Meetings with Remarkable Men

Once every 20 years

we Ashokhs meet here

to test the power of our art.

This valley is unique.

Only a sound

of special quality

will make its stones vibrate.

He who can produce this sound

will be the winner.

Where does an Ashokh learn to play?

From his father.

And he, where did he learn?

From his father.

And so on back.

How far back?

Back to God.

And where is God just now?

God, just now, is in Sarykamich.

And what is God doing there? He is making double ladders.

On the tops of them, he is fixing happiness.

And why is God doing that?

So that people and nations

can go up and down.

So your family wants you to become a priest.

Yes, but I am interested in science.

Then, study medicine as well.

Body and soul depend on one another.

Become yourself.

Then God and the devil don't matter.

Pick it up.

Karpenko!

The earth is too small for both of us.

- One of us must die. - You are right.

They must fight a duel.

Yes, a duel!

Quiet!

What with?

It is difficult to find pistols,

but it is easy to find canons. One of you must die.

In a duel with canons both of you might die.

If you take the risk

it's the easiest thing in the world.

If you're killed, we'll say you went to collect copper and lead

and didn't know they'd be firing today.

Karpenko!

Come on! Hurry! Get down!

He's breathing!

Quick, pick him up!

Carefully! Mind his leg.

Did you think you were going to die?

Were you afraid?

What did you feel?

What is it like not to be here anymore?

Father...

When we die, Father, is nothing left?

How shall I put it?

Some people say we have a soul

that goes on living when we are dead.

But I don't believe this.

And yet I am certain

there is no doubt

that through certain experiences

we can develop a very fine substance in ourselves.

When we die

this substance does not die at the same time,

but much later.

-What is it? - It's a Yezide.

He can't get out of the circle.

Professor, can I ask you something?

Of course, come and sit down.

Have a vodka.

What is it you want to know?

Why can't Yezides get out of a circle?

Probably because they've taken a vow

never to get out of a circle.

It's not that they can't.

They don't wish to break that vow.

Yezides are devil worshippers,

so of course the devil leaves them alone.

But he limits their freedom

so that no one should guess that they're his servants.

I'm sorry intelligent people still believe in such rubbish.

Give them a bottle of vodka

and they'll get out quick enough!

Doctor lvanov, Your Excellency...

What do you think?

It's simply hysteria.

Hysteria?

Yes, hysteria.

He was buried yesterday.

His spirits crept into him in the night

and brought him here.

He's evil.

Now he can't do any more harm.

- Are you Gurdjieff? - Yes.

I am Sarkis Pogossian. I've just come from Kars.

Your father asked me to give you this.

Have you anywhere to stay?

No, the town's full.

Stay with me.

I'm here to finish my studies

and in two years, I'll be ordained as a priest.

Is that what you want?

My faith is very strong.

But a priest... to become a priest...

I don't know.

My father said, "If you want to lose your faith

"make friends with a priest."

Nothing convinces me either.

Science proves one thing,

religion another

and both seem equally true.

So what?

I've read every sort of book,

new, old.

I've seen marvels which I can't explain

and I am more thirsty than ever.

What are you looking for?

I want to know why I am here.

Why I am here?

Can any of us know that?

There is a group of us all shattered by that question.

Nothing will stop us until we find an answer.

This is Yelov.

He's an Aissor. You know what that means?

"Boil 7 Russians, you get a Jew,

"boil 7 Jews, you get an Armenian,

"boil 7 Armenians, you get an Aissor."

But what do you know of Aissors?

An Aissor can make good business out of anything.

We're trying to understand the power of vibrations.

We are working in the dark.

This collection is unique.

It gives the mathematical basis of studies in the old monasteries.

I knew it had to exist somewhere.

He wants 5 rubels.

Impossible.

We must have them.

American canary.

Magnificent American canary.

- How much? - 5 rubels.

I'II take it.

- There's nothing in this. - Nor this.

Quick! We found something!

What is it?

- Can you read it? - It's in old Armenian.

They seem to be letters from one monk to another.

"We have at last succeeded

"in learning the truth

"about the Sarmoung brotherhood."

I've seen that name in one of the books.

The most ancient of all the secret schools,

it was founded in Babylon in the year 2500 BC.

But after the 6th century disappears without a trace.

Go on.

The Sarmoung brotherhood exists

in the valley of lzroumin, 3 days from Nivssi.

It might still be there today.

We must go.

It's a dangerous region. There have been massacres.

- It's not important. - It's forbidden to foreigners.

The frontier is closed and it's heavily guarded.

I must find this school.

We haven't the money.

I'II make some.

I'll ride on the devil's back if necessary,

as long as I get there.

Anyhow, we can't all go.

I'm coming with you.

Sit down!

We need these letters to be delivered secretly.

You'II be paid each time.

Here's the list of priests who help our movement.

Take care.

Halt! Halt!

Jump!

My leg!

I have a letter for you.

My friend is very ill.

Bring him in. You are very welcome.

I have lived here all my life,

there has never been a school like the one you describe,

not here.

What did you say it was called?

Sarmoung?

The year before last, a man quite unknown to me

came and asked me to show him a map I possess.

How could he have known I had it? I have no idea.

I inherited it from my grandfather.

The man was so insistent I thought why shouldn't I let him see it?

He looked at the parchment

and immediately offered me 200 Turkish pounds for it.

You might like to take a look at it.

He said it was a map of Egypt before the sands.

I didn't wish to part with it. Anyway, I didn't need the money

so I refused.

The next day he came to offer 500 pounds.

Now I was tempted!

But this proved to me

that it must be very valuable