The Church Fathers in Armenia and the Armenian Fathers

Abstract

Biblical studies grew in the eighteenth century and for this purpose, knowledge of the Armenian translation of the Holy Scriptures was considered useful. In particular, the kings of France wanted to establish the perpetuity of the faith to counter the Protestants, and sought to do so using the accounts of the Eastern Churches, as they were consistent with that of the Roman Catholic Church. The scope of work to be done is vast; descriptions of manuscripts, editions of texts, translations, as well as a better understanding of the stages of development of the Armenian language. The creation of freely accessible computerized databases, such as the Titus project at the Goethe University of Frankfurt, headed by Gippert, is obviously a boon for researchers. The field created by Armenian authors, translators, and copyists for over a millennium provides quite enough material to occupy our energies. Keywords: Armenian language; Biblical studies; Goethe University of Frankfurt; Roman Catholic Church; Titus project