Armenian Street Festival - 29 July 2012 - Book Launch

The second Armenian Street Festival, a bigger event this time round, will 
include the London Book launch of the book by Canon Patrick Thomas of 
St David's Cathedral titled "From Carmarthen to Karabagh".

Canon Patrick will be present at a stall dedicated to the book.
He is happy to sign or personalise any copies

Following Sunday Services at St. Sarkis Church, Iverna Gardens, 
Kensington, London W8 6TP 10.30-12.30  The Street Festival will officially 
be opened in a ribbon cutting ceremony by the President of the Republic 
of Armenia Mr. Serge Sarkissian at 12.30

We intend to present the President with his copy of the book

You are warmly invited to meet the Canon.

A newspaper review of the book follows but a few personal comments are in
order.

It is surprising how much affinity there is between two peoples remote in
distance
yet sharing many of the experiences that shaped their collective
personalities. 
It is also even more surprising how much a well-read and enquiring person
can teach 
an Armenian about his people and culture.
The layout of chapters are even inspired by the design of ancient
manuscripts, each 
ending with a colophon.

The book is a rewarding read.




New book highlights Wales' similarities with the former Soviet Republic of
Armenia
* Martin Shipton, WalesOnline
* Apr 23 2012

The mysterious disappearances of King Arthur and Wales' foremost rebel Owain
Glyndwr
have a remarkable similarity with that of one of Armenia's greatest heroes,
according to a 
leading Welsh clergymen.

Canon Patrick Thomas, the Vicar of Christ Church Carmarthen and Chancellor
of St David's 
Cathedral, is the author of a highly praised new book which finds numerous
similarities 
between Wales and Armenia, which until 22 years ago was a republic within
the Soviet 
Union.

On Monday From Carmarthen to Karabagh will be launched in the Temple of
Peace and 
Health in Cardiff.

In recent years close ties have been established between the two countries,
prompting 
Canon Patrick to visit Armenia for the first time in 2005. He immediately
fell in love with the 
eastern European country and kept going back, becoming increasingly aware of
the 
parallels and contrasts between Armenia and Wales.

His book has a unique structure: each chapter has an introduction, three
sections focusing 
on related themes from Armenia and a final section that points out relevant
similarities with 
Wales.

In a section about Welsh and Armenian heroes, Canon Patrick writes: "Some
heroes are 
meant to vanish leaving no known burial place."Moses is an obvious Biblical
example. In 
Welsh tradition two of our greatest warriors similarly disappear: King
Arthur and Owain 
Glyndwr.

"I was once rebuked by a Church of England clergyman for having described
King Arthur 
as Welsh rather than English in one of my books. 'Who do you think he was
fighting against,
then?' I asked.
"An embarrassed silence ensued."
The burial place of King Arthur is a mystery, as is that of Owain Glyndwr.
"The legend that haunted the popular imagination told of an encounter
between Owain and 
the abbot of Vale Crucis," writes Canon Patrick.
"The latter had gone out in the early morning mist to say his prayers when
he met the fugitive 
hero. Owain rebuked the cleric for getting up too early.
"The abbot replied that Owain himself had risen too early by 100 years. From
this grew the 
feeling that Owain (like Arthur before him) would one day return. He too was
said to be 
sleeping  with his warriors in a cave - perhaps one of those in which he had
hidden during 
his years on the run.

"In Armenia a similar role was given to Pokr Mehr, the last of the wild
heroes of Sassoun, 
whose exploits form a part of the national epic.

"Pokr Mehr and his horse disappeared into the Rock of Van and, so the legend
goes, remain
there."

Canon Patrick also writes movingly about the murder of more than a million
Armenians in 
Ottoman Turkey during the First World War - an event recognised officially
as a Holocaust by 
the National Assembly, but not by the UK Parliament.

The book has been praised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan
Williams, who writes 
in a foreword: "Patrick Thomas' distinctive voice - learned, thoughtful,
compassionate and witty 
- has become more and more widely known and appreciated through his writings
about Wales 
and the imaginative legacy of Christian faith in Wales.

"Here he turns to another subject, though without at all leaving behind his
characteristic 
rootedness in the local realities of Carmarthenshire.

"His love affair with Armenia began, as he tells us, some six years ago, and
it has worked itself 
out through many visits, through passionate advocacy and through a deep
immersion in the 
culture of this extraordinary nation.

"Unsurprisingly, he finds analogies with another small and mountainous
country, jealous of its 
language and its heritage.

"And in these pages he introduces us to some of the most poignant and
beautiful literature of the 
Armenians, shaped as it is by a history of appalling suffering."

Archbishop Vahan Hovhanessian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox
Church in Britain 
and Ireland, writes: "Those of us who know Canon Patrick well know that
through his passion to 
learn more about the culture and history of Armenians and pursue the
parallel between the 
Armenian and Welsh people, he has earned the right to be an honorary
ambassador of the Armenian 
people to the rest of the world."

From Carmarthen to Karabagh by Patrick Thomas is published by Gwasg Carreg
Gwalch at £7.50.