Anahit Pilosyan

Uncle Papul is well known, not just in his own Areni, but in the neighboring villages as well.

He says that he has changed his name several times, and his fellow villagers do not know that on his passport his name is Papak, on his birth certificate it is Pahlavuni, and Papul is simply a nickname.

“All the names I have are useless,” the 71-year-old resident of Areni said.

Uncle Papul is not known in the village for his names but for his book, which is hundreds of years old. He is not sure when this book, which is known as the Red Bible, was made, but he says it has been kept in his house for more than 100 years. According to Papul's calculations the book is three or four centuries old.

His calculations take him far away, to the Middle Ages. He insists that the book is not printed on paper, but inscribed on parchment. Here myth and reality mix and it's difficult to judge the true age of the book. But the important thing is its perceived value.

“This book was in Noravank, and Noravank was built in 1337. But when it was written and how my ancestors obtained it, I don't know. It's from at least the 16 th or 17 th century.”

Papak Ghazaryan remembers that he first saw the book in his Grandmother Maran's room. The Ghazaryans kept it hidden till the 1950s, so as not to be labeled traitors.

“My grandmother kept the book as if it were holy; she wouldn't let us touch it,” Uncle Papul said proudly.

The book is still revered as holy today. A corner of the house has been devoted to the Red Bible and the place has become a makeshift shrine. People believe in the power of the old book. They come to make an offering or to light a candle. Aunt Susan, Uncle Papul's wife, remembers how the first pilgrims came in the early 1980's, a family from Abovyan.

“I don't know how they had heard about it. They came and said, We have a sick child. We have to sacrifice a red rooster next to the Bible,” she said.

Uncle Papul says that he has never taken the book out of the house. Whenever someone wants to see the book or read it, he gladly welcomes them in, but he never lets the book out of the house.

“My grandmother told me this book is the heritage of this house. Maybe if I give it away nothing will happen, but maybe bad things will happen, “ Papul explained. He said that many people have wanted to buy the book, but he refuses to sell it.

“No matter what they wanted to give me for it, why would I give it up? It's the soul of this house,” Papul said firmly.

He remembers that years ago, the deputy director of the Matenadaran, Babken Chugasyan, came to see the book. But he didn't take it away with him. Instead, he left another book, with his signature, as a gift. Uncle Papul proudly showed us the book— In Search of Manuscripts — that the expert had signed. Babken Chugasyan, incidentally, is the only person who has been able to read the Red Bible to the end.

The owner of the book confesses that although he has read many books, he has not read this one to the end himself. But that, he believes, is no reflection of its value. It is a sacred book, and a family treasure.