Komitas’ letter to the Catholicos of all Armenians, Mattheos II, on September 5, 1909:

“I have been a monk of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin for twenty years. I entered this institution to serve it. During those twenty years I was not allowed to do what I can, for I saw only traps and injustice. My nerves are on edge, and I can see no way to stand this any longer. I need rest but cannot find it and I desire for honest work, which is hindered. I try to close my ears not to hear, to shut my eyes not to see, to bind my legs not to be tempted, to control my emotions not to become angry, but since I am human, I fail. My conscience dies, my energy cools, my life wanes, and only perplexity remains in my soul and heart. If Your Holiness wishes not to lose but find me, I beg you in tears to release me from the monastic order of Holy Etchmiadzin and appoint as solitary of the Sevan monastery. I have lost twenty years; let me at least use the rest of my life to write down quietly the results of my studies and thus render a more important service to the long-suffering Armenian church and scholarship.”