A unique book: “House of Prayer”

 Vahe H Apelian

I recently purchased the said book – “House of Prayer” - from the Eastern Prelacy bookstore, thinking that it is a translation of another story from Hamasdegh. After all, he is known for his depiction of Armenian village life and its villagers. But I was altogether surprised when I realized that is not the case at all.

The book is bilingual and is translated by Dr. Vartan Matiossian and is edited by Iris Papazian with Deacon Shant Kazanjian valuable input. The book saw the light of day in honor of His Grace Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian’s election as the Prelate of the Eastern Apostolic Church of America in 2018. The translation and the publication of the book had been the desire of the new elected prelate. Hamasdegh has been his favorite author since his youth and Hamasdegh’s book Aghotaran – House of Prayer - has had a profound influence on him in appreciating the wonders of God’s creation.

This aspect of Hamasdegh had eluded me altogether, although I have read some of the books he is famous for such as “The Village”, “The Rain”, “The White Horseman. As a matter of fact, I have read many of the stories many times over. 

The “House of the Prayers” is a collection of prayers and contemplations of the wonders of God. All together the book is comprised twenty and two prayers. Hamasdegh has listed them alphabetically, Ա, Բ, Գ, Դ, Ե, Զ, Է - the famous seventh letter of the Armenian Alphabet we see it placed high on the altar of the Armenian Apostolic Church – Ը, Թ, and up to Ժ, the tenth letter. Reading through the tenth letter, I was wondering if Hamasdegh is mimicking St. Nerses Shnorhali's “Aravod Lousso” where a quadrant is written starting with each Armenian letter. However, I realized that Hamasdegh has opted to use the Armenian Alphabet as numerical designation. From the letter Ժ and on, the alphabetical numerical designations become compounded and cease to be the continuation of the Alphabetical listing. In the translation Roman numbers are used to list the twenty-two prayers. The last being,  ԻԲ in Armenian numerical alphabetical listing and XXII in Roman numeral listing, in the English translation.

It is fair that I glance over Hamasdegh’s biography to have a better perspective of the  book “House of Prayers”. 

Hamasdegh was born on November 26, 1895, in Elâzığ in Kharpert region, in Türkiye. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1913 to join his father. He started writing relatively early. In his autobiography he attributed his early foray into writing to his proximity to “Hairenik” where he published his first work in 1917 at the 22.

The following comprise his literary output and their first publication dates.

1. “The Village”, («Գիւղը»), published in Boston in 1924.

2. “Rain”, («Անձրեւ»), published in Paris in 1929.

3. “Holy Comedy”, («Սրբազան Կատակերգութիւն»), (not published)

4. “The White Horseman”, («Սպիտակ Ձիաւորը»), published in Los Angeles in 1953.

5.“Nazar the Brave and 13 Stories”, («Քաջ Նազար եւ 13 Պատմուածքներ»),(published in Cairo in 1955.

6. “House of Prayer”, (“Աղօթարան»), published in Beirut in 1957.

7. “Goat’s Almanac”, (“Այծետոմս»), published in Cairo in 1960.

8. “The First Love”, (“Առաջին Սէրը»), published in Beirut, in 1966.

Hamasdegh in Kessab

By 1928 Hamasdegh had become the darling of the Armenian youth and his reputation had gone across the Diaspora. He undertook a trip abroad in 1927/1928  where he visited Diaspora communities, including Kessab, as attested by the embedded picture, and was  very well received. After his return he never left the United States. It was a tumultuous era. The signing of the Treaty of Lousanne in July 1923, had dashed all hope for the Armenians, and maybe notably for the Kharpert native Armenian Americans in New England. They had resigned that they will never see their homeland again. Hamasdegh’s books became an outlet for them.

Hamasdegh died on November 26, 1966 (age 71 years), in California. He was widower when he died. In April 1, 1966, he wrote to his friend Simon Vratsian about the loss of his wife, and said: “Our beloved Srpouhie’s loss was very heavy. We were happy. Srpouhie emptied both the home and me.” In another letter to Vratsian, he wrote.”The days pass repetitiously; with no color and interest. It is said that sorrow seeks solitude. Our most graceful daughters attempt to fill in their mother’s void…Srpouhie raised fine daughters. However, there cannot be a remedy for Srpouhie’s absence.”  His penname was a composite of the initials of the three Gelenian brothers: Hamparstoum, Assadour, and Eghia

“House of Prayer”, (“Աղօթարան»), published in Beirut in 1957. It is among the three of his later books. It could be surmised that Hamasdegh was at the peak of his emotional maturity and as a seasoned writer. The heroes of his books, whom he depicted so well, were villagers who owed their living to their hard work, and to the nature’s or God’s bounty and were also at the their mercy. The titles of his popular books attest to that, “The village” and “The Rain”. 

Hamasdegh, Hampartsoum Gelenian

I will quote Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian to depict “House of Prayers”. He wrote. “It is difficult to characterize it, because in its simplicity, he deeply explores the essence of humanity”. Hamasdegh ended his fourth prayer thus: “Like the sheep grazing in mountains, and valleys, and returning to their flock in the dusk, my lost words come to me, Lord, when I want to sing the song of the bee, the sone of the deer, the song of the apple tree flower that extends its  branches to me from the fence, and I want to sing for you, Lord”.

As to the tile of the book, this is how the archbishop elaborates. The “House of Prayer” (Aghotaran) in the classical understanding is not merely a collection of prayers. The suffix “aran” (aghot-aran) in Armenian indicates place, for example, zhogov-aran (place where a meeting takes place), hanksd-aran (a place where one rests), tasaran (classroom), etc. In this sense, the “House of Prayer” is a place of prayer.”

A similar argument may be made that the suffix “aran” simply means collection. Such as “yerk (song)-aran” meaning “SongBook”, and Hamasdegh’s “Aghotk (prayer) - aran” meaning “PrayerBook”.

Interestingly, Hamasdegh’s daughter Loretta Gelenian, avoided the English translation and continued to sound her father’s title of the book “Aghotaran” and ended her foreword noting, “Finally, I am deeply grateful to Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian for republishing the Aghotaran and making it available for a new generation of readers.”

I reflected on the English transaction of the title simply to draw the interest of readers of my blog to purchase a copy of this unique book, and read it, especially  that is comes from Hamasdegh’s pen.

Indeed, it was foresightful of Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian to mark his election as the prelate by having sponsors and volunteers to have Hamasdegh's "Aghotaran" translated and published and, as Hamasdegh's daughter said, made the book available for a new generation of reader. 

 

 

 

 

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