In his own words, only Africa doesn't host any of his khachkars. Can we conclude that where there is an Armenian, there must be a khachkar? When did our guest have contact with khachkar as with a spiritual ambassador, soldier, and carrier of prayers? How did adults manage to plunge him into despair when he was still a child? And when he learned that the Universe has an owner, what did change in his life at large? Why is he convinced that most of all it is family members that don't know a human being? He came to our radio station in a preoccupied mood. What's the reason? You'll get the answers to these questions in the portrait of People's Artisan of Armenia Varazdat Hambardzumyan.

His roots are from Cilicia, but neither his grandfather nor his father or aunt spoke Armenian. His mother and grandmother were not Armenians. While he speaks Armenian, and his wife is an Armenian. How has it happened that for his knowledge of Armenian he is indebted to his non-Armenian mother? He knew his fatherland from distance as a place of paradise with its once great kings and glory. What did he feel when he came to Armenia and saw a post-Soviet country with destroyed economy and infrastructures? Being once Armenia's number one taxpayer, today one of its biggest taxpayers and employers, what challenges does he see for the company managed by him? Why will hardly anyone with insufficient knowledge of Armenian history and culture work in his company? What is Christianity for him, and why do nations perish? You'll get the answers to these questions in the portrait of Ralph Yirikian, General Manager at VivaCell-MTS.

Today the words "Karabagh Committee member" mean nothing and are somewhat strange to many people, while without any exaggeration he can be called a son of the revolution and movement of 1988, not only the son, but also the moderator and number one orator. The people of the mass rallies of 1988 held their breath during his speeches. Why don't many of the modern youth know him? Is this a historical injustice toward an individual? Why is the memory of humanity becoming shorter and shorter with time? Why did he dream of working at an orphanage, and why, because of it, have his two oldest children been calling him by his name until now? Why was he excommunicated from the Soviet Communist Party? And what does the former member of the Communist Party think today about the former president of Iran, about truth, and about God?
 

He could become a boxer, artist, builder, or pilot. But he chose just this profession. He was a political prisoner in the USSR for ten years. Why did this become his life's only profession? According to Soviet court verdict, he was a "recidivist" – a repeat offender. He has titles gained in different prisons. Does he have a sense that the start of his life had been wrong and he has lost some life time? Why is he convinced after so many years that he wasn't a dissident and that the whole Armenian nation was dissident, while he himself was the nation's only orthodox son? And, finally, what does he mean saying "I am an Orthodox?" You'll get the answers of these questions in the portrait of politician Azat Arshakyan.

Why didn't the grandson of the famous doctor become a doctor after graduating from the Medical Institute, choosing instead to become a musician? How did Yeremia Artsruni get his title from the Russian Empire, the title testifying to his belonging to the Artsruni royal family, and how is Vahan Artsruni related to all of this? How can he manage to compose in such a wide range of music styles from chamber music to rock, from electronic to symphonic and spiritual music? Why doesn't he have answers, both short and long, to questions concerning morality and subtle aspects of conscience yet? His grandfather bequeathed his heart and brain to an institute. Whom will Vahan Artsruni Junior bequeath his heart and brain? And finally, you'll get the answers of the questions "Whose fatherland is this?" and "What shall I give you, my love, except love?" in the portrait of musician Vahan Artsruni.

Why did his dream of getting higher education remain unfulfilled? His books "Don Quixote's Diary" and "Gospel of the Snowman" were sold out in a few minutes at their presentation.  Did this happen because of his name or because of the high quality of the books? "Country, I'm yours, but you are not mine" says he. Why isn't there mutuality between them? How does he who once spoke from revolutionary pulpits formulate revolution today? Why is his poetry a struggle with God, and who will win in the end? You'll get the answers to these questions in the portrait of poet and publicist Tigran Paskevichyan.

Who is a journalist, and what is journalism for the journalist? Why is our program's guest proud that he was the press secretary of the first president of the Republic of Armenia during the years of the Karabakh War? Why does he think that there isn't such a big figure in Armenia like the first president? "If newspapers must die, then they will die when the last human being born in the 20th century is dead" assures he. Is this an alarm  to panic or the times for him are very far, behind seven mountains, and it is still possible to be engaged in newspaper journalism? Why is faith in God his sacred sphere which he doesn't want to talk about? You'll listen to the answers of these and many other questions in the portrait of journalist and musicologist Aram Abrahamyan.

When those who do not know her see her, they think she is a European, more precisely, a German. But then they discover she is an Armenian and well-informed in national roots, identity, customs, language and folklore at that, a walking encyclopedia in that sense. How to transfer the past to the present and to the future as a cultural value? Why are national epic, fairy tales and generally folklore excluded from public education? What is our never-ending Sardarapat? The answers to these questions are in the portrait of folk master Lala Mneyan.

• Lala Mneyan

Not only is his perception of literature borderline but also the year of his birth, even the day: January 25, 1950.  He entered the field of literature when he was over 40, that is, at a borderline age for a man. Also his thoughts expressed on different occasions and at different times are contradictory, being at the borderline between good and evil, life and death. It seems as if he doesn't play on any of the fields, because he doesn't have the feeling of belonging to one of them and consequently an obligation to play and win in favor of that field. Such existential questions are discussed in the portrait of writer Gurgen Khanjyan.

Is it possible to be a historian without being a philosopher and theorist of history? After all, where is history more truly documented: in literature or in history textbooks? Are the Independence years in different fields of measurement in the lives of a country and an individual? You'll get the answers to these questions in the portrait of Mher Hovhannisyan.

• Mher Hovhannisyan

• Ara Khzmalyan, theater critic

Why is the living space of an educated person narrowed nowadays? Who is the educated person in reality? What is a mask, and why is it impossible to live without it? Is death an end point or the beginning of a new life? Why does contemporary theater more attach importance to body plasticity than to words? You'll find the answers to these questions in the portrait of Ara Khzmalyan.

What was the childhood of the family's last, 13th, offspring like? Who influenced the formation of his worldview and aesthetic taste during his youth and mature age? What clashes did he have with Soviet censorship and ideological pressure? Why are all of his poems, from the first to the last, permeated with the image of God? The synthesis of these questions and of their answers is presented in the portrait of Razmik Davoyan.

• Razmik Davoyan

Often speaking of the acceptable model for family, we equate it with ethnic content. But shouldn't the Christian model for family be common for the whole society regardless of ethnic peculiarities, as something that fully provides family's spiritual, mental, and physical health?

• Armine Vahanyan

In the modern era of the establishment and implementation of more and newer rights, one of them is the humans' right to die by their own will. Is this an artificial right and in reality a violation of the right for life? Why do not humans have a right to not be born, but they have a right to kill themselves? If it is not we that decide the beginning of this process, doesn't it mean that neither the end is in our hands? What approaches to euthanasia exist in scientific, religious and political discourses nowadays? After all, is euthanasia an implementation of the right to die or is it a murder? 

• Hrant Karapetyan
• Hayarpi Sahakyan

Is there any alternative to the isolation of people with mental health problems and to their stigmatization by the society? Can the Christian approach to this problem provide a fundamental solution for it? Doesn’t the isolation of such people, as a result, lead to self-isolation of the society and to alienation from Christian values?

The World Health Organization has declared September 10 as Suicide Prevention Day. But even on this day, one suicide attempt is carried out every 40 seconds. Do not most suicides have philosophical, existential-axiological reasons? What happens to the psyche of someone who commits suicide — loss of worldview or acquisition of a new worldview?

Which art or works of art can be considered Christian? What criteria should specialists implement in characterizing art as Christian? God created humans in His image and likeness: shouldn't also the humans that try to create something do it according to their divine nature? Then what should be the principles and mission of Christian art?

• Grigor Machanents Babakhanyan