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ABOUT THE ART OF CONTEMPORARY ARMENIAN ICONOGRAPHER FROM ROMANIA DEACON HAIK AZARYAN – 2015-4

Summery

Lusine V. Sargsyan

Key words – icon, wall-painting, “Deesis”, Jesus Christ, Mother of God, John Baptist, Saint Anne, iconography, style, Eastern Christian church painting.

This article is devoted to the iconographer Hayk Azaryan’s monumental wall-painting (“Deesis” which decorates the hall of the Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church in Bucharest) and tempera paintings (three icons of the newbuilt Saint Anne Church in Yerevan: “Mother of God and the Child”, “St. Anne with Mother of God and the Child” and “St. Anne Embracing Mother of God”). These works reveal the author as a talented artist who has the consciousness of the iconographic canons of icons and is faithful to their true traditions. As compared with miniature painting, the art of Icon has its problems, which require new ways of solution from the artist. Painter Azaryan professionally turned miniature sample into monumental or tempera painting. The environment, in which the painter was educated and created his masterpieces up to now, has had a significant impact on his unique style of art, thanks to which his works can be seen in the overall frame of the development of the Eastern Christian religious traditions of iconography. He imports into Armenian contemporary iconography such scenes (such as the images of St. Anne), the traces of which can be observed in the Eastern and Western Christian church paintings, yet it lacks in the Armenian art. H. Azaryan’s art works highlight the parallelism of his works and worldwide Christian art directions and developments. This was the path of Armenian art since the 4th century, which continues until now.

HOVHAN VORTNETSY’S METAPHYSICAL AND ONTOLOGICAL VIEWS – 2015-4

Dedicated to the 700th anniversary

Summary

Seyran A. Zakaryan

Key words – Ontology, Proofs of the Existence of God, Monotheism, Creation, Providence, Faith, Reason.

The article analyses the prominent Armenian Medieval theologian and philosopher Hovhan Vortnetsy’s (1315-1388) metaphysical and ontological views, in particular, the issues on the existence of God, monotheism, divine names, God and the world, creation and providence, discussed by him. As a philosophizing theologian Vorotnetsi, discussing religious-theological issues, firstly, introduces their philosophical solutions, criticizes and denies the approaches that contradict the Revelation truths and the church doctrine and, secondly, he tries to justify the religious truths and the principle of the Christian faith through philosophical material and methods, logical and rational arguments. In particular, in order to justify the existence and nature of God, providence, monotheism and creation, he suggests rational proofs based on facts and evidence as well as on metaphysical paradigms (universal movement, determinism, necessity, accident and advisability). Although his metaphysics and ontology, which are mostly based on Aristotle’s teaching, are only an introduction to theology: on the one hand, they illustrate the high reputation and status of Philosophy and Logic and, on the other hand, they reveal the growth of interest in experience-based evidence.

HENRIK EDOYAN. POET, THEORIST AND ART CRITIC – 2015-4

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary

Summary

Tadevos A. Khachatryan

Key words – Poetry, ontology, classic, text, culture, language, essence, reading, orientation, time, philosophy, modernism, science.

Unfortunately it can not be stated that the Armenian poetry is widely recognized outside Armenia, at least as far as we would like it to be, and thet fact makes our suggestions somehow conditional. In the Armenian poetry of the last century, there are three key changes in discourse, which are much more significant than ideological dissension. Thus, Teryan and Metsarents finally resolved the conflicts of the 19th century between history and poetry in favor of poetry. With the advent of Sevak the conflict between the individual and the collective was resolved in favour of the individual. And the third change concerns postsevak period when the “ego” is rejected in favor of the essence, that is when, according to Agamben – the subject, not the person creates poetry.

For Henrik Edoyan literature is primarily a discipline, a way of life, a ground, the only way to confront the chaos of life. For him, language is a new city, but with no mazes and old buildings. It’s not the century who speaks in his city, but the time.

The origins of Edoyan’s poetry are different. His poems often refer to the sources, that cover virtually all the areas of cultural map. His poems are very rich in overtones, so that sometimes it seems that the text disappears. Edoyan’s cultural orientation toward the West could become the cornerstone of his poetry, if the West was not so materialistic. As such could be considered the East, if the immateriality of the latter would not lead to abstractionism. In short, the East and the West intersect in his poetry as a cultural dimension, where the only link between them is the Word. Edoyan does not accept a linear concept of time and its irreversibility. “Endless pattern of eternity” that exists outside of time.

Edoyan is an exceptional urbanist, which is another feature that makes him different from pantheists and dialects’ enthusiasts living in the city.

Edoyan created himself as a thinker and personality. His poetry is of great importance for the understanding of contemporary poetry’s epistemology. Many of his poems are a kind of meditation.

At the moment when pseudo-modernism becomes dominant, the real modernism represented by Edoyan becomes classics.

PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE OF THE FIRST REPUBLIC – 2015-4

Summary

Ararat M. Hakobyan

Key words – Constitution, Parliament, Sh. Shahamiryan, government, party, opposition, Democratic Republic, H. Kajaznuni, A. Sahakyan, agenda, Armenian assembly, proportional voting system, legislative and executive authorities, Bureau of the Board.

The idea of parliamentarianism has deep roots in Armenia, since the 18th century, when on the initiative of Sh. Shahamiryan and his party in Madras the work “Trap of ambition” was made up that is estimated as constitution. However, the parliamentary system of government was first implemented during the First Republic of Armenia.

RA parliamentary history can be divided into three stages. The first stage covers the period of the first convocation of the Board of Armenia from August 1, 1918 until the end of April in 1919, when the Parliament was the supreme organ of state power and its jurisdiction included not only legislative, but also part of the executive, administrative and even judicial functions. In the absence of the constitution and the presidency, the prime minister was considered to be the first official figure who, together with his cabinet, was elected by parliament and thus was accountable to the parliament and the latter could express trust or distrust with respect to the Prime Minister.

Armenian assembly was made of four political parties and none of them, including the ARF Dashkaktsutyun, formed a stable majority. This period can be regarded as democratic due to the formation of a coalition in the government (ARF and ADP), which ensured a stable majority for the smooth management of the country.

The 2nd stage of the parliamentary government of Armenia covers the second half of 1919 (from August 1) to May 5, 1920. At this stage, parliament and government were balancing each other. The overwhelming majority of the seats in the newly elected parliament belonged to the ARF Dashnaktsutyun (72 seats out of 80), and in these circumstances, the government again was elected by Parliament and was accountable to it. The ruling party ARF was a link between the government and the ARF Bureau.

The situation changed dramatically during the third stage (May-November 1920). After external and internal threats hovered over the republic (the May speech of Bolsheviks in 1920, the escalation of Turkish-Tatar disorders, the ultimatum of the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan to Armenia, etc.), ARF Bureau had to take control of the country with all the staff (7 members and 3 candidates for membership of the party), while the Parliament was sent on forced leave for several months. It is quite difficult to speak of a parliamentary system of government at this stage.

Nevertheless, though during its short political life the First Republic (2.5 years) bore unusually difficult conditions, both external and internal threats, the lack of a constitution, as well as the lack of management experience and weak opposition and could not properly introduce the idea of parliamentarianism, one can be sure that during the Third Republic these ideas are going to be finally materialized and implemented.

THE SEQUENCE OF NECESSITY AND CONTINGENCY IN LANGUAGE – 2015-4

Summary

Siranush G. Hovhannisyan

Keywords – Contingency, necessity, stream of events, consciousness, subconsciousness, unconscious sphere, language, language variant, language mean of expression.

The article focuses on two fundamental concepts of philosophy -contingency and necessity. First, these two concepts are presented as events acting consecutively in an entire stream of events. There are two streams of events – the ones, composed of necessities only and others, comprising contingencies. Then, the role of this pair of notions is presented also in terms of linguistics. It is emphasized that contingency doesn’t exist objectively; it’s merely the perception of unpredictable necessity as a contingency. From this point of view we differentiate between three types of contingency- that of overall perception, that of general perception and that of private perception. The same can be said about language which although is developing due to contingencies , but is a system of necessities as an entity.

JEAN-PAUL DEMOULE, MAIS OÙ SONT PASSÉS LES INDO-EUROPÉENS? – 2015-3

Summary

Vrezh – Armen E. Artinian

Keywords – Indo-Europeans, Indo-European languages, Indo-European migrations and expansion, Branching out of IndoEuropean languages (language tree), Original Indo-European people, Indo-European primary homeland, Proto-Indo-European language, Archeology, Linguistics, Anthropology, Mythology, History, Racist diversion

In «MAIS OÙ SONT PASSÉS LES INDO-EUROPÉENS?» (Le mythe d’origine de l’Occident, La librairie du XXIe siècle, Seuil, France 2014, 748 pp), its author, Jean-Paul Demoule challenges those for whom nothing remains unsolved in the questions concerning the existence of an original Indo-European people, their primary homeland and a proto-Indo-European language. He is convinced that, with the available data in the fields of archeology, linguistics, biology and mythology, we cannot confirm without hesitation the existence of such a primary people and determine its migrations and territorial conquests, and that other explanations have to be sought to interpret the irrefutable similarities between the Indo-European languages.

Demoule summarizes the 12 canonical theses related to the origins of the Indo-European family of languages, their branching out, the relationships between the languages constituting that family, the common homeland and its location, the migrations of the Indo-Europeans, their various cultural manifestations, mythology, the ideology of the supremacy of the Aryan race, etc. He analyses them in detail in the different chapters of the book, then presents his antitheses, concluding that we cannot consider the beginnings and the prehistory of Europe as a genealogical succession of societies, ethnic groups and «cultures», but the history of a multipolar world in continuous recomposition. A similar model can be considered also for the languages. Thanks to the abundant information gathered and the modern technological means we have today, those problems can be thoroughly researched in the future.

DEVELOPMENTS IN CENTRAL PRISON OF YEREVAN FROM 14 TO 18 FEBRUARY 1921 – 2015-3

New details concerning the crimes committed by Armenian revolutionary committee

Summary

Gevorg S. Stepanyan

Key words – Armenian Revolutionary Committee, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, the Cheka, arrest, Bandus, Vardan Tellalyan (V. Bakur), deprivation of liberty, Mushegh Aghayan, Hamazasp, Oliver Baldwin, hacked to death.

On December 2, 1920, at 13:00 the representatives of the government of Armenia Drastamat Kanayan (Dro) and Hambartsum Terteryan and the authorized representative of Soviet Russia – Boris Legrand signed an agreement consisted of an 8-points in Yerevan, by which the government of the country peacefully passed into the hands of Armenian Revolutionary Committee. According to the fourth and fifth points of the agreement, Russia and the Revolutionary Committee undertook not to use violence against the military structure, the former members of the government and the leaders of ARF Dashnaktsutyun. But the Bolsheviks did not fulfill any of the points of agreement, their aim was to carry out regime change by civil war, bloodshed and the class struggle. As a result of the ongoing violence and arrests, in February 1921, the Cheka prison, as well as a the military prison and the central prison of Yerevan were full of political prisoners. On February 14, the Cheka began secret extrajudicial executions at the prison of Yerevan, thus many Armenian intellectuals and prominent figures of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun fell victim to it. February 16-18 were the worst days in the central prison in Yerevan. Cheka decided to begin executions and massacres in the night from 16 to 17 February. Bloody holiday was personally headed by Avis Nurijanyan, Suleyman Nuri – Turk by nationality, S. Amirkhanyan and Tatar butcher of Hantari market in Yerevan, whose name was Tahir. At night from 17 to 18 February the central prison turned into a slaughterhouse, executions and murders with an ax were recommenced. Among the victims were such priceless Armenian heroes of the national liberation struggle and prominent military figures as Hamazasp (Srvandztyants), Nick. Ghorghanyan, Makedon Hakobjanyan, Vardan Tellalyan – officer from Sebastia and others. Regarding the number of dead prisoners some clarifying information is provided by Martiros of Bashgarni: According to the data of Chief Bureau of Kanaker district, 75 people were shot and hacked to death.

ISSUE OF GENRE IN ART – 2015-3

Criteria and bases of genre identification

Summary

Slavi-Avik Harutyunyan

Key words – Genre, I. Weisfeld, S. Freilich, film, film studies, Y. Lotman, live action, historical film, musical, literary criticism, Periodic table, style, M. Bakhtin

Throughout many historical periods the interest in the issue of film genres has grown and fallen every now and then; hence, film genres and their identification issues are regularly being studied. With this regard, several theoretical approaches to film genres have been touched upon in this article. The author considers the primary genre categorizations drawn up by popular critics viewing genre as a mode of narration, conventionality and as an aspect of form. The theoretical interpretation of the emotional factors regarded as a basis for identifying film genres have been carried out.

The study reveals the major shortcomings of this classification: such as inconsistency, lack of the unified basis and a clear understanding of what can and should be taken into account while identifying.

Yet another approach to film genre creation based on the combined nature of cinematography has also been observed in details. According to this approach, along with the widely used literary principles, the cultural as well as musical features borrowed from fine arts and music, and other media of the world artistic appropriation should be observed.

The author concludes that the problem of film genres cannot be viewed without considering the issue of the style. However, the style and the language of each piece of work of art are always closely interlinked: thus the matter of film language, one of the most crucial and tricky issues in the modern cinematography, is to be considered as well.

NEW DATA ON IRON AGE CULTURE IN ARTSAKH REGION – 2015-3

Summary

Nzhdeh A. Yeranyan

Key words – menhir, the vishap stone stelae, anthropomorphic stone stelae, Artsakh, Utik, Scythian culture, Arjaq Qaleh.

The artistic treatment of stone in South Caucasian region has been known for millennia. There are various known menhirs, vishap stelae, phallic and anthropomorphic stelae, etc. This assemblage could be followed until various stelae of the medieval period. During this long chronological period, all forms of stelae changed morphologically, typologically and semantically, but, most probably, had certain ideological similarities. The anthropomorphic stelae of eastern regions of historical Armenia (Artsakh and Utik provinces) are of a special importance but still remain unstudied. In this article are presented these anthropomorphic stone stelae, problems of their chronology, iconography and ideology.

The mentioned stelae are flat and prolonged slabs, approximately rectangular in section, that are divided into three parts by two horizontal lines: the head, the body and the part below the waist. The stelae are 30-60 cm wide, 120-140 cm high and up to 20 cm thick. There are seventeen stelae of this type known in the mentioned region. Each stela will be described in our paper separately.

The stone anthropomorphic stelae, which were accidentally found in Artsakh and surrounding plain territories, judging by their iconography, morphological specifics as well as through comparison with famous parallels from the neighboring regions, could be dated back to VII-VI cc. BC. Despite the fact that monumental sculpture is widespread, has a long history and appears separately in each ethno-cultural group, we are using the data about similar anthropomorphic stelae in the region to discuss the ideology of the stelae under discussion, to reconstruct their importance and ethno-cultural environment as well as to interpret them. These anthropomorphic sculptures are similar to the Scythian stone anthropomorphic sculptures known from the Northern Caucasus, Black Sea basin, Crimea, etc. The Scythian stelae, as a rule, represent the Scythian warrior (probably an ancestor) and were placed on burials. Currently, there are 160 stelae of that type.

Similar stelae we meet also in Iranian steppes. Тhese stelae were first described during Charles Burney`s Meskinsahr survey in 1978 .

Thus, as a result of the study of these stelae, we could gain some idea about the beliefs, ideology and history of the people who created them. It allows us to understand the history of artistic phenomena and of the historical environment in which this art was formed. It is possible that the stone anthropomorphic stelae under consideration depicted the dead or heroes, soldiers or high-ranked males. These monuments “immortalized” the memory of the deceased and were objects of memorial ceremonies devoted to them.

ARMENIAN AND INDO-EUROPEAN DIPHTONGAL SYSTEMS – 2015-3

Diachronic- Typological Attempt

Summary

Vardan Z. Petrosyan

Key Words – diphthong and a like-diphthong, systematic correspondence, Proto-Indo-European Language, diachronic typology, phonemic- phonetic status of ու.

The system of Old Armenian diphtongs has been studied mainly from the synchronic point of view, while the diachronic studies have only been restricted to pointing out the origin or,in other words, the Indo-European prototypes of the diphtongs, without comprehensive investigation. The investigation of the given matter on the one hand reveals a reliable image of the correspondence between Old Armenian and Indo- European diphtongs and on the other hand provides an opportunty to explain the deviations of Old Armenian system of diphtongs from that of the Indo-European diphtongs. According to this, there are the following correspondences between the diphtongal systems of Old Armenian and Indo-European languages: au/*āu>աւ(aw/aṷ),*ai>այ (ay/ai̭), *eu>եւ(ew), *eu/*ou>ոյ(oy/ oi̭),*eu> (եւ/ew/>)>իւ (iw/ iṷ): Եա (ea) is the only pure Old Armenian diphtong, an Armenian new formation, which doesn’t have its Indo-European prototype. Among the Old Indo-European languages only Old English had the diphtong եա (ea)- (comp. bearn [bæa̭rn] “child”, ēare [ˊǣare] “ear”), but taking into consideration the fact that neither the Proto-Language, nor any other old Indo-European languge had the mentioned diphtong, there is no reason to think about genetic similarities between Old Armenian and Old English եա∼ea diphtongs.

The phonemic status of Old Armenian ու is to some extent arguable; the question is whether the phoneme ու was a like-diphtong or just a simple vowel. The typological studies give us reason to think that the phoneme ու had also been a diphtong-like, so it should be transcribed as ow/oṷ, rather than u.