On October 11, 2019, at the A. Aharonian Center in Damascus, the Feast of the Holy Translators was celebrated in the presence of representatives of organizations, students, parents, and many Damascus Armenians.
Maral Katklian, a board member, gave an opening speech. She welcomed the attendees and averred that the invention of the Armenian alphabet was important. She said Hamazkayin’s role in the preservation of Armenian identity and culture was also important.
A brief cultural program followed. A group of students in the 4th and 8th grades, full of enthusiasm, recited poems inspired by the inventor of the alphabet, Mesrop Mashtots, and sang two choral pieces. The attendees were overjoyed.
A keynote was delivered by Very Rev. Fr. Zareh Sarkissian, director of Christian Education and Sunday Schools for the Great House of Cilicia. The priest retold, in some detail, the story of the invention of the Armenian alphabet and the value of remembering the early church fathers who translated the Bible into Armenian. He encouraged the students to know the talented and great writers of the Armenian world, to be inspired by them, and always to keep aloft the mother tongue. The very reverend father wrapped up the program with a prayer. A reception followed.
