Armenian Street Festival - 29 July 2012 - Meet Canon Patrick: author, broadcaster, a man of the cloth

Do come and meet Canon Patrick Thomas whose book “From Carmarthen to Karabagh”

will have its London launch at the Armenian Street Festival, Iverna Gardens, Kensington

next Sunday.

Canon Patrick is Chancellor of St David’s Cathedral, Wales, and a great friend of the Armenians.

He has visited Armenia and Karabagh many times, featured Armenians and their

issues on BBC Radio 4 ‘Thought for the Day’ and ‘Prayer for the Day’. He has forged warm

relations with our Church both in Echmiadzin and in the UK.  He arranged for the first

Armenian Badarak to be celebrated in St David’s, the mother church of the Anglicans in Wales,

and has a superb collection of Armenian books

Canon Patrick will be present at a dedicated stall where 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, you are warmly invited to meet the Canon.

A newspaper review of the book is attached but here are a few personal comments.

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.