Author Archives: Admin

TRACING ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS PRESERVED IN BAKU

About 31,000 Armenian manuscripts are preserved in state, church, and private collections in the Republic of Armenia and various countries around the world. However, some manuscripts remain uncatalogued or unknown, including those preserved in Baku.

During the period from the 1940s to the 1970s, several Armenian scholars conducted research on Armenian manuscripts housed in collections in Baku, the capital of the Azerbaijan SSR. In the late 1940s, Vazgen Hakobyan studied manuscripts held at the Central City Library, named after Lenin, and the Nizami State Museum of History. Later, Levon Khachikyan examined Armenian manuscripts in the Republican Manuscript Depository of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Central City Library named after V.I. Lenin. His research resulted in a handwritten catalogue of these manuscripts, which is now preserved in an archival collection bearing his name at the Matenadaran.

The findings of these scholars are supplemented by manuscript microfilms kept at Matenadaran and the Korneli Kekelidze Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts, as well as archival materials and scholarly records. These sources and related literature collectively document twelve Armenian manuscripts, two Georgian manuscripts, and a silver plaque from another Armenian manuscript that was previously housed in the capital of the Azerbaijan SSR. The colophon data on these manuscripts, their provenances, and their movements — considering the formation of manuscript collections in Azerbaijan — provide a more comprehensive understanding of their trajectory.

NATURE, CULTURE AND INTELLIGENCE AS FACTORS OF LANGUAGE DIFFERENCE

The article raises the question of whether the emergence of national languages is based on three key factors: nature or the climatic conditions in which a given ethnic group lived, as well as culture and knowledge. In this context, the interrelation and interdependence between linguistic and conceptual worldviews are examined. The linguistic picture of the world is the image of reality in the consciousness of a given ethnic group, which is reflected through language, individual episodes of which still preserve people’s experiential ideas about the creation of the world. The conceptual picture of the world is constantly changing, reflecting the results of people’s cognitive and social activities. The article attempts to answer to answer the question of how the linguistic picture of the world is formed in people’s consciousness. The word is considered in its dual nature, which, depending on the historical course of a given language, the national and cultural peculiarities of depicting the world, its conceptual core and linguistic meaning, differs from language to language. Various contents are embedded in the concept: conceptual, verbal, emotional, cultural, etc. This is the reason why languages “mean” different words for the same concept, so the interlingual combination of concepts contributes to the emergence of national and international components in the content of the conceptual system of different nations. “Seeing” and “naming” the world are in the domain of interconditioning the intellectual and the spiritual. For these theoretical observations, words denoting time in old forms of Armenian, Russian, English, German and French languages were considered.

THE FUNDAMENTAL COMPONENTS OF OUR IDENTITY

The article examines the interrelation of language, history, and culture as essential components of collective identity. These domains do not function in isolation but form an integrated system of memory, symbolism, and values that ensures the continuity of community existence.

From a phenomenological perspective, history reveals the temporal depths of collective experience, language organizes and mediates processes of thought and communication, while culture embodies traditions and simultaneously generates new meanings. The Armenian experience illustrates that the vitality of historical memory, the symbolic power of language, and the continuity of cultural values serve as crucial sources of resistance against oblivion, fragmentation, and assimilation. In the context of current situation, the distortion of history, the commodification of languages, and the marginalization of culture threaten the foundations of identity, reducing it to superficial diversity.

The article argues that scholarship must counter these processes by adopting integrative methodologies that unite linguistic, historical, and cultural perspectives. This approach is not only epistemological but also ethical, becoming a form of resistance to oblivion, standardization, and distortion. Thus, the humanities acquire existential significance, serving as a preventive and constructive force for the preservation of identity and the possibility of future coexistence.

THE PERCEPTION OF THE CONCEPT OF SADNESS IN VAHAN TERIAN’S POETIC LANGUAGE

In the Linguistic Consciousness of the Contemporary Armenian-speaking Society

The article is devoted to the description of the linguistic and cultural specifics.

The emotional experiences impact all aspects of life and are considered to be one of the forms of reflection, cognition and assessment of objective reality. The Sadness refers to the basic emotions that nominates emotions and feelings.

The object of our research is the emotional concept of Sadness, its representation in the poems of V. Teryan and in linguistic consciousness of Armenian society. To analyze the concept of Sadness in the linguistic consciousness of society, we conducted an associative experiment, which involved studying the associations that arise in connection with the concept of the emotion of Sadness. More than 100 people took part in the associative experiment: they had to give associations for the word Sadness.

THE LEGAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE ARMENIANS IN GREATER SYRIA (XVI-XIX CC.)

This article presents a detailed analysis of the legal status of Armenians in Bilād al-Shām (Northern Country or Land, Greater Syria) as a dhimmī and a constituent part of the Armenian millet, as well as their socio-economic status as a ra‘iyah in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries of Ottoman rule.

The evolution of territorial and social governance systems was a direct result of the necessity to administer the conquered regions and populations.

The state classified the population according to religious affiliation, rather than ethno-linguistic identity. Consequently, the non-Muslim population of the empire, which constituted approximately 40 percent of the population in the mid-sixteenth century, was divided into three religious communities or millets: Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, and Jewish․

LOSSES OF THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE IN TRANSCAUCASIA IN 1918

Based on the documents of the “Union of Compatriotic Associations” of Tiflis

After the outbreak of World War I, first in Western Armenia, Kars province and Batumi okrug, and in 1918 in Transcaucasia, as a result of the implementation of the genocidal policy against Armenians, hundreds of thousands of people who had escaped massacres and violence became refugees. Some of them found shelter in Tiflis. Soon several compatriot associations were established here, the purpose of which was to provide material and moral support to their compatriots.

In order to increase the efficiency of their activities these associations united on 1 March 1918, creating the “Union of Compatriotic Associations”. In the spring of 1918, the Turkish military offensive began, which lasted until the autumn of the same year. These events had tragic consequences, especially for the Armenian population. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians from Yerevan, Baku, Elizavetpol and partially Tiflis provinces, as well as Kars and Batumi provinces became victims of the devastating Turkish offensive.

Tens of thousands of Armenians were slaughtered by Turkish troops and local Tatars and Kurds supported by them, hundreds of villages were completely destroyed, and tens of thousands of people became refugees fleeing death. In fact, the Turkish government continued the state-organized genocide of Armenians, but now against the Armenian population outside the Ottoman Empire.

In 1918, the “Union of Compatriotic Associations” decided to appeal to the representatives of the allied countries with a request to stop the Turkish discord and robberies. In order for the submitted appeal to give an accurate picture of the situation in each Armenian county, it was decided to entrust the “Union of Compatriotic Associations” to compile brief reports on the situation in their regions.

From 25 to 29 November 1918 the associations of Karabakh and Zangezur, Alexandropol, Shemakha and Gokchi, Akhalkalaki, Lori, Pambak, Akhaltsikhe, Ganja, New Bayazet, as well as the security committee of Gohtan county submitted the required reports to the central council of the “Union of Compatriotic Associations”. They summarized information on human and material losses, as well as other acts of violence known at the time.

HISTORICAL AND STRATEGIC FOUNDATIONS OF MILITARY CONSTRUCTION IN ARTSAKH

This review examines Mher Harutyunyan’s monograph «Military Construction in Artsakh, 1991–2006», which provides a foundational historical and strategic analysis of the military-institutional development of the Republic of Artsakh during its formative post-Soviet period. The monograph offers a multidimensional exploration of the establishment, consolidation, and doctrinal evolution of the Defense Army of Artsakh (DAA), framed within the geopolitical and security challenges posed by Azerbaijani aggression.

Key thematic directions addressed in the monograph include: the institutionalization of armed forces and defense governance (1992–1994), the development of military infrastructure and logistics under resource-limited conditions, the training and professionalization of officer corps through both domestic and international frameworks, and the implementation of territorial defense and fortification strategies in the post-ceasefire period (1994–2006).

The review highlights the author’s effective use of primary sources, including classified archival materials, official publications, military press, and personal testimonies, many of which have gained unique historiographic value following the forced displacement of Artsakh’s population in 2023.

Particular attention is paid to the book’s conceptual contributions to the understanding of military construction as a key component of state-building under conditions of political non-recognition and existential threat. The monograph is not merely a descriptive chronology but a systematic and theoretically informed analysis that interfaces military history with national security studies, conflict theory, and institutional resilience.

The review underscores the work’s relevance for academic disciplines such as military history, political science, and strategic studies. It also notes its potential utility for policy planners and defense professionals concerned with the design of adaptive and context-specific national security strategies, especially in contested regions.

In light of its methodological rigor, originality, and applied analytical insights, the monograph represents a significant contribution to the evolving field of post-Soviet military transformations and de facto state studies.

DELIBERATIVE COMMUNICATION AS A CONDITION FOR DEMOCRATISING PUBLIC POLICY IN ARMENIA

With the establishment of the new world order, there is a need to reevaluate the public policy democratization issues to address the challenges and uncertainties of modern political turbulence. The interconnected nature of the uncertainties stemming from contemporary political development crises underscores the necessity of studying deliberative communication to enhance democratization in Armenia. This emphasizes the need to integrate deliberative and participatory democracies to enhance dialogue between the state and civil society. In the RA, a similar approach is essential for preventing internal and external turmoil by establishing mechanisms for the evolutionary modernization of the political system. This will facilitate a shift from revolutionary methods toward a more inclusive democratic transition, focusing on a “transition to consolidation” with ongoing modernization as a strategic goal.

The primary aim is to regard the public interest as the foundation of polyarchic elite activity through the genuine convergence of deliberative and participatory democracy in Armenia and to mitigate information-communication (IC) manipulations. Simultaneously, citizen socialization is justified to avert marginalization and alienation within the public consciousness.

The theoretical and practical significance of this research lies in illuminating the evolutionary modernization of the political system by justifying deliberative communication as a crucial element in the democratization of public policy. The insights derived from this study can be integrated into programs aimed at fostering a “transition-consolidation” democracy in Armenia.

The research findings can facilitate the optimization of interactions between the state authorities and civil society organizations.

THE SYMBOLISM OF THE PATRIARCHAL (CATHOLICOS) VESTMENTS AND LITURGICAL ITEMS

The ordination and anointing of the Catholicos is a unique liturgical tradition of the Armenian Church. The office of the Catholicos is not merely a spiritual highest rank or title, as in the case of leaders of other churches, but rather an important value and a unique symbol for the Armenian statehood, nation, and homeland. Its recognition, devotion, and obedience are a sacred duty for every Armenian Christian.

Over the centuries, the ordination and anointing of the Catholicos has undergone various stages of development. A complete understanding of the procedure can be formed starting from the 14th century, as the oldest rules for the ordination of the Catholicos are recorded in the manuscripts of the “Mashtots” liturgical books from that period. According to these and other sources, there are similarities, differences and peculiarities in the order of granting of the Catholicos’ vestments and liturgical items.

The spiritual and cultural values represented by the vestments and liturgical items of the clergy that have reached us today carry their own significance and meaning. The spiritual leader of the Armenian Church – the Catholicos of All Armenians – has unique vestments and liturgical items that distinguish the figure of the Catholicos and his role in the Church, as well as in the liturgical and national life. The liturgical vestments and items of the Catholicos constitute the spiritual and national cultural heritage of the Armenian Church and serve as an inseparable part in strengthening our identity and national value system.

TATEV MONASTERY AS A PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE OF ST. EUSTATHIUS THE APOSTLE

For studying the history of Tatev Monastery – the spiritual and cultural center of Syunik, the primary source is the historical book by chronicler Stepanos Orbelyan (written in Noravank in 1297). The historian describes in detail the construction of the cathedral of Tatev Monastery and the placement of the relics of Saints Paul and Peter in the foundations of the twin columns of the temple, without mentioning the supposed disciple of Christ or Saint Thaddeus – Saint Eustathius (Eustace-State). The latter’s name is not attested in early literary and hagiographic sources either, but appears only from the 15th century onwards.

The main reason for concealing the names of Apostles Paul and Peter in Tatev and associating the monastery with the supposed Apostle Eustathius can be attributed to the church-political conditions of the time, when as a result of the pro-Latin position adopted by the Catholicosate throne in Cilicia, the Unitor movement expanded in Syunik with its center in Krna in Nakhichevan. From this perspective, it can be argued that this was the primary rationale for designating the spiritual and episcopal centre of Syunik as apostolic.

As for the toponym Tatev, it is mentioned multiple times in literary and epigraphic sources, the earliest of which is probably the family name Tatevians preserved in the “Nersesian” throne list, as well as Orbelian’s testimonies, manuscripts from the 13th-14th centuries, and contemporary monastery inscriptions, meaning the toponym Tatev is documented as the early medieval period and in subsequent centuries. Apart from the legend woven around the name of Saint Eustathius and its religious-political motives, the monastery’s main church today again bears the name of its holy apostles – Paul and Peter, while only the semi-ruined memorial pillar located outside the monastery wall on the northeastern side is associated with the name of St. Eustathius.