Culture

Parable of Vardan Aygektsi on the Sevan Khachkar

The widow had a cow, and her stepson had a donkey. The stepson constantly stole food from the cow and gave it to the donkey.

And the widow prayed to God with a request to put to death the donkey. But instead of a donkey, a cow died. The widow, in tears, turned to God again, saying: “Oh Lord, do you really not distinguish a donkey from a cow?”

Is a parable of Vardan Aygektsi.

P.S Judging by this image of this Sevan khachkar (Cross Stone), both the donkey and the cow died.

Sukias Torosyan Translation Art-A-Tsolum

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

The September Days: How the Armenians of Baku Were Massacred in 1918

On September 15, 1918, the oil city of Baku fell to a joint Ottoman-Azerbaijani force,…

2 hours ago

From Akroinon to Afyonkarahisar: The Ruined Armenian Church and the Erasure of a 3,000-Year-Old Christian Presence

A case study in the systematic destruction of Armenian heritage in Turkey and Azerbaijan The…

3 days ago

Trampling Through the Centuries: How Baku-Accredited Diplomats “Toured” Gandzasar

On September 11–12, 2026, around 150 diplomats from 58 countries accredited in Baku took part…

3 days ago

Subartu: The Forgotten Northern Deep of Armenian History

A name from the world's oldest archives Long before Urartu, long before "Armenia" appears in…

5 days ago

Gandzasar: A Monastery “Restored” Beyond Recognition

For nearly eight centuries, the cathedral of Gandzasar stood on its hilltop above the Khachen…

6 days ago

Before the Sistrum: Tracing a Bronze Age Rattle from Anatolia to Ararat

How a humble noise-making instrument may connect Hattian metalworkers, Hurrian myth-singers, Egyptian priestesses of Isis,…

1 week ago