Armenian Apocrypha Relating to the Patriarchs and Prophets PDF
Preview Armenian Apocrypha Relating to the Patriarchs and Prophets
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
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