Download PDF | Zaroui Pogossian - The ''Letter of Love and Concord''_ A Revised Diplomatic Edition with Historical and Textual Comments and English Translation, Brill 2010.
489 Pages
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book has a long story. It started as my Ph.D. dissertation at the Medieval Studies Department of Central European University (Budapest, Hungary). During the several years that I dedicated to this study, I had the privilege and honour of encountering many persons whose advice, help and encouragement were instrumental for producing this book.
I express my deep gratitude, first and foremost, to my Ph.D. supervisor, Prof. Istvan Perczel. From the very first day I discussed the idea of preparing a critical edition, Prof. Perczel did not tire of supporting my ideas or changes of ideas throughout the five years of my Ph.D. research and even beyond, always encouraging me to continue on and prepare this publication. His stimulating suggestions, challenges to look deeper into the issues and explore aspects not so evident at first glance, have been of paramount importance for continuing my studies even in moments when I was pessimistic about the end results.
I am deeply indebted to Dr. Erna Manea Shirinian from the MaStoc’ Matendaran in Yerevan, Armenia, who, first, as the external supervisor of my Ph.D. dissertation, later, as a senior colleague and friend, has given me valuable scholarly advice and moral support for bringing my work to completion. She has had the patience to read and re-read the drafts and semi-completed versions of this work, always providing me with to-the-point criticism or suggestions, as well as guiding me at the initial stages of my work through the sea of available literature. Moreover, she has been invaluable for her practical help in getting microfilms or microfilm copies from the MaStoc* Matendaran and sending them to Italy in the most improbable of circumstances. I am grateful to Father Boghos Levon Zekiyan, from the University of Venice and the Pontificio Istituto Orientale (Rome), who has also followed my work from its earliest stages. Father Levon’s knowledge and wisdom he shared with me have led me through the intricacies of the various theological and ecclesiological issues treated in this book, for which I express my heartfelt thanks to him.
While working on the book I have often contacted Armenologists or other historians and philologists around the world, asking their advice and opinion on the many specific subjects that I had to deal with throughout my research. I have appreciated not only their scholarly counsel but also the excitement and interest they demonstrated towards my work. I would like to thank Drs. Peter Cowe, Peter Halfter, Sergio La Porta, Laura Minervini, Pierfrancesco Porena, James Russell, Felicitas Schmieder, Michael Stone, Fr. Robert Tafts, Edda Vardanyan and Jos Weitenberg.
Naturally, this edition would have been impossible without the good will and cooperation of the institutions or libraries where the numerous mss are preserved. I would like to thank the stuff and colleagues at the Mastoc* Matendaran in Yerevan who allowed me access to the manuscripts preserved at this institution, as well as provided any required microfilms or microfilm copies, always in a timely manner. My particular thanks go to Anahit Hayrapetyan who helped me identify the location of the text under investigation in several mss. Moreover, without the wonderful Armenian coffees in between collations of mss prepared by my colleagues and friends of the Matenadaran, without their pleasant chats and the relaxing atmosphere they created in the midst of hectic Yerevan, I may not have had the force to continue to study yet another manuscript.
I cannot forget the emotions experienced in the delightful St. T‘oros Chapel of the St. James Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem where I collated the mss preserved there. I express my deepest gratitude to the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitute Torkom II Manoogyan for allowing me access to these mss. I would not have been able to finish the task during the short time I was able to stay in Jerusalem without the generous help of Oriord Arpik.
Fathers at the Mechitarist Congregation both in Venice and Vienna also kindly opened the doors of their libraries to me and allowed me to study the manuscripts preserved there in the perfect calmness and tranquility within their venerable walls.
I express my thanks to the stuff of Biliothéque Nationale de France, Paris for allowing me access to the mss preserved there.
I am thankful to the stuff and colleagues at the Central European University, Medieval Studies Department, particularly Ph.D. programme coordinators Dorottya Domanovszky and Csilla Dobos, as well as Annabella Pal who helped me in all organizational matters related to the first stage of this work. I would also like to thank my colleagues at John Cabot University and the American University of Rome, Drs. Alessandra Grego, Luca De Caprariis, Gene Ogle, Barbara Roggema, Shannon Russell, James Walston and many others who have always been ready to listen to my ideas and give valuable, often fresh suggestions coming from scholars working in different fields, and bringing a new perspective to the issues at hand.
The editor Marcella Mulder from Brill publishing house has patiently followed the various stages of editing and production of this book, for which I thank her deeply. I am also thankful to the copy-editor Alison Bryant without whose work its English would have been much less fluent. I finished the final version of this work while I was a Humboldt fellow at the University of Tubingen. I express my gratitute to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for its generous support in covering the final copy-editing costs.
Last but not least, I thank my family. Their love, affection and support provided the conditio sine qua non I would not have managed to finish this study. I dedicate my work to Vasco, Arechi and Giulia Sofia.
INTRODUCTION AND PRESENTATION OF THE TEXT
This study is concerned with a text known as Letter! of Love and Concord between the Great Emperor Constantine and the Holy Pope Sylvester and Trdat, King of the Armenians, and Holy Gregory, the Illuminator of the Armenians. This Letter was composed in the Armenian Cilician milieu, sometime in the last decade of the twelfth century. It has traditionally been repudiated as a latinophile falsification, not necessarily worthy of being examined too thoroughly. Fortunately, many contemporary scholars have abandoned this attitude, especially taking into consideration the fact that forgeries tell us much about the mentality and ideology of the time period when they were created.* The purpose of this study is to present a revised diplomatic edition of this text based on an initial full collation of 54 mss and a sample collation of 9 mss (of which 19 are maintained in the apparatus), as well as to provide a historical introduction, textual comments and to propose a likely date for its composition.
PRESENTATION OF THE TEXT
Before embarking on a historical, textual or philological analysis, it is necessary to present the text of the Letter of Love and Concord, dividing it into sections that will appear in the same order both in the Armenian text and the English translation.’ The division of the text is my interpolation into the text and is based on ‘themes’ as they appear in this text. At this point no comments will be provided.
The TD* is entitled: Letter of Love and Concord between the Great Emperor Constantine and the Holy Pope Sylvester and Trdat, King of the Armenians, and Holy Gregory, the Illuminator of the Armenians.
1. It starts with an official proclamation of Constantine, ‘Great and August King of Kings’ that this is his ‘testament’ Then Pope Sylvester, who is told to have powers from East to West to bind and loose, on his part states that this is also his ‘decretal.
2-4. The story goes on, narrated by Constantine, about the visit of Trdat and Gregory to the holy places in the West, as well as to honour the ‘splendidly crowned’ Pope, the newly converted Emperor, and his family (his mother Helen and his children). Full of joy for such an event, Constantine and Sylvester go out to meet Trdat and Gregory with great preparations. Upon their meeting, they glorify Christ and proceed to the palace where they spend many days in bodily and spiritual feasting.
5. co the occasion, taxes are cancelled, prisoners are liberated and Gregory the Illuminator blesses the salt to be sent to the ‘the sacrificial victims, lest the holy sacrifice be performed in a pagan manner. Gregory's confession of faith is proclaimed in all the churches throughout the Empire.
6. When Trdat and Gregory prepare to leave, a great assembly is convened, attended by dignitaries both from Armenian (e.g. the seventy thousand that went with Trdat) and Roman sides. Trdat and Constantine sign an official pact of alliance, having mixed ‘Christ's blood’ in the ink, and solemnly take an oath to stay faithful to each other ‘until the end of the world.
7s Constantine issues an edict to some eastern provinces of the Empire, which he enumerates, proclaiming that he is assigning all these territories (mainly in the East, but also in Africa) to Trdat, who is to be second only to him and the head in his stead in these lands. The governors of these provinces are to provide military assistance to Trdat in his war against Sapuh (the Persian King of Kings) and are not to contradict the orders of the Armenian King in any way.
The coronation of Trdat by Constantine: the latter puts a crown with ‘precious gems and purls’ on Trdat’s head, dresses him with sea purple and, moreover, gives him his father’s ‘priceless belt’
This episode is followed by the enumeration of exaggeratedly lavish gifts that Constantine bestows upon Trdat. His wife ‘Mak’‘sintés’ and his sister ‘Kostasia, in their turn prepare presents for the wife and sister of Trdat, as does his son ‘Kostas’ for the son of Trdat, Xosrov. Luxurious presents are given also to the princes that accompanied Trdat.
Constantine makes territorial donations to the Armenian king. Those include the city of Bethlehem, the First Armenia and Cappadocia, which, the text clarifies, were taken away from the Armenians by Caesar Pompey. The borders of Trdat’s ‘proper homeland’ are defined: from Mount Argaeus to Mount Ararat, from the river Gay] to the river Tigris. The Emperor asks Trdat to leave 300 warriors behind, who are named arménk* [Armenians], as body guards of the Emperor.
A prophecy is pronounced by Constantine about the fall of the ‘House of Trdat’ and the ‘slavery’ of the Armenians under the infidels. Their salvation will come from God and they will be succoured by the offspring of Constantine. This event will take place when the relics of the Suk‘iaseank‘ martyrs, which Constantine himself had buried, will be rediscovered.
The Emperor recounts all the miracles of healing that St. Gregory performed while in Rome.
Moreover, Trdat fought and killed a dragon and a unicorn that had appeared on the Capitoline hill and who were devastating the surrounding area. Trdat gives half of the unicorn’s horn as a talisman and antipoison to Constantine, receiving in return, a part of the relic of the True Cross which Empress Helen had brought from Jerusalem.
Constantine tells how Trdat narrated the story of his conversion: the tortures of St. Gregory, the martyrdom of the St. Hrip’simeank’ virgins, Trdat’s transformation into a wild boar, his salvation through baptism by Gregory, and the evangelical activities of St. Nuné in Georgia. Constantine describes his own conversion: his Vision of the Cross on ‘the banks of the Danube’ and how by using this sign he won a victory; his falling back into paganism because of pressures from his wife, his punishment through leprosy, his healing through baptism by St. Sylvester, his submission to the will of seven Patriarchs and saints whom he enumerates as St. Sylvester, St. Gregory, St. Anthony, St. Nicholas of Myra, St. Macarius of Jerusalem, St. James of Nisibis and St. Ephrem of Urhay (Edessa).
All churches or monasteries are declared exempt from taxes, and Armenian and Roman inhabitants are given various tax incentives, as opposed to the non-Christian subjects of the Empire. The taxes of some categories of the population, such as the infidels, owners of mines, and merchants are specified.
The author of the narration switches from Constantine to Pope Sylvester. The latter, inspired by the example of Constantine, decides to honour Gregory as well by ordaining him ‘pope, patriarch and hayrapet’, equal in dignity to the Sees of Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria. Gregory and his successors are told to be autocephalous and to have the right to receive their ordination from their own bishops. Besides representing the Pope in the Asian lands and having a decisive voice when electing a patriarch for the other three oriental Sees—Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria—the Armenian Catholicos is to have jurisdiction over the Churches of Georgia and Albania.
20. A miracle of light appears upon Gregory’s head during a Eucharistic celebration. Constantine falls at his feet and asks for the benediction of the world and of his Empire from the Illuminator.
21. Upon such a great proof of sanctity, the pope is eager to increase Gregory’s honours by giving him other precious gifts, such as parts of the relics of Sts. Paul and Peter and, in some mss, the left arm of Apostle Andrew, the Pope’s own vestments which he wears during the ordination rites—the mitra, the ring, the staff, and the Episcopal orarium or pallium. The enumeration of presents goes on.
22. Among territorial donations given to the Armenian Catholicos are certain holy places in Jerusalem, such as the Martyrion of St. James, a place (an altar) for the liturgy in the Church of the Resurrection (Anastasis) as well as a place on the Golgotha, on the upper part of the Dome of the Holy Sepulchre and a lantern that hangs on it.
23-24. To confirm the authority of Gregory, Sylvester enumerates the various holy relics that are kept in Armenia. He repeats that Gregory has authority over Armenians, Greeks, Georgians, Albanians, Syrians and Persians.
25. The closing paragraph states that this ‘edict’ was produced by the orders of Constantine and Sylvester, in Armenian and in Latin, each to be kept in respective royal chancelleries.
In order to propose some plausible hypothesis as to the purpose and time-frame of the composition of this text, it is necessary to examine the historical, religious and textual environment when it was most likely composed.
Chapter 1 will focus on the historical and religious situation in Armenian Cilicia in the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth centuries. Chapter 2 will discuss the sources of TD: textual, oral, conceptual and historical, revealing some sources previously not mentioned by scholars, or indicating specific sections of those sources that have already been identified. Based on this analysis, as well as on the possible intentions for the creation of this false document, a plausible date for its composition will be proposed. Text-critical issues, the description of manuscripts and their relationships, as well as some reflections on the language and grammar of TD, are explained in Chapter 3. Then, a revised diplomatic edition of TD based on nineteen manuscripts is presented, followed by an English translation. Further comments on the text, often crossreferenced to respective chapters, are provided in the footnotes of the English translation.
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