian church in
all its aspects after the Council of Chalcedon in 451; the study of
paleography; the study of ecclesiastical and monastic Egyptian art after Chalcedon; and
the study of papyri and similar documents written in Coptic.
The sum total of knowledge in these areas is increasing, and thus Coptic
studies are becoming more and more specialised. But unfortunately this is not
leading to a clearer understanding of the subject. “The status of Coptic
literature still needs to be correctly understood, because of the tendency to extract
some of its branches to form independent fields,” Orlandi lamented. Such
fragmentation distracts from, rather than aids general historical assessment of
works of literature. He mentioned that biblical translations, Gnostic texts and
apocrypha were frequently considered separately from the development of Coptic
literature proper, with the result that “all is left in a vague environment,
where the sources of the texts are important, and not the form which they have
assumed in Coptic”. When it came to Coptic literature in the Arabic language,
this, due to linguistic competence, is set apart.
Ironically, Coptic studies has no beginning in Egypt. Here we have a strange
paradox. The Coptic church is one of the oldest in Christendom, brought to
Egypt by St Mark, the reputed author of the oldest of the four canonical gospels.
Yet the sad fact remains that owing to the integration of contrasting
configurations, whether Egyptian, classical, Greek-Egyptian, or Persian pagan motifs,
not to mention Byzantine and Syrian Christian influences, it is difficult to
identify. At the latter end of the scale it is now generally accepted that
Islamic influence on the Copts was slow to develop, but, at the beginning, the
slow and steady development of a distinctively Egyptian trait, a local identity,
is lacking.
This problem, Orlandi observed, had not been “extensively and seriously
debated”. As a result, he said, general introductions to “the Copts” were
unsatisfactory in many ways. He mentioned the works of Meinardus 1961-1977, Brunner-
Traut 1982, De Bourguet 1988, Cannuyer 1990 and 2000, all of which he described
as “very useful” but “often not in tune with the achievements of actual
research”. He did commend the works of R Bagnall 1993, Gerhards-Brakmann 1994,
Capuani 1999, and the collective books edited by Krause and Camplani in German and
Italian respectively, but pointed out that these covered only selective
subjects.
Among the major achievements of the past decades is The Coptic Encyclopaedia,
conceived and produced by Aziz and Lola Attiya. “But there is a need for a
kind of handbook on Coptic studies like that provided by O Montevecchi for
apyriology, the monumental Handbook on the Science of Antiquities of Munich, and
the Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi codices, their publication, translation
and commentary by J M Robinson and his group,” he said.
Orlandi pointed out that there was no spirit of competition, let alone active
collaboration, between learned associations comparable to the IACS, even with
those, such as Egyptologists and papyrologists, that included Coptic studies
in their scope. Indeed, in any publication of assorted studies on various
topics in late antiquity or Byzantium most of the articles will be on
Constantinople, Syria, Armenia, Gaul, North Africa and Palestine, with Egypt mentioned
only in passing. “I would call it something like a tacit and benign mutual
neglect,” he said, adding that it was a field where more could certainly be done in
the future.
There is considerable evidence of Coptic roots within the Pharaonic
inheritance. For example, it is generally accepted that Christian icons owe a great
deal to mummy portrait painting, and the discovery and study of the Nag Hammadi
codices reveal that Egypt exerted an appreciable sway upon the entire
Hellenistic world in which Christianity took root. In spite of such substantial
evidence Coptic studies usually commences with the Council of Chalcedon in 451, and
classical antiquity still provides most of the source material for European
accounts of the Copts in Egypt. It is unfortunate, therefore, that from the
abundance of literary evidence that has survived in dump heaps, Greek, Latin and
Arabic texts have been translated at the expense of Demotic and Coptic.
Countless publications from the past century — studies, monographs and lecture series
— lay bare Egyptian society under Byzantine rule, but insufficient effort
has been made in translating those texts which might locate the roots of
Egyptian Christianity within the Pharaonic inheritance. They continue to lie in boxes
in museum storerooms around the world, including the Coptic Museum in Cairo.
Among the congress presentations that remain in my mind are Father Daniel
Al-Suriani’s valuable study of the function of a group of bronze objects in the
daily life of the monastery, Gawdat Gabra’s description of the discovery of an
interesting underground monastic complex at Mansuriya with surviving wall
paintings, and Elizabeth Bolman’s preliminary results of the remarkable wall
painting conservation project in the Red Monastery near Sohag. Mention must also be
made of Magdalena Laptas’s description of the newly-discovered murals of the
Polish expedition at Banganarti in Sudan, since excellent use was made here of
a “power point” presentation with appropriate zooming in of the site plan
with different locations of surviving wall paintings, along with details of each.
There are now institutions that give more or less regular courses of
Coptology in 47 countries around the world, including Australia, Great Britain,
Canada, Germany, Jerusalem, Spain, Switzerland and the United States, but there are
none in Egypt. A rotating chair of Coptic studies was opened at the American
University in Cairo in 2002 but its future is uncertain; apparently funding is
not yet sufficient to establish an endowment capable of supporting a
year-round, full-time position. No department of Coptic studies is yet to be found in
any of Egypt’s national universities; since 1976, when the IASC was
established, it has been a tradition to send a telegramme to the minister of higher
education and the president of Cairo University on the need to establish such a
department in the land of the Coptic heritage, but so far nothing has been
achieved.
And so, while confusion remains over the use of the very word “Coptic”, with
philologists referring to the last phase of the Egyptian language, theologians
to the Egyptian faith, and art historians, until recently, describing as
“Coptic” anything that did not fit into other well-defined parameters, the
situation looks bleak. “I could not say whether the academic teaching of Coptology
has improved in the last 30 years,” Orlandi admitted, “or even by how much,
because there is no assessment of previous activity”.
Although Professor Orlandi ended his address on an optimistic note, recalling
important achievements in the last three decades with particular mention of
an encyclopaedia, grammatical, historical atlas, handbook of liturgy, and a
minor but total edition of the Coptic Bible, a history of Copto-Arabic literature
as well as ongoing excavation of archaeological sites and diverse studies,
when we observe the overall picture it would appear that the congress, for all
its scope, may not have been the success it should have been. Gaps between
different disciplines seem to be widening rather than diminishing, and still open
to question is a definition of Coptic and the broad parameters of Coptic
studies.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Stichting Falkor I.C.Y.
P.O. Box 1649
9701 BP Groningen
Netherlands
[email protected]
www.falkor.o rg
‘Aerials rock night’ in Simplon:
Groningen, Odense, Tbilisi, Yerevan: local heroes come
together
Young rock musicians, film makers, DJ’s and VJ’s from
Armenia, Georgia and Denmark come together in
Netherlands and join a group of Dutch young
musicians. Together they will make new music, films
and perform at the end of their stay, 10 days later.
This concert will take place on Friday 24 September in
Simplon, Groningen.
(For details see )
>>From Georgia we will welcome in Groningen among others
Young Georgian Lolitaz, Bakur Burduli and Madi
Serebriakova, from Armenia The Kings’ Cross,
Alter Ego, Belka and Foreverchild. Denmark will be
represented among others by the reggae band Scientific
Feet. From Groningen members from Go!
Revolution Go!, JetSetReady, Believe is a Doubt and
Sjunya will join the project.
Rock, pop, trip hop, grunge, folk, reggae,
post-hardcore… all different music styles and
cultural backgrounds will be combined and presented at
one
colorful and surprising evening at Simplon.
The project in Groningen is organized by ‘Groningen
One World’, ‘Groverpop’ and Falkor I.C.Y.
-Groningen One World is experienced in organizing
international cultural youth exchanges, with young
artists from Eastern and Western Europe.
-Groverpop is the organisation promoting and
supporting the Groningen pop-scene. Groverpop offers
free concerts of Groningen bands under the name ‘Local
Heroes’.
-Falkor I.C.Y. is initiator of the Aerials project.
Falkor offers exchange projects for young enthusiastic
people in/with Caucasus.
The partner organizations abroad are ‘Caucasus Center
of Contemporary Art’ from Georgia, ‘Ynternet.org’ from
Armenia and ‘Odense Youth House’ (‘Ungdomshuset’ )
from Denmark.
After this project, the intention is to organize the
second part of the exchange project in Georgia in
2005. All participants will then be invited to play at
a festival in Tbilisi.
The project is funded by the EU Youth program and the
city authorities of Groningen.
‘Aerials’ is the name of a popular song by System of a
Down (famous Armenian/ American rock band): ‘Aerials,
in the sky, when you lose small mind, you free your
life.’
——-
For more information:
Falkor: Janita Top, +31 (0)6-54647084,
[email protected],
Groverpop/Simplon: Patrick van Lint, +31 (0) 6
53199622,
[email protected], ,

ARMENIAN, AZERI AND TURKISH FMs TO MEET IN NEW YORK
ArmenPress
Sept 6 2004
BAKU, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijani Azertag news agency said
Armenian, Turkish and Azeri foreign ministers will have a trilateral
meeting in New York later this month on the sidelines of the UN
General Assembly session that starts September 21.
The agency quoted Azeri foreign minister Elmar Mamedyarov as saying
that the meeting will focus on ways of resolving the Karabagh problem
and Turkey’s role in these efforts.
Meantime a spokesman for Armenian foreign ministry, Hamlet Gasparian,
told Armenpress that minister Vartan Oskanian is planning to travel
to New York on September 29 only.