Presentation of the first volume of Dutch version of Narek’s ‘‘Book of Lamentations’’ in Amsterdam

16 April, 2019

On April 16, on the initiative of the St. Grigor Narekatsi Foundation, annual readings of Grigor Narekatsi's prayers took place in the Begijnhofkapel Church in Amsterdam. Tigran Balayan, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the Netherlands and Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, Apostolic Nuncio to the Netherlands were guests of honour.

This event, which was held for the fourth time during Holy Week, was of special significance, as presentation of the first volume of Dutch version of Narek’s ‘‘Book of Lamentations’’ was also held.

In his opening remarks, Vahan Avakian, Head of the St. Grigor Narekatsi Foundation emphasized symbolic importance of this event being held during Holy Week and highly appreciated the unity of the churches in the Netherlands and their commitment to common values.

In the speech delivered by Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Pontifical legate of the Armenian-Apostolic Church in Western Europe, the life and activity of Grigor Narekatsi and the significance given to him by the Armenian-Apostolic Church and the Roman Catholic Church were presented.

During the ceremony, Johannes Willibrordus Hendriks, Bishop of Amsterdam, presented cooperation between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Roman Catholic Church and had a talk about the mission of the former in the Netherlands. He also highlighted the importance and honour of hosting the event dedicated to Narekatsi in the Begijnhofkapel Church in Amsterdam.

Theo van Lint, professor of the Armenian Studies at Oxford University, was also attending the event. He talked about the deep emotions that he had while familiarizing himself with works of Narekatsi and about his inspiration to translate them into the Dutch language.

Later on, Bishop of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands Mgr. Dr. Johannes Willibrordus Maria Hendriks, Archbishop of Assyrian Apostolic Church Mor Polycarpus Augin Aydin, Archbishop of Russian Orthodox Church Elisey, Bishop of Coptic Church Anba Arseny and priest of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Father Ter Taron Tadevosian read the prayers of Narekatsi respectively in Dutch, English, Russian, Arabic and Armenian.

Julietta Aleksanyan, soloist of the Dutch National Opera and Meghrig Garabedian (kanun) had musical performances during the ceremony.

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