Armenian theological treatise and 14 letters between patriar - Lot 178

Armenian theological treatise and 14 letters between patriarchs of the Armenian Apostolic Church, 1824. In-4° (approx. 23 x 16 cm), [5] f., 296 pages, bound in period red half cloth with corners (spine uncovered, paper missing from boards, edges rubbed, corners dull, quires unruly, light foxing, stains on a few pages). Manuscript copied by Bedros Ouroum, unworthy deacon of Constantinople Պետրոս Ուրումն, անարժան սարկավագ Կոստանդնուպոլսցի as he humbly refers to himself in manuscript tradition. Includes a theological treatise attributed to Nerses de Lambron entitled Hymn to the Transfiguration of the Virgin Mary, and fourteen letters from patriarchs of the Armenian Apostolic Church, written between the 8th and 13th centuries. These letters include - A letter from Nerses, Archbishop of Tarsus, to Voskan, anchorite of Antioch, on the ordination and faith of the Armenian clergy; - A letter from the doctors of the northern regions (Haghbat and Sanahin) to Catholicos Gregory; - Catholicos Gregory's reply to the masters of the northern regions; - A letter from King Levon to Nerses of Tarsus, cleric of the Armenian Church; - A dogmatic letter from Zakaria, catholicos of the Armenians, concerning the doctrine of the two natures in one person in Christ, in connection with the Council of Chalcedon. This corpus is a rare testimony to the theological thought, doctrinal controversies and religious diplomacy of the medieval Armenian Church.