Armenian: Ancient Bible History (3)

Armenia: Ancient Bible History (3)

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Armenian: Ancient...
ARMENIAN.
"I.--GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS.
ARMENIA, so called either from "Aram," son of Harma or Haie, or from ’Ar-meni, as Bryant thinks,
"the mountain of the Moon" or "Ark," was, according to Herodotus, peopled by a colony from
Phrygia. (Moses Chor. ed. Whiston, p. 35.) It is now the region in which the three great powers of
the East,--the Russian, the Turkish, and the Persian, are brought into direct approximation, and it is
politically divided between them. Having been the theatre of many contests, its boundaries have
varied at different epochs; but it may be said generally to extend from the river Kour on the north to
the mountains of Kurdistan on the south, and from the banks of the upper Euphrates on the west to
the Caspian Sea on the east. An extensive tract situated to the westward of the Euphrates bore, in
ancient geography, the name of Armenia Minor, or the Lesser Armenia. The total number of
the Armenian nation is variously estimated at from 2,000,000, to 3,000,000: in their own country
however, the Armenians form but one seventh part of the population, while in scattered colonies
they are to be met with from Venice and Constantinople to Canton, and from St. Petersburg to
almost every part of Africa. In Constantinople and its adjacent villages there are computed to be
200,000 Armenians, and an equal number in the Russian and Persian provinces. They are emphati-
cally the merchants of the East, and a large proportion of the trade, foreign and internal, of Turkey,
Southern Russia, Persia, India, and of other countries, is carried on by them. The Armenians
constitute a section of the ancient Monophysite[?] Church, and believe that "the two natures (Divine
and Human) of Christ are united in one nature;" they have four Patriarchs, the principal of
whom bears the title of Catholicos of all the Armenians, and resides in Armenia; their ecclesiastical
establishment in Hindoostan vies with that of the English. About one hundred thousand Armenians
have joined the Romish Church, and are ruled by their own archbishops.
II.--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.
The ancient Armenian language, though no longer vernacular, is very generally studied by
Armenian Christians as their national language of religion and literature. The roots of the Armenian
are closely connected with those of the Persian dialects, and many Median words preserved by Herodotus
can be explained by means of the Armenian. Its elemental words, such as numerals, pronouns, particles,
nouns indicative of objects of sense, and verbs indicative of the common actions of life, have their
analogues in the Greek, Latin, and German languages, and even in the Finnish dialects of Siberia, and
in other idioms of Northern Asia. Several striking coincidences in structure have likewise been traced
between the Armenian and the other branches of the Indo-European class; the future tense of Arme-
nian verbs is, for instance, formed by means of the syllables tzitz,-- stzyes,--stze, where the character-
istic sound of the Greek and Sanscrit future is distinctly recognised. On the other hand, some Arme-
nian participles in al resemble the participles of the Sclavonic languages; and Schlegel has pointed out
other analogies in inflection between this family and the Armenian. In point of sound, the Armenian
is extremely harsh, and overloaded with consonants. Its grammatical forms are complicated; it has
ten declensions of nouns singular and plural, and a corresponding copiousness of inflection in the
conjugation of verbs, although in certain tenses the aid of an auxiliary is required. In its system of
grammatical inflections, this language presents several phenomena almost peculiar to itself, and which
are thought by Professor Neumann to be attributable in some instances to the remarkable nature of
its alphabet; the k, for instance, the Professor remarks, which is habitually used in Armenian as a
termination of the plural in substantives and numerals, is probably a transition of the s of cognate
languages into k, an occurrence exactly the reverse of the change often observable in the Sclavonic
languages of k into s. A further peculiarity in the Armenian idiom which distinguishes it from all
other Indo-European languages is, that it takes no cognizance whatever of gender; that is to say, the
gender of the noun has no influence whatever upon the form of the adjective by which it is qualified,
and the grammatical distinction of gender even in the pronouns is unknown in Armenian. But it is a
simple, grave, energetic, and in the reading the New Testament especially, a beautiful language. In
the opinion of Armenians, it is the language spoken by Noah in the Ark.
III.--ALPHABETICAL SYSTEM.
Prior to the fifth century, the Armenians seem to have had no alphabet of their own, but to have
used the Persian, Greek, or Syriac characters in writing their language. About the beginning of that
century, Miesrob, a learned Armenian, invented a set of characters adapted to the language of his nation.
Tradition relates that the forms of these characters were revealed to him from heaven in a vision. This
style of writing was adopted in Armenia by a royal edict in A.D. 406, and has ever since continued in
use among the Armenians. Its elements consist of many signs belonging to the alphabets previously
used in writing Armenian, combined with other signs of more recent invention. This alphabet had
originally only thirty-six characters, but f and o being subsequently added, increased the number to
thirty-eight, of which thirty are consonants, and eight are vowels. Armenian, like the languages of
Europe, is written from left to right.
IV.--VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE.
The ancient Armenian language possesses the treasure of an old and faithful version of Scripture,
which; on account of its exactness and its eloquent simplicity, has been called by La Croze the "Queen
of Versions." Our information concerning the early history of this invaluable translation is derived
from two sources, an Armenian Biography of the Saints, including the life of Miesrob, preserved in
the Royal Library of Paris, and the history of Armenia by Moses Choronensis, printed with a Latin
translation at Cambridge in 1736. From the combined testimony of these two sources, it would appear
that the origin of the Armenian version is nearly contemporaneous with the invention of the Armenian
alphabet. Miesrob (who was, as above stated, the inventor of this alphabet), after communicating his
discovery to the king Uram Scavu, and to Isaac the patriarch of Armenia, travelled throughout the
country in order to establish schools for disseminating instruction in reading and writing, and on his
return he found the patriarch engaged in the application of the newly invented characters to a transla-
tion of the Scriptures from the Syriac into Armenian. By the joint efforts of Miesrob and Isaac, a
version of the entire Scriptures was effected, but it was executed exclusively from the Syriac, because no
Greek MSS. were then attainable in Armenia; Meruzan, a Persian general, had caused all Greek books
to be burnt, and the Persians had prohibited the use of any language for religious purposes among the
Armenians except the Syriac. At the meeting of the Council[?] of Ephesus in 431, Miesrob and Isaac
sent two of their pupils to that assembly, to recount the progress that had been made in the translation
of the Scriptures. The members of the Council sent back the youths with a complete copy of the
Septuagint Bible and the Greek New Testament, for the use of the translators. On receiving this
welcome gift, Isaac and Miesrob, who had already produced two different translations from the Syriac,
now addressed themselves for the third time to the formation of an Armenian version. They found
themselves, however, impeded by their imperfect acquaintance with the Greek language, and accordingly
sent some of their disciples to Alexandria, which was then the school of Greek learning and literature,
to study the language. On the return of these young men, one of whom was Moses Choronensis the
historian, the work of translation was recommenced from the Greek; and when the version was com-
pleted, if we may take the word of Bar Hebræus, Miesrob and Isaac modified it according to the Syriac:
on this subject, however, there are differences of opinion. That it often agrees remarkably with the
Syriac is certain; it appears as if the previous labours of the translators had some effect on the existing
version. A recension of this version is said by some authors to have been made by Haitho, who
reigned in Lesser Armenia from A.D. 1224 to 1270; he belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and
is charged with having introduced corrupt readings from the Latin Vulgate. But this statement is
now very generally regarded as incorrect.
V.--PRINTED EDITIONS OF THE ANCIENT ARMENIAN SCRIPTURES.
In the seventeenth century MS. copies of the Armenian Scriptures had become so scarce and so
expensive, that a council of Armenian bishops assembled in 1662 to consult on the best means of calling
in the aid of printing, of which art they had heard in Europe; and indeed it would appear, that as
early as 1565 an Armenian Psalter had been printed at Rome. The Armenian bishops, it is supposed,
applied in the first place to France for assistance in their design of procuring a printed edition of their
Scriptures, but meeting with a refusal from that quarter, Uscan, bishop of Erivan, proceeded to
Amsterdam, where in 1666 he published an edition of the entire Armenian Scriptures, followed in
1668 by a separate edition of the New Testament, which was reprinted in 1698. In these editions the
bishop is accused, and apparently with justice, of having permitted alterations to be made from the
Vulgate: the editions published at Constantinople in 1705, and at Venice in 1733, are in consequence
more highly esteemed than those of Uscan. In 1775 a new and corrected edition of the Armenian
Scriptures, to be accompanied with a Latin translation, was commenced at Paris by a body of learned
men, one of whom was the Abbé Villefroy, who had resided many years among the Armenians; but
of this edition the book of the prophet Habakkuk alone appears to have been published. In 1789
the New Testament was printed at Venice, under the editorship of Zohrab, a learned Armenian divine,
from MS. authorities; and this edition, which was much esteemed for its correctness, was reprinted in
1816. A critical edition of the Old and New Testament was published under the care of the same
editor at Venice in 1805, at the expense of the monks of the Armenian convent of the Island of St.
Lazarus, in the lagunes of Venice. This edition was printed from a MS. written in Cilicia in the four-
teenth century, and with the aid of eight MSS. of the Old Testament, and twenty-five of the New.
The various readings elucidated by Armenian scholia were placed in the margin, and the contested
passage in 1 John 5:7, was ~~expung~~ed, because unsupported by the authority of ancient Armenian MSS.
In 1814 a representation was made to the Calcutta Bible Committee, by Johannes Sarkies, on the
necessity of supplying the numerous families of Armenians in Calcutta and other parts of Hindoo-
stan with copies of the Scriptures, and in 1817 an edition was printed for the Society at Serampore,
consisting of the entire Scriptures. During the same year 5000 copies of the New Testament, and a
separate edition of the Bible, were printed by the St. Petersburg Bible Society for the use of the
Armenians, who, to the number of 50,000, were settled in the south of Russia; every sheet of this
edition was examined by Johannes, the Armenian archbishop at Astrakhan. A previous edition of the
Scriptures had been published by the same Society in 1814. In 1818 the British and Foreign Bible
Society purchased 1500 copies of the New Testament of the monks of St. Lazarus for distribution
chiefly in Armenia, and in the following year they purchased 1000 Bibles. Further purchases were
made by the Society at Venice until 1823, when they ordered an edition of 5000 copies of the New
Testament, and 3000 copies of the Gospels alone, to be printed at Constantinople. This edition was
carried through the press by the Rev. Henry Leeves, with the concurrence of the Armenian patriarch.
The copies were sent to Tokat in Asia Minor, to Julfa near Ispahan, and into Armenia, for distribution.
About the year 1838 another edition of the ancient Armenian New Testament was printed at Smyrna,
at the expense of the American Bible Society. More recently, it has been determined by the Com-
mittee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, to print a further edition of the New Testament in
ancient Armenian, in addition to one also in the modern language. Both works are in process of
execution in London. Editions of the ancient Armenian, printed in parallel columns with the
modern Armenian versions, will be mentioned hereafter. The Old Testament in ancient Armenian,
having been executed not from the Hebrew text, but from the Greek version of the LXX., has never
been printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
VI.--RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION.
Although the ancient Armenian Scriptures are now only intelligible to those who have had the
benefits of education and opportunities for the study of this ancient tongue, yet as this class of persons
is rapidly increasing, there is a prospect that this version will soon become more generally understood,
and more highly appreciated, than heretofore. Dr. Dwight bears a fitting testimony to its value in a
letter addressed in 1836 to the Board of the American Bible Society. "It is astonishing," he says,
"to see the power of Scripture truth on the conscience when it comes to men from the pure fountain
itself, without note or comment, and without the aid of a living teacher. I could point to two young
men of the Armenian nation, of whom we have the hope that they have become true disciples of Christ,
whose minds were first opened by the simple reading of Scripture, before they even knew there was
a my. in the whole world." And equally gratifying is the statement of the American mies.
in 1847, when, after giving an account of the recent remarkable awakening among the Armenian
people, they ascribe the change, in part at least, to the influence of the ancient version. "Some facts,"
they write, "have come to our knowledge, showing that the ancient Armenian Scriptures, printed
many years since at Venice, and perhaps at other places by your Society during the first years of its
operations, have had no small share, by the blessing of God, in awakening the Armenian mind every-
where, and in preparing the people to receive and maintain the doctrine of the sufficiency of the
Scriptures as the rule of faith and practice. This is the testimony of Armenians themselves.""--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition) Samuel Bagster [Info only]

ANCIENT ARMENIAN.--1860 S. Bagster [Info only: Armenian Character n.d. John 1:1-8 unknown.]

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