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Armenian Canon Lists VII: The Poetic List of Aṙak‘el of Siwnik‘ (d. 1409)*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 July 2011
Extract
The present study constitutes the seventh member of a series of articles1 in which I publish Armenian lists of biblical books. This article contains, principally, the poetic list attributed to Aṙak‘el of Siwnik‘, a well-known medieval Armenian poet, savant, and scholar who lived from the mid-fourteenth century until 1409. Aṙak‘el was the nephew of the famed theologian and systematician Grigor Tat‘ewac‘i (1344?–1409), whose own canon list was published earlier in this series.2 I am basing my text of Aṙak‘el's list on that published in the work of Ter-Movsesian on the Armenian Bible, which I present in a somewhat emended form and with an English translation below. Ter-Movsesian apparently published Aṙak‘el's text from a manuscript that in his day was in the possession of the distinguished scholar Grigor Xalat‘eanc‘.3 The fate of this manuscript is unknown; it is not to be identified with any of the copies published here. Ter-Movsesian was also aware of another copy then in Eǰmiacin bearing the number 599. This Miscellany, copied in 1660 in an unknown place, is now preserved as number 702 in the Maštoc‘ Matenadaran in Erevan. The text appears on 186r–189v.4
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References
1 See my previous articles on Armenian canon lists: “Armenian Canon Lists I: The Canon of Partaw (768 C.E.),” HTR 66 (1973) 479–86; “Armenian Canon Lists II—The Stichometry of Anania of Shirak (c. 615 – c. 690 C.E.),” HTR 68 (1975) 253–60; “Armenian Canon Lists III—The Lists of Mechitar of Ayrivank‘ (c. 1285 C.E.),” HTR 69 (1976) 289–300; “Armenian Canon Lists IV—The List of Gregory of Tat‘ew (14th Century),” HTR 72 (1979) 237–44; “Armenian Canon Lists V—Anonymous Texts,” HTR 83 (1990) 141–63; “Armenian Canon Lists VI—Hebrew Names and Other Attestations,” HTR 94 (2001) 477–92. See also my articles: “An Armenian Translation of a Baraitha in the Babylonian Talmud,” HTR 63 (1970) 151–54; “L'étude du canon arménien,” in Le canon du Nouveau Testament (ed. Gabriella Aragione, Eric Junod, and Enrico Norelli; Geneva: Labor et Fides, 2005) 281–96.
2 See preceding note.
3 Ter-Movsesian, Mesrop, History of the Armenian Version of the Bible (St. Petersburg: Pushkin, 1902) 264–66Google Scholar [in Russian]. Aṙak‘el's works are listed in Stone, Michael E., Adamgirk‘: The Adam Book of Aṙak‘el of Siwnik‘ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) 41–45Google Scholar. Neither there, nor in other catalogues of Aṙak‘el's works, is this canon list mentioned.
4 It is described in Ōnnik. Ēganean, 
(General Catalogue of the Armenian Manuscripts in the Maštoc‘ Matenadaran) (vol. 3; Erevan: Magałat‘, 2007) 400. Apparently the variants Ter-Movsesian marks as stemming from “X” were drawn from this manuscript.
5 Frederick Murad, 
(The Old Armenian Translation of the Revelation of John) (Jerusalem: Sts. James Press, 1905) 296–97.
6 Bogharian, Norayr, Grand Catalogue of St. James Manuscripts (vol. 2; Jerusalem: Sts. James Press, 1967Google Scholar) [in Armenian].
7 M711, fols. 116r–119v, is described in Ēganyan, General Catalogue 3, 421–26. It was apparently copied in 1724. On M7029, see note 10 below.
8 See Stone, Michael E., Armenian Apocrypha: Relating to Adam and Eve (SVTP 14; Leiden: Brill, 1996) 209Google Scholar and references to earlier works there (Death of Adam, fols. 113r–115v; Concerning the 72 Languages, 158–64).
9 See 
(Book of Questions) (Jerusalem: Sts. James Press, 1993; repr. of ibid. Constantinople, 1729) 298.
10 M7029 is described in Ōnnik Ēganyan, Antranik Zeyt‘unyan and P‘aylak Ant‘abyan, 
(Catalogue of Manuscripts of the Maštoc‘ Matenadaran) (vol. 2; Erevan: Academy of Sciences, 1970) 445–46.
11 See Stone, Adamgirk‘, 42–45 for the most up-to-date such list.
12 It is intriguing that in stanza 17 two lines end in 
and two others in 
. The rhyme is very regular, except for line 33.2.
13 See Stone, Adamgirk‘, 18, 24.
14 
(Ritual for the Ordination of a Bishop) (Vałaršapat: Catholicossate, 1876) 22.
15 Or: God the Spirit made known to them.
16 There is one syllable too many in this line. Perhaps the second word should be 
.
17 The Dormition of John is usually referred to by this tag.
18 These two lines repeat 16.3–4 exactly.
19 The meaning of this stanza is unclear.
20 Despite the formulation in stanza 5, this cannot be interpreted as the biblical form of Jacob's blessings in Genesis 49. In quite a few Armenian biblical manuscripts, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs follows Deuteronomy. See the indexes in Chahé Adjémian (Ajamian), Grand catalogue des manuscrits arméniens de la Bible (Bibliothèque arménienne de la Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian; Lisbon: Gulbenkian Foundation, 1992) index on cols. 1011–12. See the introduction to Michael E. Stone in collaboration with Hillel, Vered, An Editio Minor of the Armenian Version of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (HUAS 11; Leuven: Peeters, 2009Google Scholar), forthcoming.
21 See above, n. 3. Compare also Teaching of St. Gregory §612 (fifth century); Michael the Syrian, Chronicle of the Reverend Michael, Patriarch of the Syrians (Jerusalem: Sts. James Press, 1871) 13 [in Armenian].
22 See Michael E. Stone, “Apocalyptic Historiography,” in Ancient Judaism: New Visions and Views (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2011) 62-69, forthcoming.
23 See Stone, “Canon Lists IV,” 239, 241; cf. “Canon Lists V,” 470–86.
24 See the discussion in n. 20 above.
25 See Stone, Adamgirk‘.
26 See Stone and Hillel, Testaments, “Index of Variants,” no. 241.
27 See Stone, Michael E., Fourth Ezra: A Commentary on the Book of Fourth Ezra (Hermeneia; Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1990) 426Google Scholar, 434, and bibliography there. For the Armenian tradition, idem, see, The Armenian Version of IV Ezra (University of Pennsylvania Armenian Texts and Studies 1; Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press, 1979) 38–39Google Scholar, idem, and, “The Metamorphosis of Ezra: Jewish Apocalypse and Mediaeval Vision,” JTS 33 (1982) 1–18Google Scholar, esp. 2–3. See in general Robert A. Kraft, “‘Ezra' Materials in Judaism and Christianity,” in ANRW 2.19.1 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1979) 119–36.
28 See Adjémian, Grand catalogue, s.v.; Vahan Hovhanissian, “The Repose of the Evangelist John and the Armenian Bible,” in Bringing the Underground to the Foreground: New Perspectives on Jewish and Christian Apocryphal Texts and Traditions; Proceedings of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha Section of the Society for Biblical Literature International Meeting Held in Groningen, the Netherlands, July 25–28, 2004 (ed. Pierluigi Piovanelli), forthcoming.
29 See 
(Ritual for the Ordination of a Bishop) (Vałaršapat: Catholicossate, 1876) 21.