Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart (Classical Armenian: Matean oghbergutʻean, literally 'Book of Lamentations') is a 95-chapter poetic prayer-cycle composed in Classical Armenian around 1002–1003 by Grigor Narekatsi (c. 951–1003), an Armenian Apostolic monk at the monastery of Narek on Lake Van. Each chapter is a long first-person address to God — every one headed 'Speaking with God from the depths of the heart' — written in dense, image-laden Armenian, moving through repentance, the inadequacy of language for divine reality, and the intimate immediacy of contemplative prayer. Narekatsi draws on the full repertoire of Classical Armenian rhetoric, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the apophatic tradition: God is addressed as the Seer of Secrets, the uncircumscribable, the incomprehensible.
The book has been the most-copied and most-prayed Armenian devotional text for a thousand years; Armenian families have traditionally kept it by the bedside and read it aloud over the sick. In current Armenian Catholic and Apostolic liturgy, individual chapters are still chanted. Narekatsi was declared a Doctor of the Universal Church by Pope Francis on April 12, 2015 — the first figure from the Armenian Apostolic tradition to receive that designation. The standard contemporary English version is the Thomas J. Samuelian translation (Vem Press, 2001), a bilingual Armenian–English edition of 761 pages.
The voice of a sighing heart, its sobs and mournful cries, I offer up to you, O Seer of Secrets, placing the fruits of my wavering mind as a savory sacrifice on the fire of my grieving soul to be delivered to you in the censer of my will.
Prayer 1
First lines
The voice of a sighing heart, its sobs and mournful cries, I offer up to you, O Seer of Secrets, placing the fruits of my wavering mind as a savory sacrifice on the fire of my grieving soul to be delivered to you in the censer of my will.
Reception
Narekatsi is referred to in Armenian tradition simply as 'the saint' and was formally declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Francis in 2015, making him one of only 36 figures so designated. Armenian families have traditionally kept the Matean by the bedside and read it aloud over the sick; in current Armenian Catholic and Apostolic liturgy individual chapters are still chanted. The Thomas J. Samuelian English translation (Vem Press, 2001) is the standard contemporary English version; earlier 19th-century English renderings exist but are rarely read today. Western scholarship outside Armenian studies has only recently caught up with the work, in part through the comparative-mysticism lens of figures like Bernard McGinn. The text has also drawn attention in apophatic theology circles for its sustained meditation on the inadequacy of language before the divine.
Frequently asked
What is Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart?
It is a 95-chapter poetic prayer-cycle written in Classical Armenian around 1002–1003 by Grigor Narekatsi, an Armenian Apostolic monk. Each chapter is a long first-person address to God, moving through repentance, the limits of language, and contemplative intimacy with the divine. The standard English translation is by Thomas J. Samuelian (Vem Press, 2001).
Why is Grigor Narekatsi called a Doctor of the Church?
Pope Francis declared him a Doctor of the Universal Church on April 12, 2015, making him one of only 36 figures to receive that designation and the first from the Armenian Apostolic tradition. The title recognises saints whose writings are considered of particular importance for Christian teaching.
How has the book been used in Armenian tradition?
For about a thousand years it has been the most-copied and most-prayed Armenian devotional text. Armenian families have traditionally kept it by the bedside and read it aloud over the sick; individual chapters are still chanted in Armenian Catholic and Apostolic liturgy today.