Last year we heard that the lost Commentary on Hebrews by Cyril of Alexandria had been rediscovered in three Armenian manuscripts in the Matenadaran library in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. The publisher has now produced an edition in Armenian with facing English translation!
The price is about $60, which is not expensive. It is available from booksfromarmenia.com here. Details:
Item number: 100702
Title: Commentary on the Letter to Hebrews (Classical Armenian with English translation) / Մեկնութիւն Եբրայեցւոց թղթոյն (գրաբար բնագիր և անգլերեն թարգմանություն)
Author: Cyril of Alexandria
Language: Classical Armenian, English
Publication date: 2021
Publisher: Ankyunacar PublishingThis is the first English translation of the newly found Armenian manuscript of Cyril of Alexandria, which is his most comprehensive text of the Commentary on the apostle Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews. It contains the full commentary by Cyril of the first three chapters of the Letter to the Hebrews.
Only fragments from the Greek original and Armenian and Syriac translations of the Commentary of the Letter to Hebrews by St. Cyril of Alexandria (†444) were known until now.
The present Armenian critical text and the English translation are placed on facing pages.
The book has an index for both Armenian and English texts.ISBN 978-9939-850-51-1
395 pages
size 13.5×21 cm
Hardcover
This is excellent news! It means that anybody who buys this will be among the first to read the work since ancient times, and certainly among the first ever English-speakers to read it.
Maybe I shall get myself a copy for Christmas!
That’s great news. I’m certainly adding it to my Christmas wish list!
It makes me wonder what other patristic words survive only in Armenian. The Chronicle of Eusebius and Irenaeus: Against Heresies and the Treatise on Apostolic Preaching are fairly well known. Apparently the are also numerous homilies by Eusebius of Emesa and Severian of Gabala. I’ve heard that a tract by Timothy Ailurous against the Definition of the Council of Chalcedon survives only in Armenian (originally in Greek) and was pivotal in convincing the Armenians to reject Chalcedon.
It is hard to work with Armenian sources unless you know the language. The manuscript catalogues are in Armenian too, which makes it hard to work out what those repositories contain.
This is quite exciting. It says “It contains the full commentary by Cyril of the first three chapters of the Letter to the Hebrews.” Did he only write on the first three chapters? Or did he write on the whole book of Hebrews and the rest is now lost?
Good catch. I don’t know, I must say.