St. Gregory was an Armenian born around the year 950. At a young age he entered Narek Monastery which was a thriving center of learning. This was a relatively quiet, creative time before the Turkic and Mongol invasions changed Armenian life forever. Armenia was experiencing a renaissance in literature, painting, architecture and theology, of which St. Gregory was a leading figure. The Prayer Book is the work of his mature years. He called it his last testament: "its letters like my body, its message like my soul."
At the request of his brethren, St. Gregory set out to find an answer to an imponderable question: "What can one offer to God, our creator, who already has everything and knows everything better than we could ever express it?" To this question, posed by the prophets, psalmist, apostles and saints, he gives a humble answer – the sighs of the heart – expressed in his Book of Prayer, also called the Book of Lamentations.
In 95 grace-filled prayers St. Gregory draws on the exquisite potential of the Classical Armenian language to translate the pure sighs of the broken and contrite heart into an offering of words pleasing to God. The result is an edifice of faith for the ages, unique in Christian literature for its rich imagery, its subtle theology, its Biblical erudition, and the sincere immediacy of its communication with God.
St. Gregory left this world in 1003, but his voice continues to speak to us.
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