Vrt’anês K’rtoł. Treatise “On the iconoclasts”

Preface, translation from Ancient Armenian and commentary by A. S. Ramazian

Abstract

The article is devoted to the translation and commentary of one of the oldest in the history of the Christian Church treatises on the iconoclastic controversy that took place in Armenia in the late VI – the beginning of the VII century, that is, more than a hundred years before the advent of the Byzantine iconoclasm under Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (726 g.). The study of this source sheds light on the nature of iconoclasm in Armenia and its possible impact on the emergence of the iconoclastic ideas in Byzantium. Based on the text of the treatise «On Iconoclasts» by Vrt’anês K’rtoł, the author analyzes the argumentation of the first Armenian iconoclasts and finds that it is very similar to the subsequent position of the Byzantine iconoclasts (e.g. references to the Old Testament prohibition of images, the identification of the veneration of icons with the worship of matter, relying on the authority of Eusebius of Caesarea), although it has its own characteristics (references to St. Gregory the Illuminator and events of Armenian history). The main topics covered in the article are: the formulation of the iconoclastics’ doctrine, cross veneration, as well as identification of the factors that influenced the emergence and development of iconoclasm in Armenia.