"Kitabu cha Sala", ambacho pengine kinajulikana kama "Kitabu cha Maombolezo", ni kati ya maandishi bora ya fasihi ya Kiarmenia na kimetafsiriwa katika lugha nyingi.
Utafiti uliofanywa hivi karibuni kuhusu maandishi yake unadokeza kwamba alifahamu vitabu vya Ugiriki wa kale vilivyotafsiriwa katika Kiarmenia. Kwa mfano, kwamba alijua sana vile vya Plato, Aristotle, Porfiri, Plotino na Filo wa Aleksandria.
Hiyo ilichangia kumfanya ashukiwe kama baba yake kuwa mzushi, yaani kufuata mafundisho ya Mtaguso wa Kalsedonia tofauti na waliofanya Waarmenia wengi.
Kitabu cha Sala
Kitabu hicho kimejulikana kwa muda mrefu kama kimojawapo kati ya vile bora vya Ukristo wote.
Gregori alikiita "kamusi elezo ya sala kwa mataifa yote" kwa sababu alitumaini kitaongoza watu wa dunia nzima katika sala.
Akiombwa na wanajumuia wenzake, alilenga kupata jibu kwa swali gumu: "Mtu anaweza kumtolea nini Mungu, muumba wetu, ambaye anavyo tayari vitu vyote na anajua yote vizuri kuliko tunavyoweza kuyaeleza sisi?" Swali hilo walilojiuliza manabii, watunzi wa Zaburi, mitume na watakatifu, alilijibu kwa unyenyekevu – kama mlio wa moyoni.
Katika sala 95, Gregori alitumia uwezo wote wa lugha ya Kiarmenia ili kutafsiri hisia za uchungu na unyenyekevu katika toleo la maneno yaliyofikiriwa kumpendeza Mungu.
Mwaka wa uandishi haujulikani vizuri, lakini ulimalizika miaka 1001-1002, mwaka mmoja kabla hajafa.
Kwake ni lazima lengo kuu la binadamu wote liwe kumfikia Mungu, na kutumia yale yote ambayo umbile linawapatia ili kuungana naye, kwa kufuta tofauti zilizopo kati yao na yeye. Muungano huo unawezekana si kwa njia ya mantiki bali ya hisia. Hapo matatizo ya maisha haya yangekoma.
Grigor Narekatsi. Lamentations of Narek. Mystic Soliloquies with God. Edited and translated by Mischa Kudian. Mashtots Press. London 1977.
Grigor Narekatsi. Kniga Skorbi, translated into Russian by Naum Grebnev, Preface by Levon Mkrtchian, Sovetakan Grokh, Yerevan, 1977
St. Grigor Narekatsi. Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart. Translation and introduction by Thomas Samuelian. Yerevan: Vem, 2001.
Kéchichian, Isaac, s.j. (introd., trad. et notes). Grégoire de Narek: Le Livre de Prières. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1961.
Mahé, Annie et Jean-Pierre (introd., trad. et notes). Grégoire de Narek: Tragédie, Matean Olbergut'ean, Le Livre de lamentation. Louvain: Peters, 2000 (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium; vol. 584. Subsidia, t. 106).
Samwel Poghosyan, "My Narekaci" Yerevan, 2007
Grégoire de Narek, Prières, adapté de l'arménien et présenté par Vahé Godel, éd. bilingue, Éditions de la Différence, Orphée, Paris, 1990
Luc-André Marcel Garo Poladian, Choix de poèmes arméniens, Hamaskaïne W. Sethian Press, Beyrouth, 1980
Luc-André Marcel, Grégoire de Narek et l'ancienne poésie arménienne, éd. Cahiers du Sud, 1954
Muziki uliorekodiwa
Alfred Schnittke. Choir Concerto (Concerto for Mixed Chorus). Valery Polyansky directs the Russian State Symphonic Cappella. Duration: 45 minutes (43'44"). CHANDOS CHAN 9332 (CD)
Collected Songs Where Every Verse is Filled with Grief, arranged by the Kronos Quartet (David Harrington, 1997) from Alfred Schnittke's "Concerto for Mixed Choir." Recorded: 1993-97 Length - 8 min 13 sec Studio / Live: Studio. Performers: Dutt, Hank — Viola ; Harrington, David — Violin; Jeanrenaud, Joan — Cello; Sherba, John — Violin.
Marejeo
Nikoghos Tahmizian, Grigor Narekatsi and the Armenian Music from 5th to 15th Centuries (kwa Kiarmenia), 1985, Armenian Academy of Sciences, Yerevan, Armenia.
La spiritualità armena. Il libro della lamentazione di Gregorio di Narek, trad. e note di B.L. Zekiyan, Introduz. di B.L. Zekiyan e Cl. Gugerotti, Presentazione di D. Barsotti, Ed.ni Studium, Roma 1999 (kwa Kiitalia)