Laurus nobilis

Vahe H. Apelian

The central circle of Michael Aram's artwork depicting Laurel leaves on the periphery

I could not attend the opening ceremony of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) building, but I viewed its video presentation. During the ceremony, Michael Aram has presented the art piece he has fabricated for the outside of the building. He has called the sculpture Eternity. He further elaborated on the significance of the motifs associated with the artwork. What especially caught my attention is his depiction of laurel tree leaves, commonly known as bay leaf, within and around the periphery of the central circle. 

His depiction reminded me of the Laurel tree the Kessabtis call Gasli Dzar (tree) or simply Gasli. It is native to Kessab and most likely also to that part of the world that was the Armenian Cilicia. 

The Latin name of the tree is Laurus nobilis. The name conveys majesty and leaves a sort of a “nobless oblige” impression. The tree is indeed majestic growing as tall as18 meters (59 feet).

In English the word laureate signifies eminence. It is associated with literary – poet laureate - or military glory. It is also used to designate winners of the Nobel Prize. I cannot tell if the word laureate was coined after the tree or whether the tree was named after the root word that had evolved to signify achievement The ancient Greeks considered wreaths made from laurel leaves as a symbol of high status. The Romans depicted golden crowns made in the like of laurel tree (Gasli) leaves as a symbol of victory.

I have my thoughts as to why the Greeks and the Romans may have picked laurel leaves  - say - over rose pedals or any other leaf.  The laurel trees - Gasli – are evergreen. Their leaves do not assume a rustic color during the fall, unlike the leaves of the many naturally grown trees in New England. There does not seem to be a later season for the laurel tree. Its leaves remain sparkling green during the four seasons of the year and throughout the life of the tree. The tree simply looks ageless. The crisp, attractive, uniformly shaped, and the green color of the orderly spaced leaves on a branch give the Gasli leaves more of a reason to be decorative symbols conveying an individual rightly claim for social eminence.

Furthermore, the Gasli appears do not to lend itself to domestication. It is a very resilient tree and grows in most unlikely places.  It takes root within the rocky crevices and it does it on its terms. Try to plant it in your backyard, more likely than not, you may not succeed. If gold is the golden metal among the metals, then the laurel tree (Gasli Dzar) is the golden tree among trees grown in the wild. It is imposing, majestic, pleasant smelling and aloof.

These unique features of the laurel tree and its leaves make a good reason to symbolize enduring and eternal achievement. 

But Gasli trees are not only decorative trees that give luster to their environment in nature. They are useful as well and have been and continue to be a source of income for the Kessabtsis. From the berries, the Kessabtsis extract the oils that make the famous Kessab soap, known as Ghar soap. Ghar means laurel in Arabic. My paternal cousin Stepan and his wife are the owners of LaurApel brand laurel soap.  The Laurel tree leaves, commonly known as bay leaves, impart taste to cooking but should not be consumed. They are not digestible.

The cover of the late Stepan Panossian's  book depicting Laurel tree leaves and berries

In a comment to an article about Gasli trees I wrote a few years ago, Dr. Razmig Panossian, the director of the Armenian Department of the Gulbenkian Foundation noted that his father depicted a picture of Gastli tree branch for the cover of his book. More than anything else Gasli trees symbolize Kessab and its resilient native Cilician Armenian population.

And now the Laurus nobilis leaves have found a permanent place, in the artwork Michael Aram has conceived, complementing the circles that have no beginning and no end and the cranes, placed in the four corners of the frame, that  are so symbolic of the Armenian culture. All have now converged to decorate the sculpture its creator Michael Aram has called Eternity to symbolize the eternal Armenian culture NAASR building is meant to serve.

The Translators' First Phrase

Vahe H. Apelian

"To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding" (King James Version).

Tradition claims that the first phrase from the bible Mesrob Masdhots translated into Armenian, after having the divine vision for the Armenian alphabet, was the second verse of Proverb 1 that reads: "To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding" (King James Version).  It is claimed that King Solomon, son of King David, in his old age wrote the Proverbs and the Ecclesiastes. The latter is one of my most favorite passages in the Bible. 

The first phrase phrase, I quoted above, is almost always quoted in the classical Armenian Krapar language to remain true to the original. The phrase used to be printed on the cover of our notebooks when I attended Sourp (Saint) Nshan Armenian school in Beirut. Tradition claims that young monk Mesrob Mashdots, had a heavenly vision where the Armenian Alphabet was revealed to him, although the account of his disciple Koriun is altogether different. It tells of a long search Mesrob undertook to come with the  36 characters of the Armenian alphabet (http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-discovery-of-armenian-alphabet.html.). Two other characters were added later on bringing it to the 38 characters we have now.

I have always remained impressed by the profound and eloquent message of the first biblical phrase Mesrob Mashdots translated. The Armenian Evangelical schools in Lebanon had the quote as their motto. They may very well still do. Whenever I came across the quote, it was presented without referring to the verse. It never occurred to me to check the verse in the Armenian bibles we have at home. But, when I found out that it is Proverb 1:2 and read it in vernacular Armenian, I felt disappointed. The very first Armenian translated phrase in Krapar (classical Armenian) is so beautiful, so eloquent that its message comes across much more profound than in its Armenian vernacular version. It could be that the vernacular Armenian does not lend itself to express thoughts with the linguistic eloquence the classical Armenian Armenian - Krapar - does. Nowadays, much like in English, there are different versions of the Bible in Armenian but the Classical Armenian (Krapar) translation of the Bible is pristine and has remained unchanged.

The Armenians translated the Bible in 405/406 AD,  right after they came out with their characters.  I can read Krapar but I cannot write in Krapar for it has its own grammatical rules and verb tenses and distinct usage of words. Linguists, both Armenian and none Armenian alike, claim that the original translation of the Bible in classical Armenia, the Armenian Apostolic Church uses to this day, is so beautifully done that it is called the "Queen of the Translations" (Թագուհի Թարգմանչաց). 

There is an Italian saying that claims  "Translator, (is) a traitor". But the Armenian Apostolic Church has canonized the early translators and to this day in the month of October observes The Feast of the Holy Translators (Սուրբ Թարգմանչաց տօն, Sourp Targmanchats don). I do not know if other cultures revere the early translators of the Bible and other relevant early Christian literature as Armenians do for they have them elevated to sainthood. Obviously, without translated works, we would be living in a cultural cocoon of our making.

Nowadays the overwhelming majority of us do not read and write in Armenian anymore, let alone in Krapar. Most of us read in the language of the larger society of the countries we reside be it in English, French, Russian, Arabic and others. There is a great need for modern-day translators. This time around to translate Armenian literary works into the other languages we speak. I can claim with reasonable certainty that our written culture is founded on translated literary works and will perpetuate through translation as well.

 The Armenian Church canonized the translators of the Bible and among them naturally the young monk Mesrob Mashdots who led the efforts in the discovery of the Armenian alphabet. Saint Mesrob Mashdots is buried in a chapel in Oshagan (Oshakan) in Armenia, some 17 miles northwest of Yerevan.

Haleb – We Are Not Well

 By Manuel Keshishian

Translated by Vahe H. Apelian

Manuel Keshishian is a well known playwright, stage director, teacher in the Haleb, the Armenian Aleppo. In his latest report he does not mince words in describing the community's daily realities and aspirations. The original is found on the November 24, 2019 posting on Civil Net.

Central Nor Kyugh, Zvartnots Holy Trinity Church

How well were the summer months! There were water, electricity and gas and the bombs hitting the city were far few. We had high hope that the government would liberate Idlib as well,  would open the Aleppo –Damascus highway, and maybe, maybe  will have the Aleppo airport operational so that we would not have to use for going-coming to Armenia the wearisome, time consuming and unattended back roads ridden with checkpoints. 

Hopes, hopes and…

Turkey usurped northeastern Syria, Lebanon started living its “spring” greatly adversely affecting our economy and further muddying the prevailing state.

This month, the terrorists positioned in West Aleppo, targeted, much like the old days, many Aleppo neighborhoods causing wide spread destruction and claiming many victims. Just on November 21-22, five residents were killed and more than 31 persons, some young, were wounded in their houses. Altogether different types of bombs caused much destruction and financial losses.

Expressions of bitter sarcastic laughter, such as: “Thank God, we are back to the old days!” can be read on the social pages of the Aleppo Armenians. “It's not only rockets and bombs, but also everything else remind us of the old days”, are noted with resignation.

Electricity started to be interrupted anew. Having electricity three to four hours and then not having for another two or three hours, have crept fear in us that much like the old days, not having electricity will be getting longer and longer. Gas in Aleppo is sold in canisters. Throughout the summer the state with specially issued vouchers provided each family gas that was sufficient with diligent use, but now… 

“ I am OK today. At five o’clock in the morning, I went and waited on line and by 9 am I could buy a canister of gas”, declares happily a young Armenian father.

 “I need gas, I told to a well-connected provider”, declares another.

 “In Nor Kyugh, next to the Zvartnots Church, there is someone who sells a canister for 8000 Liras, if you want I can get you one.”  The state-regulated price is 2700 liras….

“Haleb is living its characteristic hellish days”. Can one possibly hear a darker comment? 

Yes, Aleppo is returning to its “normal” life! The issue is not only the lack of gas or electricity, not even the rockets and bombs hitting the city. During the past several months the Syrian currency has been nose-diving. Before the conflict, the exchange rate was 50 Syrian Liras for a dollar. During the conflict, for a very brief period, the exchange rate became 500-600-650 Liras for a dollar and then stabilized around 450 Liras. During the last few months, the exchange rate climbed to 750 Liras for a dollar and continues its uphill climb and our median salary drops to 40 dollars…

Bear this, you poor and unfortunate Aleppo resident, whether you are an Arab, Kurd, Armenian, Muslim or Christian.

‘Henceforth I can only dream for fruits and meat and not often too”, says a teacher.

She is right.

A few days ago, the President of the county decreed that from December onward the salaries of the government officials will be increased by 20,000 Liras. There are many Armenian government officials. But there are also hundreds of Armenians who work in Armenian schools and institutions. These non-government employees have to wait until the appropriate government offices transmit the ruling for employees in non-government institutions. A few years ago, a presidential decree instituted a 40% increase in salaries. But the ruling was not mandated to our schools. Our school administrators resorted to a bonus they can withhold at will, instead of an increase in salary. This time around all expect that the new decree will apply to the employees of the Armenians schools as well but with a caveat, the bonuses would be stopped. 

In reality, the Armenian community administrators are in a dilemma. They face the reality of the financially dire situation of the employees in the Armenian institutions including the teachers. They also face a huge cap in the schools’ budgets. Most of the Armenian students attend for free. A very small percentage of the students pay the tuition in full.

Nor Kyugh, Sahagian School, Saint Gegory Illuminator Church, community shelter
Giligia Building behind the trees.

And…. our hope continues to rely on the goodwill of those who help us from outside. 

For how long?

Who can answer that?

There is one reality. Under such prevailing unbearable situation, most among us look outside, not for assistance, but to go there…

This is not what I wish. This is the stark reality, whether you agree or not. The overwhelming majority wants to immigrate out of necessity. Emigrate from a country where even its native people are feeling estranged in their homeland and where everything gets expansive by the day other than the value of their houses when most who want to emigrate rely on selling their houses to secure enough income to embark on their immigration.

Immigration is not treason for the Muslims. Did not their Prophet immigrate to Ethiopia when his life was threatened in his own country? Has not his country given us a refuge? But we have paid our debt with our productive and royal citizenship.

Syria is a country rich with natural resources. It has oil. It has its white “oil”, cotton; it also has its “green” oil, olive. It has wide-open fields, light industry, and an industrious population. It has also many enemies who did not hesitate to get together to destroy the country and kill hundreds of thousands.

And slowly the hopes of individuals die, especially the hopes of the minorities whose members day by day are resigning to the mindset that:

Syria will prosper one day, but that that prosperity is not meant for us. 

Aleppo, November 24, 2019

ՎԻԿՏՈՐ ՀԱՄԲԱՐՁՈՒՄԵԱՆԻՆ ԵՒ ՍԻԼՎԱ ԿԱՊՈՒՏԻԿԵԱՆԻՆ ՊԱՏԳԱՄՆԵՐԸ

Վահէ Յ. Աբէլեան

Միտքերս պարզելու համար կը սկսիմ հետեւեալ ներածականով՝ 

Հայաստանի ներկայ իշխանութիւնը կը միտի արմատական փոփոխութեան ենթարկել Հայաստանի կրթական համակարգը լաւապէս պատրաստելու եկող սերունդը դիմագրաւելու ներկայ եւ վաղուան բարթացող կեանքին պահանջքները։ Ահաւասիկ այս մտահոգութենէն տարուած կը ծրագրեն Հայերէն լեզուի դասաւանդութեան ընթացքը չպարտադրել շարունակել եկրորդական ուսումը լրացուցած եւ այմ ԲՈւՀեր յաճախող բոլոր ուսանողներուն՝ ինչպէս համալսարան (university), գոլէճ (college) եւ կը պատկերացնեմ նաեւ մասնագիտացած արհեստագիտութեան պատրաստող հաստատութիւններերէն ներս (technical school)։ Այլ կ՚առաջարկեն հայերէն լեզուի դասաւանդութիւնը թողուլ այդ մասնագիտութիւններուն պահանջքները տնօրինող դասախօսներուն եւ կրթական վարիչներուն։

Կը հաւատամ որ այս մտածողութիւնը Հայերէն լեցուին նուազ  կառեւորութեան համար չէ երբէ՛ք։ 

Բնականաբար Կրթական նախարարութեան եւ հետեւաբար այժմու կրթական նախարարին, Արայիկ Հարութիւնեանին, յանձուած է այս շատ կառեւոր հարցը դասաւորել եւ ձեաւորել։ Ուսանողներէն ոմանք դէմ են կառաւարութեան այս դասաւորումին եւ կը պահանջեն որ իրենց երկրոդական վարժարանի հայերէն լեզուի դասընթացքները պարտադրաբար շարունակուին ՌՈւՀերէն ներս, անխտիր բոլոր ուսանողներուն համար։ կր պատկերացնեմ որ պարտադրանքը կը նշանակէ նոյն մակարդակի վրայ հայերէն լեզուի դասընթացքը շարունակել բոլոր ուսանողներուն համար, իւրաքանչիւր ուսումնական մասնագիտութիւններուն պահանջքներուն կողքին։ Իմ փորձարութեամբս հայերէն լեզուի դասընթացքներ հետեւաբար պիտի ըլլան շաբաթական երէկ պահեր, երկու տարուայ շրջանով մը։ Նոյն այդ ուսանողները կը պահանջեն նաեւ որ կրթական նախարարը հրաժարի իր պաշտօնէն։

Թերեւս այս շատ կառեւոր հարցին առընջութեամ է որ վերջէրս Ֆէյսպուքի զանազան էջերուն  հանդիպեցայ Վիկտոր Համբարձումեան պատգամը  որ կ՚ըսէ՝ « ..Կտակում եմ ինձ յաջորդող սերունդներին, թոռներիս, ծոռներիս տիրապետել հայոց լեզուին։ Ամէն մէկը պէտք է իր պարտքը համարի ուսումնասիրել հայոց լեզուն, գրագէտ լինի հայերէնից։ Մենք փոխանցում ենք սերունդներին ոչ թե արիւն, այլ գաղափարներ, և այդ գաղափարների մէջ ինձ համար ամենաթանկը հայոց լեզուն է։ Իւրաքանչիւր սերունդ պարտաւոր է սովորեցնել յաջորդին հայոց լեզուն։ Գիտցի՛ր, որ քանի ապրում եմ, իմ կեանքի ամենամեծ երջանկութիւնը եղել է և կը մնայ հայոց լեզուին տիրապետելը։ Ցանկանում եմ երջանկութիւն բոլորիդ։ Դա նշանակում է, որ պէտք է լաւ տիրապետել հայոց լեզուին:»

Պիտի խոստուանիմ որ վսեմ գիտնականին այդ պատգամը նախապէս չէի լսած։ Իմ սերունդս սփիւռքի մէջ դաստիարակուեցաւ Սիլվա Կապուտիկեանին պատգամովը։ Այսօրուայ պէս կը յիշեմ քանի ընկեր-ընկերուհիի, դասընկեր-դասընկերուհիի յուշատետրին մէջ այդ պատգամը ընդորինակած եմ։ Նման սովորութիւն կար պատանեկան մեր տարիներուն։ Եթէ ինծի հարց տաք թէ ի՞նչ բանաստեղծութիւն պահած եմ միտքս հայկական եկրորդական վարժարանը աւարտելէս աւելի քան հինգ տասնամեակներ վէրջ՝ անւարան պիտի ըսեմ՝ Սիլվա Կապուտիկեանին «խօսք իմ որդուն» բանաստեղծութեան վերջին համարը եւ Աւետիս Ահարոնեանին «այսքան չարիք....» խօսքը։

Հիմայ մէջբերեն հարցումս՝ ՈՐՈ՞Ւ ՀԱՄԱՐ ԵՆ ՎԻԿՏՈՐ ՀԱՄԲԱՐՁՈՒՄԵԱՆԻՆ ԵՒ ՍԻԼՎԱ ԿԱՊՈՒՏԻԿԵԱՆԻՆ ՊԱՏԳԱՇՄԵՐԸ եւ Ե՞ՐԲ է որ այդ պատգամները եւ կամ կտակները հայ երիտասարդները եւ երիտասարդուհիները իւրացուցած եւ որդեգրած  պիտի ըլլան որպէսզի իրենք ալ իրենց կարգին փոխանցեն  յաջորդող սերունդին։

Ամենաթոյզն իսկ կասկածը չունիմ որ Վիկտոր Համբարձումեանին եւ Սիլվա կապուտիկեանին հայերէն լեզուն կատարալեգործելու պատգամը ուղղուած ԲՈԼՈՐ ՀԱՅ ԵՐԻՏԱՍԱՐԴ ԵՒ ԵՐԻՏԱՍԱՐԴՈՒՀԻՆԵՐՈՒՆ ԱՆԽԻՐ եւ ոչ թէ միայն ԲՈւՀի ուսանող եւ ուսանողուհիներուն համար միայն։

Հայերէն լեզուին տիրապետութիւնը ազգային անվտանգութեան կենսական հարց է եւ անոր կատարելագործումը պէտք է որ եղած ըլլայ երբ հայ աշակերտը եւ աշակերտուհին պարտադիր զինուորագրութեան տարիքի սեմին հասած է եւ անմիջապէս զինուորագրուելու եւ կամ ԲՈւՀ յաճախելու պատրաստ է։ եթէ այդ տարիներուն եւ այդ տարիքին աշակերտը եւ աշակերտուհին չեն կրցած տիրապետել հայերէն լեզուին կը նշանակէ որ դաստիարակչական լուրջ սխալ մը կայ հոն որ պէտք է անհրաժեշտաբար սրբագրուի եւ ոչ թէ այդ սխալ ընթացքը շարունակուի ԲՈւՀերէն ներս։ 

Հապա՞ հայերէն լեզուի պահպանումը սփիւռքի մէջ...............այդ ալ ուրիշ հարց։

The Building That Shaped My Career Choice

Vahe H. Apelian

I came across the attached picture recently and I became reflective as it depicts the famed ABC store in downtown Beirut. Almost facing the store, on the other side of the street, was a building that shaped my career choice.  The ABC store was located at a junction.  A short distance from the store, at its back, situated atop of an elevation is the Grand Serail, the headquarters of the Prime Minister. It also is a few blocks from the Lebanese Parliament building. The Grand Serail is a historic building. Stairways from the street led to the Grand Serail grounds.

Next to the stairways that led to the Grand Serail was the Abu Jamil Street that stretched hardly a mile. The former ARF community center was located at its far end, on a hill whose balcony overlooked the street below.  The neighborhood was also known as Wadi al-Yahoud, meaning "Valley of the Jews" because it was the Jewish neighborhood. Alain Abadi, who became a popular pop singer and idol to the youth lived in the neighborhood as well.

At this junction, on the right hand side of the famed ABC Store, a little bit up, was the building I alluded earlier. It was three stories building. On its street level was a pharmacy called, CHAGHLASSIAN. On the second floor there was a medical diagnostic laboratory named after its owner, PILIGIAN. The third floor was on top of the roof and it was a photographer’s studio where our family and relatives had family black and white pictures taken. We did not own a camera in those years. 

That building shaped my career aspirations.

During 1958 when civil war broke in Lebanon, we moved from our house and stayed in the inn, Hotel Lux, in downtown Beirut my father ran. It was a few blocks from the seaport and a short walking distance from the ABC store.  Downtown was not shut off altogether but there was curfew starting in the afternoon. During our few months stay there during summer I worked in the CHAGHLASSIAN PHARMACY doing errands by bringing medications from the distributors nearby, cleaning and even helping the pharmacist doing compounding that was still practiced to a degree. Naturally, people came in to fill their prescriptions or outright ask for some medications and seek the advice of the pharmacist who wore a white gown. In my impressionable age, not yet in my teens, I remained fascinated by the whole atmosphere in the pharmacy

Now and then I would walk up to the second floor to the PILIGIAN LABORATORY and would remain fascinated by the bottles, tubes and the owner in his white coat doing the testing. Years later I found out that a medical doctor whose last name was Piligian had owned the laboratory at one time. But he had immigrated to the U.S. but the laboratory had retained its name. It is there that my father had his father, our grandfather, tested to find out that he had diabetes.

On the third and last floor, which was the roof, was an Armenian photographer’s studio. He had a few settings that were used as backgrounds for taking pictures. Many of our family members had their black and white pictures taken there against those settings. I have my famed Katch Vartan- Brave Vartan –picture taken there as well (attached). It is not a colored picture but was colored. Such pictures were called retouche’, that is to say re-touched.

When I graduated high school in 1965, I had already set up my mind to study pharmacy. Next to my picture in the yearbook, I have noted that I intend to study pharmacy. Years later I found out that the slogan in Armenian I had chosen, as it was expected from each graduate to note one, is attributed to Walter Withman. It reads: “Keep your face always toward the sun and the shadows will fall behind you.” Surely easier said than done.

I graduated from the American University of Beirut School of Pharmacy in 1971 and started doing graduate work and when the AUB Hospital started three years long fellowship program to be trained in CLINICAL LABORATORY to operate a clinical diagnostic laboratory, I knew that's what I would like to do, much like the Piligian medical laboratory. My mentor, Dr. Garabed Garabedian, who was the chairman of the Department where I did my graduate work, was kind enough to intervene on my behalf and have me accepted to that fiercely competitive program. I was on the verge of completing the program when the civil war broke in Lebanon and altered the country for good

I immigrated to the U.S. in 1976 and changed my career to the pharmaceutical industry and spent the next over three decades in that field working for a few multinational companies that do not exist anymore. Acquisitions and mergers changed the industry for good.

Armenian Schools: Evolving Perceptions IQ and EQ (No.2/2)

Vahe H. Apelian

In an alphabetical listing, the Armenian Church, community center and school constitute the trinity that is the holy grail of the Armenian Diaspora. For all indications Diaspora as a whole does not appear to be in want of more churches and more community centers. The matter is altogether different with Armenian schools. 

Founding and maintaining an Armenian school, time and again, has proven to be a very challenging task. The Armenian Diaspora has experienced seismic tremors in the last few decades, mostly due to the unfolding of violent political events in the Middle East--the cradle of Armenian Diaspora--and due to increasing cost of living everywhere on this globe. As an outcome of these events and states, Armenian schools have been closing both in our Middle Eastern communities as well as in West. We have no control over these events. The best we can do is to adjust.

Parent’s rightful perception about the education their children would receive and master their greater society’s language appear to be changing in favor of  parents' not wanting to enroll their children in Armenian schools. Parents are not only concerned their children mastering the larger society's written language but also mastering its verbal conveyance, that is to say, mastering its accent. A few years ago the late George Apelian, educator, author, pointed out to me that more affluent Armenian parents were sending their children to non-Armenian schools in Lebanon for this very reason.

Solid education and accent are valid concerns. Let's put them in perspective for the benefit of Armenian parents who have the possibility of enrolling their children in their local Armenian school.

A few years ago I attended an annual conference concerning my specialization--pharmaceutics. People from all over the world attended the conference. To warm up his audience for a dry subject he was about to deliver, one of the lecturers asked: "What is the language of science?" He then answered it: "In the United States it's English spoken with an accent”. How true. In this interdependent world, it’s also Hindi, Mandarin or Arabic spoken with an accent as well. Those who have heard Vartan Gregorian have surely noted that he speaks with an accent. But that has not prevented him from reaching the uppermost echelon of society. No one really cares much about your accent as long as you offer what your interlocutor needs to forge a win-win relationship with you--be it personal or impersonal.

Understandably public schools in the West enjoy far more resources than an Armenian school.  But capable and dedicated teachers have transmitted solid education since antiquity in structurally much more modest buildings and without the many gadgetry modern schools enjoy. Computers are the outcome of such basic education and will never replace it. Armenian schools historically have done well in imparting sold basic education to generations of students. I have yet to hear a friend or an acquaintance tell me, in hindsight, that he or she wished their parents had sent them to a non-Armenian school to better prepare them for life. On the contrary, the overwhelming majority, if not all, of former students in Armenian schools I met fondly remember their times there. There is a reason for it and it has to do with EQ-- Emotional Quotient of the former students.

EQ is a measurement of a person's ability to monitor his or her emotions, to cope with pressures and demands, and to control his or her thoughts and actions. Educators agree that EQ is as important as IQ (Intelligence Quotient) for succesful education. 

There was a time when what students learned in a classroom stayed with them unchanged for a long time. Not anymore. Education, especially nowadays, is also learning to constantly learn new things. A student has to be emotionally well adjusted and socially well anchored to surmount this ceaseless onslaught of newer things.  Along with imparting solid and basic education, Armenian schools have been very successful in preparing their students to score high in their EQ as measured by the successes of their graduates. Most of the students I knew up to my gradation from high school did well. In fact they did very well, whether they attended college or not after graduating from high schoot.

I do not want to paint a picture of an all-too-perfect Armenian school that surely does not exist, as perfection does not. I simply wanted to elaborate my take on the issues of accent and of basic education so that parents would have a broader perspective should they be considering enrolling their children in an Armenian school accessible to them.

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From Death to Life

By Lena Apelian

Reviewed by: Vahe H. Apelian

 

       Recently I translated Lena Martyrosian Apelian’s Christian born-again testimonial she had published as a book titled “From Death to Life”.  Lena is Missak Apelian’s wife. My cousin Jack Chelebian M.D. edited my translation.

Lena had my translated manuscript recently published in Armenia when she went visiting family members, relatives and friends she has there. A picture from Shogher Baghdoud Tilkian’s artwork called “Wheat field” graces the cover. Richard Taminosian prepared the presentation of the book’s cover. Missak Apelian put the manuscript in the book format. 81 pages of the book comprise the text. Additional 19 pages are devoted to pictures.

Along with Lena’s born-again Christian experience narration, the book also opens a window of the atheistic culture that prevailed in the Soviet Republic of Armenia when Lena grew into adulthood and its impact on family relations as the country made the transition to its post-Soviet era. Lena was born in Ararat. The town is located 26 miles southeast of Yerevan. Her parents were Sarkis and Tzovik Vardanyan. She was educated, nurtured in her parental modest family there. Her father was a laborer and a devoted atheist and a committed communist. Lena writes: “I had no notion about Christianity. I just remember that our teacher of atheism would tell us, “What God in this age of enlightenment? Where is he? Let him reveal himself. Do not believe in these legends. Someone has jotted own an erroneous account and they want to force it upon us. I had not heard from anybody anything truthful about God. But my grandfather used to say:” In old times there was Satan and there were good angels whom people had seen.” She further notes: “I believed a bit in what my grandfather said, but I do not know why I disliked Christians who were referred to as believers. I hated them. I even would demolish their meeting place. I do not know why I harbored such hatred towards them. I did not know them and none of them had done any harm to me.”

As it was customs, Lena married at a young age to Samvel Martirosyan. They had three children, Marine, Angela, and Artashes. Lena, happily married, continued in her mischievous ways gathering the women in her workplace and telling them crude jokes and making fun of the believers. Samvel proved to be a devoted family man. When the children asked their mother Lena permission to attend a presentation about Jesus by the believers, she forbade them only to find out later that her husband had permitted them afterwards. When Lena asked her husband to remove from their bedroom a picture of Jesus Christ he had cut from a calendar, Samvel insisted that the picture remain there hanging from the wall.

Their tranquil family life, minding their own business attending to the care of their family, came to a tragic end when Lena at the age of 34 lost suddenly her 35 years old husband in 1993 due to a massive heart attack at a time when Armenia was experiencing hardship and families were experiencing long cold and dark nights due to lack of electricity and heat in their homes because of shortage due to the ongoing war.

Widowed in the highly patriarchal society of Armenia, she did not find the support she expected, and she rebelled against God. Her day-to-day uncertainties and struggles brought her to depression. Realizing she was no longer able to cope with her life, she managed to have herself admitted to a hospital in Yerevan where she contemplated committing suicide by throwing herself from the balcony. It was at such a moment in the hospital that she experienced the transforming testaments of a Christian woman named Armine Barkhoudaryan who revealed to her the redeeming power of the Christian faith through Jesus Christ.  Her continual stays in the hospital for the next two months became a spiritual journey in her newly found discovery of the Christian faith and she immersed herself in the study of the bible with Armine and with many visitors they received, some from overseas, all supporting each other through their study of the Bible

After discharge, she returned home enthused to spread the transforming message she had discovered only to find out that her relatives and friends and even her own family shunned her to have become a believer herself. For a while, they managed to turn her children against her, but Lena persevered in her faith and continued to meet in worship with those who professed the love of God through Jesus Christ and prayed for her children’s welfare. Eventually, her children accepted their mother and started following in her ways. They supported and worked with her after she got fired from her new job she liked very much just for having become a believer herself and spreading the good news of the Bible.

Years passed, the family grew, some of her relatives accepted her and started attending church with her but her parents remained adamant, initially disavowing her but then coming to terms with her that each of them would go their own way. Lena would continue attending church and being a Sunday school teacher in her own house and they would go in the ways they were brought up.

In 2011 Lena came to America to be with her daughter Angela and her husband who had moved to the U.S. a few years earlier. In the U.S. she experienced the challenges newcomers experience, but she continued to find comfort and fulfillment in the Christian Outreach for Armenian Church and shared her testimonies with the congregation and embarked on mission with the other church members in Armenia.

It is in the church that she met Missak Apelian, who is a long-standing member and the treasurer of the church and found in him the fulfillment of all she had jotted down in a single women’s retreat in Armenia. During that retreat, on a heart-shaped blank paper she had noted, and kept the note with her, the qualities she would look for in a husband, should the unlikely opportunity come about realizing that years were passing by and she now had become mother-in-law to her three children and a grandmother to six grandchildren. 

Missak and Lena were married in their church in 2014 and held their wedding reception in the Garbian Hall of the Kessab Educational Association and donated the gifts they received to charity. A new course opened for her and for her children who Lena noted, had not enjoyed the pleasure of a grandfather and found it in their mother’s new husband Missak.

Lena ends her book assuring her readers that “those who seek shall find. Those who knock, the door will be open for them. Those who ask, it will be given to them.” and offers her book as a testament for enduring faith and the transforming affect it had on her enabling her to raise her children into the fine adults they became with families of their own.

Through the proceeds of her two books, Lena has raised $3,277 to widowers in Armenia and Gharapagh. The book retails for a token $15 for charity to be sent to Christian Outreach for Armenian Church, P.O. Box 1129, Glendale, CA 91209 (Tax exemption No. 95-4320177). A copy of the book may be obtained by emailing Missak Apelian (ApelianMA@gmail.com). 

In the preface of her book Lena writes: “I am narrating about myself as to how and for what reasons I wanted to commit suicide and how was it that a miracle happened, and I started to discover life and love it”.

 “From Death to Life” makes for an interesting and inspirational reading. Although the book is a narration of a very personal experience, it none-the-less is universal in its appeal and will resonate with the reader.