Re: How Armenia "Invented" Christendom

Thanks to our colleague of Armenian descent Moorad, this link to the
"Christianity Today" article takes us to a story about St. Gregory the
Illuminator, the founder of Armenian Christianity; he is credited with
establishing the first national church in the Christian world. The article
is timely as March 23 is the day set aside in some liturgical calendars
(including the Episcopal Church's) to honor Gregory, who died ca. 332,
making the Church of Armenia precede the establishment of Christianity as
the official religion in the Roman Empire (381).

The article notes that after an alphabet for the Armenian language was
created, the Bible was translated into that tongue early in the fifth
century. Interestingly, the Armenian canon contained some texts that were
not accepted into the Greek/Western canon. The OT included the romance "The
History of Joseph and Asenath" and the "Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs"
and the NT included the Epistle of the Corinthians to Paul (I'd love to read
what they had to say) and Paul's Third Epistle to the Corinthians. These
latter texts were derived from the Syriac tradition. According to Bruce
Metzger, my source, several ancient manuscripts of the Armenian version also
contain the shorter ending of Mark, and this was probably the original form
of Mark in the earliest Armenian version. Also, while The Revelation was
translated as early as the fifth century (and apparently influenced by an
Old Latin version), it was treated as apocryphal and was not part of the
Armenian canon. In the early 1200s, a fresh translation was made and the
book was received into the NT as holy scripture--I believe that is its
latest entry into any canon. However, the earlier version has been a
valuable witness to the text of The Revelation, which contains some
notoriously difficult readings in the original Greek (I wonder if Tim LaHaye
knows this).

When I was on sabbatical at Harvard Divinity School in 1984-85, I rented an
apartment from an Armenian-American in Watertown, MA, where one of the
largest Armenian-American populations is to be found. There I learned that
both the Roman Catholic Church and evangelical missions proselytized among
the Armenian people. In one intersection I found an Armenian Orthodox
church on one corner, an Armenian Catholic church across the street, and an
Armenian Baptist church on another corner. I loved the Armenian bakery that
was but a long block from my apartment.

Those of you familiar with me know that I love to digress into these little
historical forays. I hope you all like the tidbits.

Bob Schneider

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alexanian, Moorad" <alexanian@uncw.edu>
To: "AmericanScientificAffiliation" <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 8:19 PM
Subject: How Armenia "Invented" Christendom

> Turning Point
> How Armenia "Invented" Christendom
> By Steven Gertz
>
> http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2005/001/8.46.html
>
>
>
Received on Fri Mar 25 21:33:57 2005