The Armenian Tradition of the Apophthegmata Patrum

Habilitation project of Dr. theol. Anahit Avagyan

Based on the project "Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia" at Lund University and various preliminary works, the Armenologist and church historian Anahit Avagyan is researching the history of tradition and the existence of the Armenian Apophthegmata Patrum as well as its reception in the Armenian Church. Her habilitation project has been conducted in the field of "Theology of the Christian East" at the Research Centre for the Christian East from the winter term of 2020/21 onwards.

In presenting the sources of Egyptian monasticism, David Brakke (Macarius's Quest and Ours, CSQ 48 [2013] 240) writes: "AP [Apophthegmata Patrum] present difficulties that scholars have discussed for years: the relationships among the different forms and language versions, the dates and circumstances of their original compilation, and the history of their transmission. Earlier scholars hoped to discover the earliest and most reliable sets of sayings and versions of individual sayings that, they believed, would give them good information about early monks." In these few lines, the most important elements of the research of the Apophthegmata Patrum are named as their origin or dating, composition, differences in forms, and the determination of the (oldest) tradition. Since questions of research essentially depend on the languages of transmission, the research of Armenian translations and its redactions as one of the most important lines of transmission is considered a veritable research desideratum. Anahit Avagyan dedicates her habilitation project to the history of the Armenian Apophthegmata Patrum and its reception, especially in Armenian monasticism, as well as its theological-historical influence on the Armenian Church. The primary sources of the study are the Armenian manuscripts of the Yerevan Matenaderan. Archaeological evidence and other material are also used for the study. The rich manuscript tradition and a long textual history of the Haranc' vark' (Vitae Patrum - the Armenian paterika par excellence, in which the Apophthegmata Patrum are also incorporated) proves to be a mixed blessing. The editions (of New Djulfa in 1641, Constantinople in 1720 and Venice in 1855) are based on manuscripts and reflect the diversity of the paterika collections, but today they cannot claim to represent an edition that meets scholarly needs.

The project to investigate the Armenian tradition of the Apophtegmata Patrum on a broader scale arose at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies at Lund University during a collaboration in the project "Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia" (MOPAI; project leader: Samuel Rubenson; monastica.ht.lu.se/), so that it is already possible to fall back on a series of preliminary works. This work flows into a habilitation project in the field of "Theology of the Christian East", in which a cooperation with the Armenologist of the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Prof. Dr. Hacik Gazer, is planned. The research subject is located at the intersection of patristics, Eastern Church spirituality and comparative linguistics. The collation of the Armenian textual testimonies and the comparison with the original language originals (Greek, possibly Syriac, Coptic and Latin) as well as an in-depth historical and theological-historical analysis form the focal points of the project. Dr. Avagyan will receive a post-doctoral scholarship from the relief organization RENOVABIS for financial support.