Armenian Culture Month: Revering Translation

Vahe H. Apelian

It’s October, 2020, the Armenian culture month. The Azerbaijanis continue attacking relentlessly all along the Artsakh border. On Sunday, September 27, Azerbaijan, aided by Turkey, launched a surprise attack against our compatriots. The number of Armenian martyrs will continue to mount as the war drags on. Armenians all over the world are now engaged in a battle for existence, no less for maintaining our millennial old written and unwritten cherished culture.  Much is at stake. In the words of the eminent Armenian poet Baruyr Sevag, if we have ever conquered and prevailed it has been with our culture.

Feast of the Holy Translators (Sourp T'argmanchats Don, in Armenian: ՍուրբԹարգմանչաց տօն,) in celebration of translating  the bible into Armenian in 425. The feast takes place on the second Saturday in the month of October.

Perhaps no other nation acknowledges the importance of translating literary works and reveres translators more than the Armenians do. In fact, the Armenian Apostolic Church has canonized the fifth century Armenian translators who translated to Armenian the Bible and other relevant theological books right after St. Mesrob Mashtots invented the Armenian alphabet. 

Archbishop Karekian Hovsepian designated the month of October as the Armenian culture month when he was the primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the United States from 1939 to 1944, having been elected the Catholicos of the Cilician See. He served in that capacity until his death in 1952. On August 14, 1942, the Archbishop Hovsepian issued an encyclical designating the month of October as Armenian culture month. Henceforth observing Armenian culture in month of October became an annual tradition.

Translation is a difficult art. There are many quotes about translation ranging from “translation is a sin” to ‘translation is the art of failure”. There is also the acknowledgment that “without translation we would be living in provinces bordering on silence”.

It is inevitable that a translated literary work to certain extent is a reflection of the translator however the translator attempts to remain true to the original text and translate it as verbatim as possible. Despite the fact that translation by its very nature is an imperfect art, but without transitions we will remain confined, if not trapped, in a literary or cultural cocoon of our own making.

Fifteen to sixteen centuries after the great Armenian translators, there is a growing need for translation. This time around translating Armenian literary works to other languages for the growing number of the Armenians who cannot read and write anymore in Armenian but feel the need to connect to the mainstream Armenian culture. In fact, without translating Armenian literary works, our cultural heritage is destined for oblivion.

Modern technology has given us a magical tool, the ability to have translate in any language. Nowadays, anyone can copy an Armenian text he or she does not understand and paste on a Google translation site and have a fairly accurate translation of the Armenian text in any language. We are much more empowered now to continue remaining connected to our culture than any other time in our history.

 Long live translation. Our Christian faith was strengthened and our literary culture started with translated work and will perpetuate by translating our literary cultural heritage.