[48] The commentary was written at the behest of prince Gurgēn-Khach‘ik Artsruni (Գուրգէն-Խաչիկ Արծրունի) of Vaspurakan. [86], According to Hacikyan et al. The Matenadaran preserves a Bible copied in 1297, which Datevatsi illustrated in 1378. Studies lasted seven to eight years. [96] Several churches built in Armenia in the 21st century have been named after him,[e] including the cathedral of the Diocese of Gougark in Vanadzor.

2K likes. [88], France-based Western Armenian writer Shahan Shahnour has been Narekatsi's most prominent critic. The cultural and religious stature of Datevatsi earned him a place among the twelve statues (the second to the left) surrounding Mesrob Mashdots and his disciple Koriun on the front of the Matenadaran, the library of manuscripts in Yerevan.

[78] Some modern scholars have compared Narekatsi's worldview and philosophy to those of later Sufi mystic poets Rumi and Yunus Emre,[79][80][81] and 19th century Russian writers Fyodor Dostoevsky[82] and Leo Tolstoy. [56] In these he affirms the doctrines of Mary's bodily Assumption (Վերափոխումն), perpetual virginity, and perhaps the immaculate conception. [128], The Naregatsi Art Institute (Նարեկացի Արվեստի Միություն), a nonprofit organization registered in the U.S.,[129] has its headquarters in Yerevan, Armenia (since 2004) and a center in Shushi, Karabakh (since 2006). He was a student of John of Orodni and a great defender of the character of the Armenian Church. [16] His father was suspected of pro-Byzantine Chalcedonian beliefs[14] and was eventually excommunicated by Catholicos Anania Mokatsi for his interpretation of the rank of Catholicos as being equivalent to that of a bishop, based on the works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. [26] The chapters, which are prayers or elegies, vary in length, but all address God. His first extant work is a commentary on the Song of Songs («Մեկնութիւն երգոց երգոյն Սողոմոնի», Meknutiun yergots yergoyn Soghomoni), written in 977, the year he was ordained a priest. [47] According to Hrachik Mirzoyan, Narekatsi created up to 2,500 new Armenian words, although many of which are not actively used. [50] The commentary contains explicit condemnation of Tondrakian practices and may have been commissioned to counter heretical teachings attributed to the Tondrakians on marriage and sexuality. It had three schools (philosophy and theology, calligraphy and manuscript illumination, and music), where they taught philosophy, religion, Armenian language and grammar, literature, history, rhetoric, manuscript copying, miniature painting, natural sciences and astronomy, mathematics, architecture, music and singing, pedagogy and social sciences, and other subjects. The great teacher and writer passed away on December 25, 1409, after a short illness. [63] In the treatise he states some of his theological views. [57], The encomium on the Holy Virgin was written as part of a triptych requested by the bishop Step'anos of Mokk'.

The other two panegyrics forming this set are the History of the Holy Cross of Aparank',[58] which commemorates the donation of a relic of the True Cross to the monastery of Aparank' by the Byzantine emperors Basil II and Constantine VIII, and the Encomium on the Holy Cross. "[84], Narekatsi was the first major Armenian lyrical poet[23] and is considered the most beloved person in Armenian Christianity. He is a saint of the Armenian Apostolic Church and was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Francis in 2015.

[68] He notably wrote a treatise against the Tondrakians in the 980s,[69] possibly to clear himself of accusations of being sympathetic to their movement. He was noted for his keen intellect and is said to have delivered inspiring and eloquent sermons. The monastery would be totally destroyed and set to fire by Shahrokh, youngest son of Tamerlan, in 1435.