Muratsan
Muratsan (Grigor Ter-Hovhannisian) was born on December 1, 1854 in the city of Shushi, Artsakh.
Part of the Russian Empire, Shushi was the largest educational, cultural, handicraft, and trade center of Artsakh. In 1840 it received the status of a city with a predominantly Armenian population. There were the Nunnery of the of St. Astvatsatsin church (1816), Churches of St. Hovhannes Mkrtich (1818), Aguletsots St. Astvatsatsin (1822), Meghretsots St. Astvatsatsin (1838), The Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral (1868). Shushi had 12 Armenian schools of various types, including а Maidens’ School of St.Mariam. 19 Armenian and 2 Russian newspapers and magazines were printed in the Shushi printing houses. There were Armenian theatres and many libraries.
Muratsan was born to a middle-class family. His father was an artisan and a farmer. Muratsan’s parents were very attentive to their son’s education. Grigor received his primary education at a private school, where he studied for three years. He was forced to cease his education because of his father’s death. Two years later, he enrolled in the diocesan school of Shushi, from which he graduated in June 1873.
In 1877, he traveled within Artsakh and Syunik and researched much of the ancient ruins. Upon his return to Shushi he wrote a brief history of the noble Hasan-Jalalyan family.
In 1878, he moved to Tiflis, where he worked as a teacher and an accountant. He became famous after the performance of his historical drama Ruzan at a Tiflis theater in 1882.
Muratsan is known best for writing Gevorg Marzpetuni (1896), a historical novel set during the time of King Ashot II in Armenia in the tenth century. In addition to Gevorg Marzpetuni, he wrote many short stories and novels.
Being an intensely patriotic writer, Muratsan was a nineteenth-century Romantic in style and an advocate of traditional cultural and religious values.
Muratsan died on September 12, 1908. He is buried in the Khojavank Armenian Pantheon of Tbilisi.
Avetik Isahakyan
For the young men of my time, in 1890-1895, Murastan was the most beloved novelist after the famous Raffi. Of course, we loved also very much Shirvanzade and Nardos. We were inspired by his patriotic play Ruzan. And we looked forward to his new publications – large or short. We read The Mysterious Nun, My Catholic Bride and other stories. Muratsan’s language, his exact Armenian, by the choice of beautiful words, in a figurative style, was an instructive school for us. He was very well known in his time.
I recall an event. In 1897, I was in Bagran – the ancient capital of Bagratunis. Bagran was a famous place of pilgrimage at that time. The remembrance day of the military commander St. Gevorg, was being celebrated there in September. In the oldest chapel of the Citadel, there was the grave of St. Gevorg. Pilgrims came from Shirak, Kars, Kaghzvan, Surmalu. I was a guest of an elderly teacher of Bagran. In 1896, the Ardzagank journal was publishing the magnificent novel by Muratsan – Gevorg Marzpetuni. The teacher had the Ardzagank issues. I had not yet read the novel. My host enthusiastically read for me his favorite passages. He had also read them for his fellow villagers, and they were very inspired, as evidenced by my host. With warmest faith and a convinced voice, he told me that there is a legend among the people that Marzpetuni is buried in Bagran and the grave of the Chapel is our commander’s, not of a Greek Christian saint.
“I have heard this legend since childhood. None of the Armenian historians has written where Marzpetuni is buried. The people’s legends are always true. Only the people have consecrated the great Armenian commander and identified him with the Christian commander.” This legend is interesting and had to be noted and written down.
Muratsan was a reserved person, far from the society. He did not attend theatrical performances or public meetings. His daily routine was from his home to the workplace and from the workplace to home. From time to time, we met on the street. He was always with a thoughtful expression on his face and neatly dressed. I always took off my hat and greeted him – our great writer, without being personally acquainted with him – only out of my respect. He used to look at me inquisitively and then he smiled and returned my greeting.
I was acquainted with Muratsan only in 1902-1903 at the Vernatun (Upper Room) of Hovhannes Tumanian. He used to visit Tumanian from time to time. We treated him with great respect. He sat next to Tumanian and listened to us in silence. The Patriarch of Vernatun Ghazaros Aghayan spoke in a loud and powerful voice. Tumanian used to tell funny stories, and Muratsan’s eyes smiled gently. It seemed our company was pleasant for him. He often took part in our conversations and discussions, but was a man of few words. He never spoke about himself or his work. He was a meek and humble man. I felt that he had a grief in the depths of his heart, and that it was secretly wearing him out. It was a grief that he did not communicate to anyone. While sitting with us, his mind was on something else, and his gaze was directed to some distant place.
Avetik Isahakian, Collected Works, Volume 5
“Luma” Literary Journal
Obituary for Muratsan, 1908, No 3-4 (November-December), p. 8, Tiflis
Tired from the sufferings of the life and exhausted, the ailing brain stopped functioning… In a gloomy and isolated ward of a public hospital, one of the most distinguished figures of the Armenian people passed away. From the locked ward, he watched in loneliness the free world and his extremely tired brain at times inspired him cheerful հopes, and then he fell into the steel claws of inner demons, evoking emotions full of dreadful and horrific delusions. The situation was awful and the majestic force of nature seemed to have taken pity over his tired body and embraced his sensitive soul, granting him eternal peace.
– But who was this man? He was one of the creators of beautiful Armenian literature – Muratsan (Grigor Ter-Hovhannisian), who devoted his life to Armenian literature and lived through it to his last breath. History alone will pronounce its true tribute to this writer, sine iura et studio (“without anger and passion”). Besides other periodicals, Muratsan actively collaborated with Luma since the very first year and up to his last day of illness. In our next issue, we’ll publish his photo and his biography. And now we express our deep grief for the painful loss of our creative collaborator of many years.
“Husharar” Monthly
Obituary for Muratsan at “Husharar”, Baku, 1908, No.8, p. 115
The writer, well known in the Eastern Armenian literature, passed away on August 30 at the Mikayelian hospital in Tiflis. After graduating the Shushi diocesan school, he started writing novels. One of his first works was the play Ruzan which he wrote in 1880, inspired by the theatrical group in Tiflis. He devoted all his free time to literature and worked for Meghu Hayastani, Nor Dar, Ardzagank and Luma periodicals, publishing historical novels and other stories. The tragedy Ruzan differs from other theatrical works, considered patriotic, in its depictions of the heroine of the play. Muratsan wished to improve the shortcomings of this work, but his time ran out. Ruzan is his only theatrical work.
Zang Weekly Obituary for Muratsan
Zang Weekly, Baku, No1-2, 12 October 1908, p.16
Merciless death has taken away another sacrifice from the meager ranks of our writers. The talented writer Grigor Ter-Hovhannisian who used the pen name “Muratsan” has passed away. Muratsan was born in December 1854. He graduated from the Shushi diocesan school where he gained a mastery of the Armenian language, so evident in his literary works. Later, the deceased taught Armenian in Shushi and at the same time contributed to various Armenian periodicals. Then, he left his position in Shushi and moved to Tiflis, where he started working as an accountant. However, due to his love for the literature, he devoted all his free time to it. Muratsan worked in the arena of the Armenian literature with unparalleled diligence. He produced several literary works, which can bring honor to the latest Armenian literature. He worked for a long time for the newspaper Nor Dar, then for the journal Ardzagank and during his last years for the journal Luma. One of his first serious works is Ruzan which was well received on the Armenian stage. His later works increased his renown as an excellent novelist. He stood out as one of the best among the Armenian writers on national aspirations. His patriotism runs like a red thread through all his works. Muratsan in his works proved to be a good psychologist, which is a rare quality among our novelists. Muratsan has written historical and modern novels. Among his historical novels are Gevorg Marzpetuni and Andreas the Priest. The modern novels are My Catholic Bride, The Apostle, The Center of Enlightenment, The Mysterious Nun, The Special Correspondent, Noah’s Crow, and others. Although the last is a work of some 80 pages, it is such an exquisite piece that it is widely read with great pleasure. He wrote also some minor works and even tried his hand at poetry. Due to the lack of space, we will not discuss in detail all his beautiful works, but we will say the following –despite his focus on patriotic themes, his beautiful language and other literary merits, he passed away without being fully appreciated by his contemporaries.
We wish peace to the honored Armenian author… In order to honor the memory of the author, the Armenian Cultural Association of Baku, in addition to establishing a library, has undertaken the re-publication of Gevorg Marzpetuni in book form.