«AREGAKN – Revealer of all things»
Curiosity about knowledge of natural phenomena has nourished Man’s imagination since the remotest times.
The need to know Nature and human essence has driven him, through his own senses and reason, to ever new investigations, as a result of which the discoveries of the future were sown, the principles of world-view and the systems of world-perception were formed and developed.
The striving to grasp the first beginning of material being (existence), knowable and unknowable essences, the origin of «the causes of true Creation», the connections of cosmic phenomena and their interrelations has over the centuries given birth to various views, to philosophical schools summing up theories, which placed at the basis of their studies the teaching about the four elements of the world.
Fire, Air, Water, Earth… By their interaction, their interconnection is conditioned the world, the universe in its entirety, the eternal rotation of things — coming into being and destruction…
A universal symbol enduring from the most ancient period is the Sun — with rich interpretations.
The luminary of the day is the Source of Life — the giver of life; it is the Creating force, which is identified with fire. It symbolizes the Just and the true — in the morning with its light it «covers» the darkness and gives the possibility of seeing…
After reaching its midday height the Sun inclines towards sunset — at sunrise again spreading its light-glorious and light-shining rays — it dispels the dark. Thus — it symbolizes the eternal cycle of life and Re-awakening — Rebirth.
The same cycle of the Sun is accomplished in a yearly round — with its equinoxes and solstices. Naturally, these days are marked with special rites, feasts.
«Arew – same as Areg, that is — Aregakn, which is called the Eye of the Sun; and the Light or ray of the sun, as Revealer of all things»:
«Arewakn – same as Aregakn, which is also the Eye of the sun; the eye of light»:
«Arew – by similitude Life, or vitality»:
«Arewahark – The hour in which the sun strikes or is struck, that is dawns; sunrise; sun’s-edges: «Now it is day and sunstrike» (Tonak.)»:
«Arewatsayt or Arewtsayt – the hour of springing forth or of dawning — or the dawning of the sun; sunrise»:
«Arewapar – Light-glorious, solar»:
«Arewshatutiwn- Length of life»:
«Arewadem – sunflower: A flower with a sun-like face, or which turns its face towards the sun»…
The eloquent explanations drawn from the «New Dictionary of the Haykazian Language» can be continued at length:
The Sun-worshipping Forefathers of the Armenians — the light-born — Arevordi Haykazuns, founded the Haykian teaching on the glorification of Light — of Wisdom.
Rightly, it is the Sun that with its warmth grants vitality to Nature, mingled with the other elements — nourishes, fertilizes…
It is the Sun’s light that dispels darkness and makes the invisible visible, gives the possibility of seeing reality — arms with true knowledge, develops consciousness, makes wise and from a chaotic state clarifies, brightens the mind.
Therefore — through cognition it drives towards self-perfection.
The Sun, its Light is that pure and perfect source from which knowledge flows. And the Sun’s ray is that bond which unites Man — a particle of Creation with the Whole — the Cosmic.
«Charagayt — Radius of light; Light spread around, Beam, gleam, ray, shining, glimmer»:
The symbolism of the beam — of the ray — taken from Mihrism, along with numerous other episodes, is evident in Christianity.
«Ray of the father’s glory — thou only-begotten son» (Shar.):
«(The Son from the father) as a ray sent from the sun — comes forth from it; and is another than it — being one by nature; the one sun, and the other ray» (Kiwregh, book of Treasures)» (quoted from the dictionary «New Dictionary of the Haykazian Language»):
In the darkness of night the one who brings the Sun’s light to the Earth — the «Ray-bearer», is the Moon, through which (not directly) the gleam of the ray is reflected.
«Charagayaber – that bears rays within itself; Rayed; (according to the pagans — epithet of Anahit, on whose head the moon is painted):
«I swear by the ray-bearing Artemis». (Vrd. kalistr. i Ch.G.):
Charagayalois – Having the light of rays; Light-radiant»…
The paths of the search for Wisdom, for Truth are linked with the uncovering of the harmonious laws of Nature, of the Universe, of the regularities at work.
On the occasion of the feast of Arevagal the Haykazun Arevordis again sound the commandment «Know thyself!» — glorifying «Mihr who establishes Justice on the Earth — in the right hand — a dagger, and in the left hand — a Torch — to spread the Creative Light — Wisdom».
Photo — from the page of Kurm Harut Arakelyan — with gratitude…
