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Armenian Canon Lists V—Anonymous Texts*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Michael E. Stone
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Extract

In manuscript no. 1142B (Jl 142) in the Library of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, on fol. 267r, there is a previously unpublished Canon List. The manuscript is a Miscellany, in the notrgir script, and although undated it cannot be very old. It contains various theological and homiletical works, and the list is followed, on fol. 268V, by a work given in the Catalogue as “Ezekiel." The text of the list was copied from the manuscript. The chief abbreviations have been resolved.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1990

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References

1 Bogharian, N., Grand Catalogue of St. James Manuscripts (Jerusalem: St. James Press, 1969) 4. 227–29 (in Armenian)Google Scholar.

2 Ibid., vol. 3 (1968).

3 See N. Bogharian, (Armenian Writers [Jerusalem: St. James Press, 1971] 294-99Google Scholar)for a brief biography and a list of his writings. The first part of P'. Ant'abyan's detailed study of Vartan's life and works has reached our hands, but it does not include a discussion of this text. See Ant'abyan, P., (Vardan Arevelc'i: Life and Works [Erevan: Academy of Sciences, 1987] 1)Google Scholar.

4 See Stone, , “The List of Gregory of Tat'ew,” 239–44Google Scholar.

5 On this work, see Ant'abyan, , Vardan Arevelc'i, 110–26Google Scholar.

6 See Bogharian, , Catalogue, 3. 398Google Scholar.

7 See Bogharian, , Catalogue, 3. 413Google Scholar.

8 Eganyan, O., Zeyt'unyan, A., and Ant'abyan, P., (Catalogue of Manuscripts of the Maštoc' Matenadaran [Erevan: Academy of Sciences, 1970] 2. 1067–68)Google Scholar.

9 These lists are clearly related. J888 and J898 share a common ancestor, as is evident from their shared errors. They are both also related to J1140, and that group of three manuscripts is more closely related to M10200.

10 The text is drawn from Ter-Movsessian, M., History of the Armenian Version of the Bible (St. Petersburg, 1902) 285 (in Russian)Google Scholar.

11 Stone, “The List of Gregory of Tat'ew.”

12 See note on 1. 16 below.

13 The reckoning in this manuscript differs at some points from the 22-book reckoning of Gregory of Tat'ew. Gregory omits “Ezra” altogether and regards the four books of Kingdoms as two groups of two books (11. 65–66).

14 Perhaps it should have been “2 Books of the Paralipomena of the Days,” this being a title found in Armenian for Chronicles.

15 Observe that in Armenian there are two ancient translations preserved of the Book of Chronicles. One is that found in most Bibles, including the Zohrab edition. The other is much rarer. It was edited by Xalat'ianc', G.(The Book of Chronicles According to the Oldest Armenian Translation; Moscow: 1899)Google Scholar.

16 See our discussion of this entry.

17 Gregory of Tat'ew's second list, the short one, contains one Ezra and Nehemiah.

18 Admittedly, we have translated this as “is of these.” That does not make much sense in context or by grammar either, but is the best that we could do here.

19 The words “and others” were erroneously omitted from our English translation of this list, though they occur in the Armenian text of it.

20 In the following discussion of the Greek lists, “Swete” followed by a number refers to the page number in Swete, H. B., Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1914)Google Scholar.

21 See the list of copies assembled by Stone, Michael E., “New Evidence for the Armenian Version of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,” RB 88 (1977) 94107Google Scholar.

22 There are two Abschiedsreden of Tobit himself, one in 4:3-21, and the other, a true testament, in 14:3-11.

23 The second (perhaps older) translation was published by Mourad, F., (The Old Armenian Translation of the Revelation of John; Jerusalem: St. James Press, 1905-1911)Google Scholar. Compare also Conybeare, F., The Armenian Version of Revelation (London: Text & Translation Society, 1907)Google Scholar.

24 See Appendix, 27–29.

25 The past tense tp “was” accords with Zohrab, while the present tense in Jl 142 varies from that.

26 Tayec'i, E., (Uncanonical Books of the New Testament; Venice: Mechitarist Press, 1898) 451–87Google Scholar.

27 So also J888, J898.

28 In J888 there are variants of the text that do not affect the meaning.

29 In Jl 142 “of Epiphanius” is added. This adds yet another conundrum to this already difficult passage.

30 Thus in some sources the Infancy Gospel is called “Book of James.” There was a Gnostic apocryphal epistle of James and two Gnostic apocalypses as well. On the latter, see Robinson, James M., The Nag Hammadi Library in English (New York: Harper and Row, 1978) 242–55Google Scholar. The Nag Hammadi material also contains an Apocryphon of James, and the list of James apocrypha could be further extended.

31 See Hakobyan, V., y (Armenian Canon Books; Erevan: Academy of Sciences, 1964) 1. 67Google Scholar. On the Clementine attribution, see further, for example, Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, s.v. ed. Cross, F. L. and Livingstone, E. A. (2nd rev. ed.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983)Google Scholar. Compare also the eight Clementine works mentioned by Nicholaus III grammaticus, Patriarch of Constantinople (Pitra, J. B., Spicilegium Solesmense [Paris: 1859] 48, no. 16)Google Scholar.

32 See Esbroeck, M. v., Barsabe de Jerusalem sur le Christ et les Eglises (PO 41. 2; Turnhout: Brepols, 1982) 156Google Scholar.

33 See ibid., 159. There exists an Armenian Epistle of Justus, edited by Akinian, N., Untersuchungen zu den sogennanten Kanones des hi. Sahak und das armenische Kirchengeschichte am Anfang des 7. Jahrhunderts (Vienna: Mechitarist, 1950) 190–91Google Scholar. This document is discussed in detail with a translation by Esbroeck, van, Barsabe, 159–62Google Scholar. It does not bear the character of an Apocryphon. For further discussion, see also idem, L'homelie de Pierre de Jerusalem et la fin de l'origenisme,” OrChrP 51. 1 (1985) 3359Google Scholar, esp. 58–59. I am indebted to B. Outtier who drew my attention to this material.

34 James, M. R., The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1924) 84Google Scholar.

35 The Epistle of Clement to Dionysius is referred to by Bardenhewer, O., Geschichte, 2. 302Google Scholar. The Clementine corpus is extensive in the various languages of the early churches, as consultation of the handbooks rapidly shows. Some of the works contained in the present list have connections with Clement, while others are included in the list, it appears, chiefly because of their connections with the apostolic age.

36 He appears as “Krospos” in the Armenian version, see Tayec'i, , Uncanonical Books, 319Google Scholar.

37 The relationships are, in fact, rather complex as is evident, for example, from the shared readings of J898 and M10200 noted in note on 1. 51.

38 Stone, , “The List of Gregory of Tat'ew,” 243Google Scholar.