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The Anonymous Saint in the Armenian Tradition: Alexi(an)os the Voluntary Pauper or the Anonymous "Man of God"?

Rogozhina, Anna · 2022

Outlines the Armenian tradition of the story of the Man of God, known in Byzantium and the West as St Alexius. The Armenian legend survives in two main forms: a short synaxarial text and a fuller Life preserved in fewer manuscripts. Rogozhina analyses the style of the Armenian text, the striking absence of personal names, and other features that may reveal the origins of the tradition. She concludes that the longer Armenian version likely reflects an older, Syriac layer of the legend, while the shorter versions derive from the Greek: making the Armenian material an important witness to the legend's development outside the Constantinopolitan tradition.

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Published in
Armeniaca. International Journal of Armenian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2022), pp. 39–48; DOI 10.30687/arm/9372-8175/2022/01/002 (Edizioni Ca' Foscari, Venice)
Year
2022
Language
English
DOI
10.30687/arm/9372-8175/2022/01/002

Citation

Rogozhina, Anna 2022. The Anonymous Saint in the Armenian Tradition: Alexi(an)os the Voluntary Pauper or the Anonymous "Man of God"?. Armeniaca. International Journal of Armenian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2022), pp. 39–48; DOI 10.30687/arm/9372-8175/2022/01/002 (Edizioni Ca' Foscari, Venice). https://doi.org/10.30687/arm/9372-8175/2022/01/002

What this offers a reader

For students

The Armenian version of a famous saint's life turns out to preserve an older story than the Greek.

For academics

Hagiographical philology drawing directly on Matenadaran manuscripts.

For the community

Sometimes our manuscripts preserve what everyone else lost.

For a general reader

The Armenian saint's life that preserves an older story than the Greek original.

Topics

Armenian hagiographyMatenadaran manuscriptsSyriac-Armenian contactsasceticismsynaxariontextual transmission

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