Manuscript Summary:This Armenian manuscript was written in 1606 at the church of Saint Nikoghayos in Istanbul. It contains the Four Gospels, the Apocalypse of Saint John, and a Gospelindex devised for liturgical use written by another scribe in the same century. The silver binding was probably made a century after the manuscript writing. Special attention should be drawn to the illuminations of the canon tables painted according to the text of the “Commentary of the Canon Tables” of Stepanos Syunetsi (8th century), where the author thoroughly expounds the animal, floral and geometrical motives, as well as the symbolism of numbers and colors of each of the canon tables. The painter has interpreted the symbols and motives used in all ten canon tables by placing the explanations below each of them.(gri)
Additional description: Calzolari Valentina / Kouymjian Dickran, Évangile de Constantinople, in "Illuminations d'Arménie. Arts du livre et de la pierre dans l'Arménie ancienne et médiévale", Musée de la Fondation Bodmer, Cologny-Genève 2007, pp. 126-128.
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Online Since: 03/19/2015
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 34
Paper · 256 ff. · 19 x 14 cm · Stampoul (Istanbul), Church of Saint Nikoghayos · Armenian Era 1056, 23th of December - AD 1606
The Four Gospels in Armenian
How to quote:
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 34, Fragment 1r – The Four Gospels in Armenian (https://www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/fmb/cb-0034)
Condition: Satisfactory. The lower part of the leather cover flap is cut off. On some pages, there are ink traces and remnants from candle burning. The paper is partly restored. There are small red cloth tabs on the edges of folios 61, 102, 170 and 221, meant to serve as bookmarks. The upper, lower and outer foredges are discolored. The tear of the lower margin on the folio 30 is patched.
Page layout:
double columns, 25 lines, 14 x 10.
Writing and hands:
Scribe: Mikayel
Script: bolorgir (minuscule)
Colophon about the time of writing
By the scribe:
1. fol. 254r Glory to the all-Holy Trinity of Father and Son and Holy Spirit, the transcendent Triune Person, consubstantial nature and Godhead, now and forever, through the endless eternities of the eternities. Amen … | 255r | Some people gave the soul of God by crucifying the body under torture, some people acquired the Incorruptible [Christ’s body? Gospel?] according to their transient nature: thereby this adorable book, speaking of God, was desired by gentle, good and faithful maghtesi priest Jacob and his son maghtesi Minas the deacon, and his spouse Yustiane, and his father, Sir Yacob, and the wife of the elder, maghtesi Shirin, and his brothers Yaghu, Minas and Christostur, and his sisters Yaghut, Yustiane, Yanna, and his other blood kinsmen, who acquired it with money honestly earned by toil.
Now I beseech all you who use this Holy Gospel, who delight in this endless Sea and flourish by this unpurchasable treasure, remember in your prayers [the owners]maghtesi Sir Yacob and maghtesi Minas the clerk, and ask for forgiveness for their sins. And those of you who remember, may you be remembered before God, Amen.
This Holy Gospel was written in the Armenian Era 1056[A.D. 1606], on the 23th of December, in a bitter and cruel time, when the whole land was ruined by the Djalalis (Note: In the main colophon, the scribe Mikayel briefly mentions the devastation of the land by the “Djalalis”. It is about the movement in the Ottoman Empire started at the end of the 16th century, later known as “Jalali or Jelali movement”, when the Jelali activists organized large destructive raids and massacres. At that period a large indigenous Armenian population was forced to move from their native lands towards the western part of the Empire.), and we were banished and came to the divinely blessed city of Stampoul[Istanbul]. It was written by the sinful and skill-less scribe Mikayel in the metropolis of Stampoul, the quarter of | 255v | Vlanka, at the church of Saint Nikoghayos under the primacy of the valiant Patriarch Grigor. So then, I pray you to remember in your holy prayers the owner thereof, and all his blood kinsmen, those that are living and those that passed away in Christ [the next line is blank]. Once more, remember me, the scribe Mikayel, and my parents, and all my other blood kinsmen [two lines are blank]. Again, remember the honourable priests of Saint Nikoghayos - the priests from the Abrahamean family, and the church keeper, and the other good people, who lent me the exemplar. May He, the Creator God, have mercy on you who remember, and on us who are remembered, and to Him be glory for ever, Amen.
By the artist:
2. 64vO, I pray all who take (this manuscript) up to look at or copy it, remember in your prayers me, Yovanes the monk of Stampoul, its painter, for which I have the name only, and not the skill. I plead, I plead. | 65r | God’s blessing to him who preserves this Gospel with care. 106vRemember in your pure-gleaming prayers Yovanes from the city of Byzantium, painter, pupil of Sir Jacob the rabbi of Zeytun. | 107r | O, I pray you to hold this Gospel carefully, because I worked hard on it by my unskilled self without a model. 175rIf someone impudently damages this Gospel, may Cain’s punishment be upon him.
Colophons written later:
1. Fol. 236r, in the right margin: “Armenian Era 1260 (AD 1811)”.
2. Fly-leaf 2A, in purple ink (20th century): “Belongs to the church of Saint George of Evdokia” (Tokat, Turkey).
Decoration:
Artist: Yovanes Stampoultsi (of Istanbul) Illumination – Canon tables: 1v, 2r, 3v, 4r, 5v, 6r, 7v, 8r, 9v, 10r. The Four Evangelists, seated and writing their Gospels: Matthew (11v), Mark (64v), Luke (106v), John and his disciple Prokhor (174v). Each Gospel begins with an illuminated headpiece, a marginal ornament and with an initial letter designed after the symbols of the Evangelists: folios 12r, 65r, 107r, and 175r.
Additions:
Certain corrections and additions have been inserted in the margins of folios 194v, 228v, 246v, 251r, 253r.
Binding:
Blind stamped dark brown leather over wooden boards, with flap and with attached silver binding (plaques). The marginal sides are red, with floral pattern. Fly-leaf: 2 (A-B) + 1 (G), white paper, part of the lining.
One of the chief features of the manuscript is the impressive silver binding probably made a century after the manuscript writing. The front cover is decorated with the scenes depicting the Ascension with the enthroned Christ surrounded by the four creatures of the tetramorph and the Virgin Mary with the Apostles. The silver back cover represents the Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity. The binding is typical to the Armenian silver bookbinding traditions of the 17th-18th centuries, especially of the Armenian school of Caesarea/Kayseri that have been influenced by the western iconographic traditions. This tendency was in large part due to the very well-developed Armenian bookprinting craft throughout Europe, as well as in Constantinople, where manuscript copying continued into the early nineteenth century. The scenes with typical western iconography can be found not only on the decorations of silver bindings but also in the woodcuts used in the Armenian printing houses: initially Armenian publishers were copying or using the woodcuts made by the western craftsmen. The western iconography of this silver binding is inspired by this source.
Accompanying materials:
Three small fragments, cut out of another manuscript, are written in bolorgir (minuscule) in the 17th century. These fragments, meant to serve as bookmarks, are parts of the Gospels:
1. «[Բեթսայ ]իդայ ,ի ք[աղաքէ][Ան]դրեայ եւ Պե[տ]րոսի» (“Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida”), John 1:44.
2. «[յ ]աշ խարհն գեր[գես]սացոց,որ է յ ա[յ ն]կոյ ս հանդեպ [Գ]ալ իլ եայ ։ Ընդ ել անել ն» (“to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When [Jesus] stepped ashore”), Luke 8:26-27.
3.«[եւ ան]դ էր մինչեւ ցվախճան Հերովդէի։ Զի լ ցցի ասացեալ ն ի Տեառնէ ի ձեռն մարգարէին,որ ասէ» (“And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying”), Matthew 2:14-15.
8.
(250v-254r)
Death of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist.
Accompanying materials:
1. By the artist, below each of the canon tables: folios 1r-2r, 3v-4r, 5v-6r, 7v-8r, 9v-10r “The Commentary of Canon Tables” by Stepanos Syunetsi (8th century). See the text of the “Commentary of Canon Tables” by Stepanos Syunetsi: Matenagirk‛ hayots (Armenian Classical Authors), Volume VI, 8th century, Antelias- Lebanon 2007, pp. 556-560 (in Armenian); Vigen Ghazaryan, The Commentaries of Canon Tables (The Medieval Armenian Texts on the Theory of Art), Holy Etchmiadzin 2004, pp. 255-262 (in Armenian and Russian with English summary); Thomas F. Mathews, Avedis K. Sanjian, with contributions of Mary Virginia Orna and James R. Russell, Armenian Gospel Iconography: The Tradition of the Glajor Gospel, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 29, Washington DC 1991, pp. 208-211.
2. By another hand (17th century): Fly-leaf 3A Gospel-index devised for liturgical use - Gospel Readings for Funeral Mass - Matthew 11:25; 13:1, 33, 36; 18:1; 13:24; 8:2; 13:44/47; 22:1. Mark 4:1, 10, 21, 26; 10:13, 28; 13:32. Luka 9:57; 10:21; 11:33; 12:32; 13:18, 22; 18:15; 19:11; 21:34. John 3:13; 5:19; 6:39; 9:39; 6:54; 14:25. Gospel of Healing (Mt, Mk, Lk, Jn).
Provenance of the manuscript:
Fly-leaf 1, by pencil - «M. MS. I. 1, Cod. Bodmer 34», «1702».
Fly-leaf 1, On the book-plate, attached on the fly-leaf 1, is the short description of the manuscript in English taken from the sale catalogue (The Bible in Many Languages: A Catalogue of Manuscripts and Printed Editions from Earliest Times (Catalogue 675), Maggs Bros. Ltd, London, May, 1939, pp. 3-4).
Calzolari Valentina et Kouymjian Dickran, Évangile de Constantinople, in: Illuminations d’Arménie. Arts du livre et de la pierre dans l’Arménie ancienne et médiévale, Musée de la Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cologny - Genève, 15 septembre – 30 décembre 2007, sous la direction de Valentina Calzolari, Geneva: Fondation Martin Bodmer 2007, pp. 126-128.
Coulie Bernard, Répertoire des bibliothèques et des catalogues de manuscrits arméniens, Brepols-Turnhout 1992, p. 78.
Pearson J. D., Oriental Manuscripts in Europe and North America, A Survey, Bibliotheca Asiatica 7, Zug 1971, p. 169.
Rhodes Erroll F., An Annotated List of Armenian New Testament Manuscripts, Tokyo 1959, p. 79.
The Bible in Many Languages: A Catalogue of Manuscripts and Printed Editions from Earliest Times (Catalogue 675), Maggs Bros. Ltd, London 1939, pp. 3-4, Plate I.
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