Under the initiative of Fr. Hovhan Khoja-Eynatyan of St. James of Nisibis Armenian Church in Evanston, IL and dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the parish and 850th anniversary of St. Nersess Shnorhali, a video was produced entitled “Together at His Table: Different Voices, One Heart,” in which the famous prayer of 24 stanzas by St. Nersess Shnorhali was recited by 24 different individuals, each reciting or reading successive stanzas in a different language.
On Sunday, January 25th at 7:00pm EST/4:00pm PST, the Director of Communications for the Eastern Diocese, Christopher H. Zakian, will present Faithful Saints of Christ: Perseverance Under Persecution, along with fellow co-authors at the Ararat-Eskijian Museum and Research Center in Mission Hills, California.
Copies of the book will be available at the lecture and are also available through Abril Bookstore.
About the Book
Faithful Saints of Christ is both a spiritual journey and a powerful historical testimony. Blending Scripture with history, the book reflects on the meaning of faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ—as described in the fundamental teachings of Christianity, and as lived through the exemplary acts of His saints.
From the evangelism of Armenia by Christ’s Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew, to the adoption of Christianity as Armenia’s national faith in 301 AD, the book traces the miracles, struggles, and perseverance that have shaped Armenian history. Readers will witness the courage of Armenians who defended their Christian faith against oppression—with special emphasis on the story of St. Vartan and the Battle of Avarayr: the conflict in which the Armenians defied a powerful empire, took their stand with the Lord, and decisively confirmed their identity as a Christian people.
The narrative continues into modern history, recounting the Armenian Genocide of 1915, the hidden Armenian genocide of 1918 in Iran (Urmia and Khoy), and the ongoing persecution of Christians worldwide.
Both inspirational and eye-opening, Faithful Saints of Christ honors the saints of yesterday who remained steadfast under persecution, while encouraging believers of today to remain faithful to Christ against the obstacles of the present world.
We are looking forward to hosting a poetry workshop with Quarter Tone Poets, an initiative directed by poet Raffi Wartanian dedicated to innovative literary expression in Western Armenian and exploring the musicality of language and the linguistic possibilities discovered through music.
On Tuesday, March 3rd, at 7:00pm in the newly renovated Park View Room at the Diocesan Center, New York poet Lola Koundakjian will engage in a conversation on the craft of writing poetry with Zohrab Center director Dr. Jesse Arlen and then participants will have a chance to write their own original poetry, guided by prompts while live music is being performed.
Whether you are an experienced poet or interested in experimenting with writing and creative expression, you won’t want to miss this one of a kind event.
The Padus-Araxes Association has opened the application for their renowned Summer Intensive Course of Armenian Language and Culture, which will take place August 3rd–August 19th, 2026 for the 41st time in Venice, Italy. Zohrab director Dr. Jesse Arlen will be among the faculty of teachers this summer.
The course offers four levels, from complete beginners to advanced courses in Armenian linguistics, literature, performing arts, history, and other special topics. Alongside the courses are offered optional lessons in Armenian dance and duduk, in addition to presentations on special topics of interest, evening concerts, and sightseeing tours in Venice.
Classes are held on the beautiful grounds of the seminary of the Patriarchate of Venice, in collaboration with the Patriarchate’s “Studium Generale Marcianum” Foundation.
The halls of the Seminario Patriarcale di Venezia, where classes are held.
The Seminario Patriarcale di Venezia, where classes are held.
The staircase of the Seminario Patriarcale di Venezia, where classes are held.
Participants will also have the opportunity to participate in the Armenian Divine Liturgy at the Armenian Church of the Holy Cross in Venice and participate in the liturgy and receive a private tour of the Mekhitarist Congregation at the monastery of San Lazzaro.
The Divine Liturgy at the Armenian Church of the Holy Cross
The Divine Liturgy at the Monastery of San Lazzaro
Don’t miss the unforgettable experience of studying Armenian in the beautiful and historic city of Venice!
St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral and the Zohrab Center are teaming up to offer Armenian language classes for adults this Spring, Thursday evenings 6:30–8:00pm from February 5–May 14 in person at the Diocesan Center.
Two levels are being offered: one, for complete beginners including those needing to learn the alphabet; the second for intermediate students.
We will be following Charry Karamanoukian’s Beginning Armenian: A Communicative Textbook (Routledge, 2023), which presents Western and Eastern Armenian standards in parallel lessons. The cost of the textbook is included in the registration fee.
The course will also make use of additional materials and readings.
The teachers for the beginning course will be Jesse Arlen and Hovannes Khosdeghian, while the intermediate course will be taught by Arthur Ipek and Nareg Seferian.
Joining Zohrab Center director Dr. Jesse Arlen as readers were his father, mother, and one of his sisters.
During the evening, San Luis Obispo poet laureate Kevin Clark – Cal Poly’s professor emeritus of English and former co-director of the university’s Creative Writing Program – reflected on Tenny’s poetry, placing her work in the tradition of Yeats, Eliot, and Rilke, all of whom, like Tenny, yearned after the ineffable dimension of Being and sought to put words to it.
Paul McCullough – teacher of literature at the San Luis Obispo Classical Academy – also offered reflections, calling Tenny’s poetry an invitation to a way of “iconic seeing” that sees “all things in God, all things shining with the original light of their creation.”
A recording of the moving program is available to view on YouTube:
The Zohrab Center warmly invites you to sign up for “Խորհուրդ Խորին / Mystery Profound,” the second half of a Գրաբար reading course to take place on Mondays 2:00–4:00pm ET from February 2nd to May 25th via Zoom.
The course will be led by Zohrab Center director Dr. Jesse Arlen and will focus on the hymns, chants, and prayers of the Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church (Ս. Պատարագ), including hymn verses not commonly sung in contemporary practice as well as prayers of the service said silently by the celebrant.
The first part of this course covered the rite of vesting and preparation as well as the Liturgy of the Word, while the second half of the course will focus upon the Eucharistic Liturgy proper.
In order to benefit from the course, participants should be able to comfortably read the Armenian alphabet and have some prior experience with classical or modern Armenian.
In partnership with Dumbarton Oaks and the Zohrab Center, HMML will host an intensive three-week course on Classical Armenian for the intermediate level from July 5-July 25, 2026, at HMML in Collegeville, Minnesota.
This course, to be taught by Dr. Jesse Arlen and Dr. Julia Hintlian, is intended for graduate students or recent PhDs, who can demonstrate a need for Classical Armenian in their research. Priority is given to students who lack opportunities to study Armenian at their own institutions. The program welcomes international applicants but does not sponsor J visas.
Tuition, room, & board are free for admitted students, thanks to support from Dumbarton Oaks.
On Wednesday, October 27th, the Zohrab Center’s Lily E. Jelalian intern Luiza Ghazaryan (NYU ’26) presented original research at the NYU Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholars Program Research Symposium, entitled “Handwritten Memory: Manuscripts and Literary Journals of Armenian Migrants.”
Luiza Ghazaryan with her poster, entitled “Handwritten Memory: Manuscripts and Literary Journals of Armenian Migrants”
Conducted under the supervision of Zohrab Center director, Dr. Jesse S. Arlen, and Zohrab Center special projects coordinator and research associate, Arthur Ipek, Luiza surveyed and described 9 manuscript journals and diaries of Ottoman Armenians from the late 19th and early 20th centuries kept in the special collections of the Zohrab Center library.
Luiza chose one such handwritten journal to make the focus of her poster presentation, a collection of love poems penned by Harutyun G. Iskenderian between 1905–1906.
Luiza Ghazaryan’s poster based on her research and translation of the poems of Harutyun G. Iskenderian
Born around 1887 in Everek (Kayseri [Կեսարիա, Caesarea], Turkey), Harutyun was a freshman at St. Paul’s Institute in Tarsus during the 1905-1906 academic year. During this time, he composed an 87-page manuscript of love poems in Western Armenian, dedicated to his beloved Ms. Marine Dadourian. Luiza translated these poems from Western Armenian into English and situated them within the context of late Ottoman Armenian life and education in the provinces.
“Through my translations of Haroutune Iskenderian’s poetry, I have revealed the ways in which he conveyed sentimental expressions of wisdom, love, and devotion. Immersing myself in the author’s writings and their historical context—that is, Iskenderian’s Kayseri—made me realize how communities and educational institutions more than a century ago fostered an appreciation for literature in the hearts of students. To help me better understand this context and the author’s identity, I also made use of archival material, with school reports, photographs, and historically relevant correspondences with the US that dealt with the liminal space between life in the provinces and the Armenian Genocide,” said Luiza.
Luiza Ghazaryan is a Biology major at NYU (class of 2026), who is also pursuing minors in Creative Writing and Chemistry. She began working at the Zohrab Center in summer 2023, as a Lily E. Jelalian summer intern, a program generously funded by Dean Shahinian and has continued at the Zohrab Center since that time.
We congratulate Luiza on her research and achievements!
If you missed the online book launch of Tenny Arlen’s groundbreaking book of poetry, you can now watch the recording on YouTube.
100 friends, family, colleagues, and literature enthusiasts gathered to hear the book presented by Zohrab director Dr. Jesse Arlen, Prof. Hagop Gulludjian (UCLA), Arthur Ipek (NYU), and Dr. Susan Barba (NY Review of Books).
You’ll hear from Zohrab Center director Dr. Jesse Arlen about how the book came together, background on Tenny’s life and works, and what is included in this new edition.
Learn from Prof. Hagop Gulludjian about how Tenny and her literary accomplishments revolutionized the method of language instruction at UCLA, leading to the “creative literacy” method that has inspired hundreds of students after her to make their own attempts at producing and creating in Armenian.
You’ll also hear perceptive literary analysis and close readings from Arthur Ipek (Zohrab Center / NYU) and Susan Barba (NY Review of Books).
Published via Tarkmaneal Press (New York), To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here? is now available for purchase through the NAASR Bookstore and on Amazon and will be available in Abril Bookstore (Los Angeles) soon.
Thank you to the sponsors and co-sponsors of the event!
