On Thursday, June 15, His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate, received the visit of brothers Michael and John Yotnakparian, who donated a work by famed Armenian painter Sarkis Katchadourian (1886-1947) to the Eastern Prelacy. The Yotnakparian brothers are relatives of Mgrdich Yotneghparian, the leader of the heroic defense of Urfa in 1915, during the Armenian Genocide.
Katchadourian’s painting of Avetis Aharonian (1866-1948), the celebrated writer and politician who was president of the Delegation of the first Republic of Armenia and signed the Treaty of Sevres in 1920 on its behalf, had belonged to their late aunt, Mrs. Virginia Kerbeykian, former delegate to the National Representative Assembly from Sts. Vartanantz Church (New Jersey), who had expressed the wish to make the donation.
Dr. Vartan Matiossian, the Prelacy’s Executive Director, joined the meeting, during which Archbishop Anoushavan expressed his gratitude for the donation, a treasure not only because of its artistic value but also because of the subject, as Aharonian’s life and work have come to represent the triumphs and tragedies of Armenian history in the 20th century.