The Hagiographic Legend of King Abgar of Edessa and Its Transformations in Armenian Literature

The Hagiographic Legend of King Abgar of Edessa and Its Transformations in Armenian LiteratureBanber MatenadaraniSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/9MAL9C3Z/tei

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2024-08-15-04:00

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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.ShavarshAzatyanThe Hagiographic Legend of King Abgar of Edessa and Its Transformations in Armenian Literaturehttp://syriaca.org/cbss/9MAL9C3Zhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/9MAL9C3Zhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/9MAL9C3ZBanber Matenadarani272019228-250The hagiographic legend of King Abgar of Edessa had a long period of development in Old Armenian literature. It is attested in works of various genres and has undergone changes according to their requirements. Movses Khorenats‘i was the only historiographer of the Golden Age who renarrated the legend of Abgar and in fact created its Armenian version, which has certain differences from the original Syrian legend. Khorenats‘i’s Abgar and his princes are Armenians, and Edessa-Osroene is an Armenian kingdom. The historiographer’s goal was to Armenize the first Christian king and to enhance the prestige of the Armenian Church. Later Armenian historiographers followed Khorenats‘i’s interpretation of the legend. Some changes were made by Hovhannes Draskhanakertts‘i and Tovma Arts‘runi, whose revised versions played an essential role in the transformation of the legend into a life of a saint. Starting from the 6th century, the legend of the Holy Mandylion was also spread in Armenia. The fathers of the Armenian Church often used this relic in their controversies with the iconoclasts.The legend of Abgar gained its final hagiographic shape in Armenian Synaxaria. The compilers of these miscellanies made specific changes, adding new ideological, political, and religious features, among which, many realities of their time. In these stories, the traits ascribed to Abgar were often transformed. As a result of this, new information related to the specific time and geography made its way into those texts, adding historical data connected to contemporary events and social conceptions. Azatyan, Shavarsh. “The Hagiographic Legend of King Abgar of Edessa and Its Transformations in Armenian Literature.” Banber Matenadarani 27 (2019): 228–50. Shavarsh Azatyan, The Hagiographic Legend of King Abgar of Edessa and Its Transformations in Armenian Literature, Banber Matenadarani 27 (2019): 228–50.AbgarIV-VII CELetter of AbgarMandylionMoses of KhorenNT apocryphaSyriac influence [Armenia]VII-XVIII CE