The National Library of Armenia has acquired two rare editions. One of the books purchased by the library is the “Book of Prayers” by Ephraim the Assyrian. Saint Ephraim the Assyrian lived in Syria in the 4th century. He is one of the Twelve Cosmic Saints who lived up to and including the 5th century. He was born in the city of Mtsbina in 306 to a Christian family. A significant part of the works of Ephraim the Assyrian have been preserved in Armenian translations.

The “Book of Prayers” was published by Martiros Sargsyan in 1734. It has 95 illustrated pages. In the memorial book, the publisher asks to remember his parents and brothers. At the very end, he reminds us of himself. The title and the second pages are missing from the National Library’s copy. Until now, the library had a digital copy of this book, which you can find in the “Hay Book” database (digitized from the Matenadaran copy).

The second acquisition is an 1888 Turkish Bible in Armenian, published by Boyadjian Printing House. Both books are new to the library. Updating the library's Armenian collection is one of our priorities.