Պապիկ եւ թոռնիկPapik yev Tornik — Grandfather and Grandson
Mkrtich Khrimian — the beloved Hayrik, “Little Father,” of the Armenian people, and Catholicos of All Armenians from 1892 — wrote Papik yev Tornikas a book for the Armenian peasant: an old grandfather walks his grandson through the whole round of village life, from the land and the plow to the harvest, the granary, the flocks, the church, the wedding, and at last the grandfather's own testament and death.
Beneath the plain lessons in husbandry runs Khrimian's larger argument: that the villager's labor, land, and dignity are the foundation of the nation. Read it here in the original Western Armenian, in a new English translation with notes, or both side by side.
Table of contents
Digitized, and translated into English, by the ARF Shant Student Association, 2026. Source: AUA Digital Library of Armenian Literature.
The original text (1894; the author died in 1907) is in the public domain.