Uber die Entwicklungsgeschichte des armenischen Symbolums: Ein Vergleich mit dem syrischen und griechischen Formelgut unter Einbezug der relevanten georgischen und athiopischen Quellen (review)

Abstract

Ancient and Medieval Uber die Entwicklungsgeschichte des armenischen Symbolums:Ein Vergleich mit dem syrischen und griechischen Formelgut unter Einbezug der relevanten georgischen und athiopischen Quellen. By Gabriele Winkler. [Orientalia Christiana Analecta, Volume 262.] (Rome: Pontifical Oriental Institute. 2000. Pp. LX; 623; 14. Paperback.) The present study is an investigation into the historical development of the creeds used today in the Armenian Church. Philological in approach, Winkler's study is divided into two parts. In Part One (pp. 11-291) the author has collated a comprehensive collection of early Armenian literary sources of various genres through the mid-seventh century, which contain creedal statements and fragments. For each of the more than the three dozen texts Winkler presents a short introduction, the original Armenian text in its best available edition, along with a German translation with copious notes and cross references. A number of relevant Georgian and Ethiopie texts receive similar treatment. A vast bibliography (pp. XXI-LX), a list of sigla, and a helpful introduction that already lays out the author's conclusions (pp. 1-5) constitute a preface to Part One. Part Two (pp. 295-570) consists of a commentary in which the author traces the development of terminology used in creedal formulations with regard to the main thematic foci of the Nicene Creed, with particular attention to the incarnation. The volume closes with a short section entitled, Concluding Observations, as well as an index by language of the sources analyzed; a topical index with the subheadings, Anathemata, Symbol Fragments in Anaphoras, and Synods and Councils with Credo; a one-page list of Bible citations, and an index of authors cited. Winkler argues that in the oldest Armenian sources the Armenian vocabulary for the incarnation seems to derive from early Syrian prototypes, as distinct from the later Greek formulations that appear in the Nicene Creed. Winkler posits a shift in terminology for the incarnation away from Syrian-derived terms (for example, zgec'aw marmin)he put on a body) toward the creation of neologisms that more accurately reflect Greek terminology for the incarnation (rnarmnac'aw, he became/took body, corresponding to the Greek sarkothenta). That shift, Winkler alleges, is first witnessed in the Nicene Creed as cited in the famous Letter ofSahak to Proclus, which must be dated shortly after the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. Winkler argues further that the Letter ofSahak was written in response to Proclus' famous Tomus adArmenios at a Synod in Astisat in 435 A.D. This hypothetical reconstruction would provide a plausible textual and historical context for the creation of Greek-inspired christological neologisms were it not for the serious questions that have long been raised regarding the course of events in Armenia immediately folio-wing the Council of Ephesus, most recently by Nina Garsoian. Among other assertions Garsoian dismisses the alleged Synod of Astisat as fictive, challenging the argumentation made by Winkler in two earlier works. …