during his exile, slak kakosyan made extensive use of nzhdeh's works to codify the "ukhtagirk" ("book of vows"), the sacred text of the armenian native faith movement. in the book, garegin nzhdeh is deified as an incarnation of vahagn, the re-establisher of the true faith of the armenians and of the aryan values. while still in the united states, kakosyan claimed that he had been initiated to the ancient armenian hereditary priesthood mentioned by moses of chorene, changing his forename from "edik" to "slak". he likely became acquainted with zoroastrian communities in the united states.