Ս. ԳՐԻԳՈՐ ՆԱՐԵԿԱՑՈՒ ԱՍՏՎԱԾԱՇՆՉԱԿԱՆ ՄԵԿՆԱՐՎԵՍՏԸ ԵՒ ԱՐԴԻ ԱՍՏՎԱԾԱԲԱՆՈՒԹՅՈՒՆԸ

<jats:p>SUMMARY The article argues that St. Gregory of Narek’s “Book of Lamentations” should be viewed primarily as a theological text grounded in Scripture, rather than merely as a work of poetry. For Gregory of Narek, the Bible is the primary and indisputable authority: through biblical references, he describes the state of sinfulness and human weakness while simultaneously revealing the path to salvation, understood as an act of God’s mercy. His hermeneutics is distinctly experiential in nature: his personal experience of repentance and need for salvation is interpreted in the light of Scripture, which becomes not only a source of soteriological assertions but also a “key” to understanding his inner spiritual struggle. The article then places this Narekian approach in dialogue with modern Protestant theology using the example of Gerhard Ebeling’s Lutheran hermeneutics, particularly in the context of the relationship between sola Scriptura and sola experientia. Ebeling interprets Scripture as an event of the Word that becomes intelligible through the experience of faith; the distinction between Law and Gospel reveals the purpose of sin for the sake of justification and the renewal of life. A comparison of Gregory of Narek and Ebeling reveals a shared emphasis on the primacy of Scripture and its efficacy in experience, while their methods differ: Narekian approach is almost entirely devoid of historical-critical analysis, whereas a prayerful-existential appropriation of the text predominates. Ultimately, the article demonstrates the possibility of a fruitful dialogue between the Armenian patristic tradition and contemporary theological hermeneutics.</jats:p>