Uncovering Theological Inconsistencies in the History of Agathangelos
Sahakyan, Davit · 2024
Examines two prayer-texts in the fifth-century History of Armenia attributed to Agathangelos and asks whether their theological inconsistencies were in the original composition or crept in through later editing and copying. Reviewing all editions, Sahakyan argues the contested passages are probably not original despite their long presence in the transmission, since they conflict with the doctrinal tenets expressed elsewhere in the prayers and in the History as a whole. He calls for a new critical edition attentive to doctrinal questions, and discusses comparable inconsistencies in the Epic Histories of Pawstos Buzand as a parallel case.
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Sahakyan, Davit 2024. Uncovering Theological Inconsistencies in the History of Agathangelos. Matenadaran: Medieval and Early Modern Armenian Studies (MEMAS), Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 121–136 (Mesrop Mashtots Matenadaran / Brepols); eISSN 3041-5063.
What this offers a reader
How you catch a later hand inserting theology into a fifth-century text.
Source-critical work on a canonical early Armenian historian; argues for a new critical edition.
Even our founding histories were edited by later hands. Scholarship can tell which.
Detecting later edits in the fifth-century history of Armenia's conversion.
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