“This poem is from my forthcoming bilingual book of poetry, entitled Մեհենագիրք / Book of Hieroglyphs, which narrates the birth and maturation of a poet from an all-but-extinct civilization and literary tradition. Each poem in the book follows a letter of the Armenian alphabet and an Egyptian hieroglyph, whose symbolic meaning generates the poem. This poem, after the hieroglyph 𓆭, ‘Ծառ / Tree’ is the first in the fourth and final cycle of the book, entitled ‘Անհատը զարմէն / The Individual from the Clan,’ where the subject matter turns to the ancestors of the poet in the land from which they were exiled.” – Jesse Arlen
Zohrab Center director Dr. Jesse Arlen will deliver talks today and tomorrow at Harvard University and NAASR. Both are open to the public and the NAASR presentation on Thursday is a hybrid event with the option to Zoom (see registration link below).
“Heresy and Excommunication in Tenth-Century Armenia: Hierarchs, Abbots, Monks, and Tondrakites.”
Wednesday, April 8th, 4:30pm at Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Room 304, 6 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA. Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Mashtots Chair of Armenian Studies, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, the Center for the Study of World Religions, and the Committee on Medieval Studies.
An Evening of Poetry with Dr. Jesse Arlen: Tenny Arlen’s To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here?
Thursday, April 9th, 7:30pm at NAASR Vartan Gregorian Building, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA. Co-sponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and The Belmont Public Library Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/4soKyhn NAASR YouTube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/c/ArmenianStudies
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!
In early April, Zohrab Center director Dr. Jesse Arlen will travel to the Boston area then Washington, DC to give the following three talks, at Harvard University, NAASR, and St. Mary Armenian Church. All of the talks are open to the public. The NAASR event is a hybrid event (see registration link below for online Zoom option).
“Heresy and Excommunication in Tenth-Century Armenia: Hierarchs, Abbots, Monks, and Tondrakites.”
Wednesday, April 8th, 4:30pm at Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Room 304, 6 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA. Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Mashtots Chair of Armenian Studies, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, the Center for the Study of World Religions, and the Committee on Medieval Studies.
An Evening of Poetry with Dr. Jesse Arlen: Tenny Arlen’s To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here?
Thursday, April 9th, 7:30pm at NAASR Vartan Gregorian Building, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA. Co-sponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and The Belmont Public Library Zoom Registration Link: https://bit.ly/4soKyhn NAASR YouTube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/c/ArmenianStudies
Creating Culture in Diaspora: The Poetry of Tenny Arlen (1991–2015)
Sunday, April 12th, after Badarak at St. Mary Armenian Church, 4125 Fessenden St. NW, Washington, DC.
His presentations will introduce the life and poetry of Tenny Arlen, whose 2021 book of verse Կիրքով ըսելու՝ ինչո՞ւ հոս եմ (To Say with Passion: Why Am I Here?) (Yerevan: ARI Literature Foundation) marked a watershed moment in the Armenian literary tradition, being the first full-length volume of creative literature published in Armenian by an American-born writer.
In 2025, a bilingual (English and Armenian) language edition was published by Tarkmaneal Press, along with afterwords by Hagop Gulludjian and Arthur Ipek.
In consonance with the season of Great Lent, Dr. Arlen will reflect on the some of the spiritual themes in Tenny’s poetry, such as solitude, iconic seeing, and the transcendence and immanence of the ineffable realm of the spirit.
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.
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.
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.
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!
