The Narratio de rebus Armeniae ( Latin for "Account of Armenian Affairs") [1] is a history of relations between the Armenian and Greek churches written around AD 700. [2] It is not exclusively focused on ecclesiastical affairs and also touches on Armenian relations with the Roman Empire. [3] It was originally written in Armenian, but the complete text is known only from a Greek translation, entitled Diegesis, made before the eleventh century, possibly as early as the eighth. [2] [3] Although there are later Armenian writers who cite the Armenian version, it is now lost. [2]
The Narratio is written from a pro- Chalcedonian perspective out of step with the Miaphysite position adopted by the Armenian church and better aligned theologically with the Greek church. [2] [3] It covers the series of councils that caused the Armeno-Greek schism— Nicaea (325), Chalcedon (451) and Dvin (555)—and the various attempts to heal the rift in the sixth and seventh centuries. It ends on a note of failure. [2] The Narratio itself, however, is evidence of the continuing existence of a Chalcedonian minority among Armenians into at least the eighth century. [3]
In the ninth century, Arsenius the Great cited the Narratio in his account of the schism between the Armenians and his own Georgian church. [2] The Greek text is preserved in four manuscripts, a fifteenth-century one now in Paris ( BnF ms. Grec 900) and three in the Vatican Library (Gr. 1455; Ottob. gr. 77; Gr.1101) ranging in date from the thirteenth century to the sixteenth. [4] The text was first published in 1648 by François Combefis, who gave it the Latin title by which it is now known. [5]
The Narratio de rebus Armeniae ( Latin for "Account of Armenian Affairs") [1] is a history of relations between the Armenian and Greek churches written around AD 700. [2] It is not exclusively focused on ecclesiastical affairs and also touches on Armenian relations with the Roman Empire. [3] It was originally written in Armenian, but the complete text is known only from a Greek translation, entitled Diegesis, made before the eleventh century, possibly as early as the eighth. [2] [3] Although there are later Armenian writers who cite the Armenian version, it is now lost. [2]
The Narratio is written from a pro- Chalcedonian perspective out of step with the Miaphysite position adopted by the Armenian church and better aligned theologically with the Greek church. [2] [3] It covers the series of councils that caused the Armeno-Greek schism— Nicaea (325), Chalcedon (451) and Dvin (555)—and the various attempts to heal the rift in the sixth and seventh centuries. It ends on a note of failure. [2] The Narratio itself, however, is evidence of the continuing existence of a Chalcedonian minority among Armenians into at least the eighth century. [3]
In the ninth century, Arsenius the Great cited the Narratio in his account of the schism between the Armenians and his own Georgian church. [2] The Greek text is preserved in four manuscripts, a fifteenth-century one now in Paris ( BnF ms. Grec 900) and three in the Vatican Library (Gr. 1455; Ottob. gr. 77; Gr.1101) ranging in date from the thirteenth century to the sixteenth. [4] The text was first published in 1648 by François Combefis, who gave it the Latin title by which it is now known. [5]