Category: 2020

The Armenian Museum of America in Watertown, Mass. announced the upcoming digitization of the most important piece in its collection–the 1207 Garabed Gospel. The Garabed Gospel was delivered by Museum staff to the Northeast Document Conservation Center earlier this year and the digitization process is slated to begin very soon.

This project is part of the museum’s ongoing effort to maintain and preserve in perpetuity an active program of collecting, conserving, and documenting Armenian artifacts, books, and publications.

The scribe Garabed created this extraordinary work in 1207 A.D, at the monastery of Surp Garabed near the town of Jurak during the reign of Levon I of Cilicia. It required eleven years to complete the book and the elderly scribe noted that he went blind during that period.

The book was given to priest Vartan, the donor’s ancestor, who returned with the book to his home in the town of Tomarza, where it remained for over 700 years passed down within one family lineage of priests (the Der Garabedian/Hazarshahian/Chorbajian family.) The name of each generation of priests is noted in the Gospel Book for over thirty-five generations. The Gospel Book escaped the death and destruction that many in the Der Garabedian family suffered in the Armenian Genocide.

The Garabed Gospel Book is made of 250 pages of goat skin, covered with leather-bound wooden covers. The text is in double columns in black ink with decorative figures on the pages edges in red ink. The artistic style is relatively crude, typical of the Cilician style. The larger size of the book is also typical of this early period. In the later mature Cilician style, Gospel books are often small enough to be carried in one hand, with refined delicate artwork.

This Gospel Book is the most important artifact in Museum’s collection. The scribe Garabed created this extraordinary work in 1207 A.D, at the monastery of Surp Garabed near the town of Jurak during the reign of Levon I of Cilicia. It required eleven years to complete the book and the elderly scribe noted that he went blind during that period. The book was given to priest Vartan, the donor’s ancestor, who returned with the book to his home in the town of Tomarza, where it remained for over 700 years passed down within one family lineage of priests (the Der Garabedian/Hazarshahian/Chorbajian family.)

As the possessor of the Holy Book, the Der Garabedian family was respected by both Armenians and Turks, and it was believed that no harm could fall upon the family. If one became sick, one would ask the family for “the blessing of the book” to cure their disease. A supplicant would rub a piece of bread or a rag on the Gospel Book. If the bread was eaten by the afflicted, or the rag was worn against their body, it was thought to cure the disease. The name of each generation of priests is noted in the Gospel Book for over thirty five generations. In the Armenian tradition a family holy book was considered a living member of the family. In 1915 the book was unable to save 150 members of the extended Der Garabedian family who were slaughtered during the Armenian Genocide, and the Gospel book was seized. The local family survivor, Garabed Hairik Der Garabedian, was forced to ransom back the book, his only other surviving family member.

One other family member, his nephew Krikor Der Garabedian, was working in America during the Genocide and has also survived. When Krikor traveled to France to get married in 1927, his uncle gave him the Gospel Book with instructions to pass it along to his own children. Krikor and his wife Baytzar had three daughters, but no daughter had children to continue the line. Concerned that the Gospel Book would become an orphan after 39 generations, the last surviving daughter, Julia Der Garabedian, entrusted the book to the Museum.

Armenia unequivocally supports the UN Secretary-General’s appeal for a global ceasefire, which is a key prerequisite to facilitate efforts to address the pandemic in the context of current conflicts, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mher Margaryan said at a UN Security Council forum, entitled “Protection of civilians in armed conflict.”

“The civilian population of Armenia’s border regions and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) continue to face serious humanitarian risks, which may further exacerbate due to the spread of pandemic and suspension of activities of the conflict-related field operations,” he said.

He therefore stressed that strict adherence to the 1994 trilateral ceasefire agreement concluded by Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan and Armenia and the 1995 agreement on consolidation of the ceasefire regime, is essential to ensure protection of civilians and prevent violations of international humanitarian law.

“We strongly condemn continuous attempts of Azerbaijan to escalate the situation along the Line of Contact between Artsakh and Azerbaijan and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, including targeting of civilians, border settlements and infrastructure, infiltration attempts and large-scale unnotified military exercises of offensive nature. At a time when the international community is consolidating its efforts in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, such actions display total disregard of the Secretary-Generals appeal for a global ceasefire and the calls by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to refrain from any provocative action that could further raise tensions during this period,” Mher Margaryan said.

He noted that Armenia has been raising for a long time the need to address the manifestations of racial and ethnic profiling, glorification of hate crimes, denial and justification of past crimes, especially led and encouraged by state leaders.

“On May 26 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) made its ruling on the case of “Makuchyan and Minasyan vs Azerbaijan and Hungary” in relation to the release and glorification by Azerbaijan of its officer by the name Ramil Safarov, who murdered Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan when he was asleep by axing him to death while participating in a training course within the framework “Partnership for Peace” programme in 2004 in Budapest,” the Permanent Representative reminded.

The ruling stated that: “The court is particularly struck by the fact that, in addition to immediate release, upon his return to Azerbaijan R.S. was granted a number of benefits, such as salary arrears for the period spent in prison, a flat in Baku and a promotion in military rank awarded at a public ceremony.”

“The release of the convicted murderer by the decree of the President of Azerbaijan and his glorification is a disrespect and affront to the standard of civilization and human dignity,” Amb. Margaryan stated.

“Today, resolute actions by the United Nations and regional organizations to advance prevention, including prevention of hate speech and identity-based crimes are ever more critical to ensure effective protection of civilians in armed conflict,” he concluded.