Armenian Apocrypha Relating to the Patriarchs and Prophets

208 Pages·1982·4.83 MB·English

by  Michael Edward Stone

ARMENIAN APOCRYPHA
RELATING TO THE PATRIARCHS
AND PROPHETS
Edited with Introductions, Translations
and Commentary
by
MICHAEL E. STONE
Jerusalem 1982
The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Preparation and publication of this volume
was made possible by a grant from the
Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture
ISBN 965-208-042-X
© The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1982
Printed in Israel
at Ahva Press, Jerusalem
To my children
AURIT AND DAN
••ax DA ->ib nnv -\ib nan DN nri

PREFACE
IN THIS VOLUME a numberof Armenian apocryphal texts are presented
which have not been published previously; new manuscript evidence is
furnished for others, already published. The texts are diverse in their
nature and worth. They are set forth according to biblical chronology as
far as possible, beginning with Adam, and have been divided for conven­
ience of reference into three parts: Texts Relating to Adam, Biblical
Paraphrases, and Texts Relating to the Prophets. The mode of presen­
tation has been determined by the nature and importance of the new
evidence to be adduced from this material. This has led to a certain
heterogeneity of treatment. Texts already published are not printed again
unless the manuscript evidence makes this necessary; any digressions
from this procedure are specified.
The introductory remarks to each Part or Section note the manuscripts
on which the texts are based. The texts are generally accompanied by an
English translation, variant readings, and a critical commentary. The
translations reproduce the critical notations of the text. Words added for
style or conjectured to fill lacunae are duly marked. Often, the English
requires a personal pronoun as an object where it is not needed or ex­
pressed in Armenian. Such auxiliaries are supplied and marked, but
should not be regarded as reflecting a lacuna or corruption. The com­
mentaries following the texts and translations cite and translate all sub­
stantive readings wherever possible so as to give access in English to the
material in the critical apparatuses. The orthography of the manuscripts
has usually been preserved, and all changes or emendations introduced
into the manuscript text have been clearly marked. The divisions into
numbered paragraphs or verses is this editor's. Because of technical dif­
ficulties certain accents have been omitted in transcriptions. Throughout
the volume the comments are to be regarded as mere indicators of
possible lines of future investigation, the primary purpose of the present
work being to publish the texts and their translations.
I wish to express my thanks to His Grace, Archbishop Norayr Bogharian,
the Librarian of Manuscripts of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem,
who not only provided generous access to the manuscripts, but also
helped in the elucidation of a number of knotty problems of readings
and interpretations. His learned comments are acknowledged throughout.
The authorities of the Matenadaran, the Mashtotz Library of Ancient
Manuscripts in Erevan, were kind enough to make manuscripts of a num­
ber of texts available. The authorities of the Bibliotheque nationale in
vii
Preface
Paris and the British Library in London assisted me during my study in
those libraries and granted permission to publish information from their
manuscripts. Throughout the years, my work on these texts was aided
financially by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Professor Gershom Scholem, who was President of the Academy while
this project took form, has helped me in numerous ways. The scientific
readers on behalf of the Academy were Professor E. E. Urbach and the
late Professor Chaim Wirszubski. Their learned guidance is acknowledged,
as is that of Professor J. Prawer, who supported my work in various
respects.
In the decade that has passed since the book was first sent to the Academy,
many hands have worked at it. I forbear naming them all, but express my
thanks to them. Acknowledgement must be made, however, to the con­
tribution of Chana Safrai, who was my research assistant in 1970—1971,
and of Alfred Paludis, who typed the camera-ready form of most of the
Armenian.
The technical challenge that the production of this book set the Publi­
cations Department of the Academy was a great one, and the form it
now bears, both as an edited work and from the aspects of design and
production,are the fruit of the concern and devotion of that Department.
In particular I wish to acknowledge the editorial skills of Yvonne Glikson,
whose perceptive but gentle touch has improved my writing and presen­
tation at innumerable points. Mr G. Stern of the Publications Department
has, over most recent years, been of the greatest help in getting the
manuscript, already largely typeset, into its final printed form. Miss Dalia
Heftman did the complicated graphic work.
It has been impossible, for technical reasons, to incorporate bibliographi­
cal additions to the discussion of the text in the body of the book, and
the reader should regard my comments as having been completed in June
1971, so far as the attention to the scholarly debate and discussion is
concerned. Since that time, there have been a number of publications
of general, bibliographical nature touching on the general field of the
apocrypha and pseudepigrapha and the Armenian pseudepigrapha.1 The
reader will find benefit in them, but very little of relevance to the texts
published here.
This first-fruit of my studies of the apocryphal literature and traditions
in Armenian is late in seeing the light of day; it would have been stillborn
had it not been for the support of many friends and colleagues. But my
debt to Nira, my wife, is deepest.
Michael E. Stone
Wassenaar, 1981
1 See, in summary, D.J. Harrington, 'Research on the Jewish Pseudepigrapha
during the 1970s', CBQ, XLII (1980), pp. 147-159; and M.E. Stone, 'Jewish
Apocryphal Literature in the Armenian Church', Le Museon (forthcoming).
viii
CONTENTS
Preface
Manuscripts Published for the First Time
Bibliographical Abbreviations
Abbreviations and Symbols Used in the Texts,
Apparatuses and Commentaries
Transcription of the Armenian Alphabet
Part One: Texts Relating to Adam
I Two Fragments Relating to Adam and
The Words of Adam to Seth
Texts and Translations:
Fragment 1
Fragment 2
The Words of Adam to Seth
II Concerning the Death of Adam
Text and Translation
III The Life and History of Abel
Apparatus Criticus
IV The Hours of the Day and Night
Text and Translation
Appendix
Part Two: Biblical Paraphrases
Texts and Translations:
I The Descendants of Adam
II The Story of Noah
III The Story of Joseph
IV The Story of Moses
V The Story of Joshua Son of Nun
VI The Story of Samuel
VII The Story of David
VIII The Story of Solomon
Part Three: Texts Relating to the Prophets
I Lives of the Prophets
Texts and Greek Retroversions:
Nathan
Elijah
Elisha
Zechariah (1)
ix
Contents
Part Three: Texts Relating to the Prophets
I Lives of the Prophets (Continued)
Eli 150
Joad 152
Texts and Translations:
Moses 154
The Three Children 154
Zechariah(2) 156
II The Names, Works and Deaths of the Holy
Prophets 158
Text and Translation 160
III Lists of Prophets'Names 11'4
Index 177
Hebrew Summary 190
x
MANUSCRIPTS PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME
Library and Year of
MS No. Folio or Page No. Text Completion
Jerusalem
Armenian
Patriarchate
IB pp. 599,601-602, Lives of the Prophets 1418
733,760
69 fol. 639 r-v The Hours 1728-1730
154C pp.1320,1323,1524 Lives of the Prophets 1737
282 pp. 66, 87, 580 Lives of the Prophets 1331
372 pp. 312-315 Concerning the Death
of Adam 1347
642 pp. 185-187 Concerning the Death
of Adam 1623
pp. 188-189 Texts Relating to
Adam - Fragment 1
1488 pp. 613-617 Concerning the Death
of Adam 1620
1529 pp. 275-280 Concerning the Death
of Adam 1648
pp. 280-281 Texts Relating to
Adam - Fragment 1
Erevan
Matenadaran
p. 234 Lists of Prophets'
533
Names 1660
foil. 28v-30r Names, Works and
562
Deaths of the Holy
Prophets Before 1711
1500 foil. 362r-363r Lives of the Prophets 1271-1288
2126 foil. 81r-83r Life and History of
Abel 1697
fol. 83r Texts Relating to
Adam - Fragment 2
3854 foil. 104v-150r Biblical Paraphrases 1471
4231 foil. lr-30v Biblical Paraphrases Fifteenth
century
XI
Manuscripts Published for the First Time
Library and Year of
MS No. Folio or Page No. Text Completion
Paris
Bibliothcque
nationale
foil. 451v-452r, Lives of the Prophets 1194
Arm. 110
459r,462r, 469r-v
pp. 41 -44 Names, Works and
Arm. 198
Deaths of the Holy Eighteenth
Prophets century
London
British
Museum
B.M. Or. 6471 foil. 104v-105v The Hours 1610
xii