On May 24, 2022, at the initiative of the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society Yerevan Office, the volume Vaspurakani ardzive hay grakanutian andastanum (“The Lion of Vaspurakan in the Cultivated Fields of Armenian Literature”) by Vardan Devrikyan was launched at the Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia. The book was published with the support of the Hamazkayin Yerevan Office and is dedicated to the bicentennial of the birth of Mkrtich Khrimian (1820–1907), widely known as Khrimian Hayrik, who served as Patriarch of Constantinople (1869–73) and Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians (1893–1907).
The event was opened with a blessing from Bishop Bagrat Galstanyan. Opening remarks were offered by the Hamazkayin Yerevan Office director Ruzan Arakelyan, who praised the work of Devrikyan, a doctor of philological sciences, for being in tune with the spirit of the times and valuable for the generations. “In this era of Armenian history, when our homeland is standing before new challenges, the messages of Khrimian Hayrik are timely once again. Let us listen to the words of the great Armenian, which have passed the test of time: ‘Let us be united; disunited peoples lose their homelands,’ Khrimian Hayrik said.”
The chairperson of the Hamazkayin Central Executive Board, Megerdich Megerdichian, also spoke, as did Yuri Suvaryan, vice chairperson of the national academy; doctor of philological sciences Susanna Hovhannisyan, doctor of philological sciences Avik Isahakyan; candidate member of the national academy and doctor of philological sciences Professor Aelita Dolukhanyan; candidate in philological sciences Margarita Khachatryan; and Droshak editor Artashes Shahbazyan.
The book places Khrimian’s literary, artistic, and spiritual work, polemics, and sermons in the context of his national and clerical activities.
