A few years ago during one of his international visits US President George W. Bush decided to walk on the street and talk to people. On of the cunning passersby was able to steal his watch. Bush got very sad and even through the press secretary of the White House tried to ask the thief to return the watch. The watch was not the production of Franck Muller Company. As he later confessed he has bought it at only 50 USD. It had an inscription in the back, which makes the watch valuable for Bush. The stolen item wasn’t returned but everybody was surprised that Bush was wearing a fifty-dollar watch. American famous magazines couldn’t miss to check the outfit of one of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates. The latter wears inexpensive suits; the cheapness of the frame of his glasses is seen even on the screen. However, he doesn’t feel bad about that. Even more he doesn’t even notice that. Such an overview was decided to conduct when the Russian media informed about the assault on an Armenian businessman. The first reaction of hearing this news was the traditional assumption that Armenians are being persecuted in Russia. However the second part of the news relaxed our anger. According to the news release two Caucasian-looking men have shot and stabbed the Armenian MP Tigran Arzakantsyan at four in the morning in the casino. A similar incident happened to the MP about a year ago. The criminals have stolen his 50 thousand-dollar cell-phone and Franck Muller watch. We hope that very soon the NA MP will be recovered in the hospital. However, we are wondering how should the 50-thousand dollar cell phone look. Moreover, not only Tigran Arzakantsyan has a watch like that. We asked the phone specialists about that and they hesitate to definitely say what that phone should look like. However, they said it may be possible if the phone skin is made of platinum and is covered by diamonds. We don’t find it expedient to speak about the possible functions of the phone. Perhaps only psychiatrists and psychologists can answer what can make a person carry a 50 thousand-dollar cell phone or why one of the assistants of the Prosecutor General would ever think of having a pool in his house full of crocodiles. The fact that the wealthy people of Armenia have peacocks next to their swimming pools, wild bears and lions growling in their gardens and diamond covered cell phones means that it’s dangerous when illiterate people have money. However it is great that opposite examples also exist in the world. In the world and in Armenia there have been wise men, philosophers, who strived to live on behalf of the society. They tried to preach people not to strive for wealth and pleasure and live for spiritual values. In general the point of pilgrimage was to live for spiritual values and tranquility. They claimed that the soul should overwhelm the body. Pilgrimage helped to save the soul from secular pleasures. The pilgrims and hermits were wearing old clothes and were eating strictly moderately in order not to die from starvation. The first of them was Saint Poghos Tebayitatsi, who has lived in sole solitude for 97 years. He was spending hermitage in obscurity in the hill. There was a spring in the mountain that was quelling his thirst. The palm trees growing near his cave were providing him with clothes and food. One crown was bringing him a piece of bread every day after he turned 60. Another famous person Saint Anton Anapatakan was below 20 when his parents died leaving him a great heritage. However he later decided to share his lands with poor villagers after he hears a prayer at the church. He departs for a desert to live as a hermit. The pastors were sleeping on the chairs and the chairs were built in a way that the pastors would stand on them even when sleeping. There were clergymen, who would neither eat nor drink during the big Easter. They would just eat cabbage from Sunday to Sunday. At the beginning of the 5th century new type of hermits were formed, named “syunakyac”. First of those hermits was Simeon. At the age of 14 he has accepted the strict rules of the lifestyle of the clergyman. He died in 460 A.D. at the age of 72 after suffering on the poles for 47 years. If there were people, who were suffering on the poles there were also the ones, who were suffering in the deep pits. The most famous one was Hovhan Gbnetsi. At the age of 15 Gbnetsi went to the desert. One day he found one pit, prayed an fell into it. He asked the God to feed him till death and promised to stay there till he dies. He stayed in the pit for 10 years and died at the age of 25. If wished we can insist that we contemporary Armenians are no worse hermits than Hovhan Gbnetsi, however we are not 25 any more…
