The History of Armenia - Paperback

by Troy Azelli (Translator), Movses Khorenatsi (Author)

The medieval historian of the Armenian people Movses Khorenatsi was the first Armenian to give a wonderful account of the inception of his nation in Babylon, the power struggles of the Armenian aristocracy, and the final dissolution of the Armenian kingdom. As the author said about his compatriots: "For although we are a small garden, and are very limited in number, and deprived of power, and have been conquered by other nations many times, still in our country there have been many feats of courage worthy of being immortalized in writing, which, however, none of them cared to record in books." The Armenian historian provided a very honest description of the Armenian society not being shy to praise the heroic exploits of some Armenians, such as the courageous founders of the Armenian people - Hayk and Aram, the brave king Tigran, the wise inventor of the Armenian script Mesrop Mashtots, and concurrently being brutal in his criticism of others: "Therefore, while mourning my people, I will say as Paul said about his enemies and the foes of the cross of Christ, using not my own, but the Holy Spirit's words. A flawed and disappointing clan, the clan unsettled in heart and unfaithful to God in its spirit! People of Aram! How long will you be hard-hearted, why do you love vanity and godlessness? Do you not realize that the Lord has magnified his saint and that the Lord will not hear when you call to him? For you have become hardened in the Fall and do not repent on your lounges, for you make unlawful sacrifices, and despise those who trust in God." The book consists of 3 parts - the genealogy of Great Armenia, the Middle history, and the completion of the history. The final chapter of the book ends in the lament over the loss of the Armenian kingdom: "I mourn you, the Armenian country, mourn you, the noblest of all the northern (countries), for the king and the priest, the mentor and the teacher were taken away from you; the world got disturbed, the disorder took root, the orthodoxy got shaken, the ignorance affirmed other faith.I am sorry for you, the Armenian church, which has lost the beauty of the altar, deprived of a brave pastor and his companion. I no longer see your intelligent herd grazing on a green meadow and near the waters of rest, or gathered in a sheepfold and protected from the wolves, but (I see) it scattered across the wastelands and the steep mountains."