Birth of Arshak Madoyan (July 1, 1938)

A prolific researcher and lecturer on Armenian ancient literature, Arshak Madoyan left his imprint with his many publications, critical editions of texts, and translations into Modern Armenian.   

He was born in Akhalkalak (Javakhk), on July 1, 1938, in a family of intellectuals. He studied at the Hovhannes Tumanian School of his hometown (1945-1953), and after moving to Yerevan, he graduated from the Ghazaros Aghayan School (1955). Then he graduated from the School of Philology at Yerevan State University (1961), where he defended his two doctorates (1970 and 1985).  

Starting in 1971, he worked at the Center of Armenological Investigations of Yerevan State University, becoming its director from 1986-2006 and senior researcher from 2001-2006. He became a lecturer at the School of Philology in 1986 and professor at the chair of Journalism in 1994. He also taught history of Armenian ancient literature at the Armenian Seminary of Jerusalem and at the Gevorgian Lyceum of Etchmiadzin.    

He was senior researcher at the Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences (2006-2009) and editor-in-chief of the monthly Etchmiadzin of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin from 2009-2015.   

Arshak Madoyan started publishing articles on his specialty in 1962. He published monographs, compiled various collections of texts, and translated and edited many books, producing critical editions of medieval authors such as Arakel Siunetsi (the subject of his first doctoral dissertation) and Hovhannes Imastaser. Among his published books are Armeno-Russian Literary Interconnections (1985), The Poet Arakel Siunetsi (1987), The Classics of Armenian Studies about the Unified Ortography (2007), etcetera.  

He was decorated with the St. Sahak-St. Mesrop order of Holy Etchmiadzin in 2008. He passed away in Yerevan on February 22, 2021.