Workshop Held at Pembroke on 7th Century Armenian Text by Vrt‘anēs K‘ert'oł

On 30th and 31st October, a workshop was held at Pembroke College on the Treatise Concerning the Iconoclasts, an Armenian text by Vrt‘anēs K‘ert'oł. David Zakarian, Head of Literature at the EF International Academy, Oxford, tells us more about the aims and content of the workshop…

‘To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Calouste Gulbenkian Professorship in Armenian Studies at Pembroke College, a workshop on the treatise Concerning the Iconoclasts by Vrt‘anēs K‘ert'oł, a prominent Armenian theologian of the 7th century took place at Pembroke College. It was convened by Pembroke fellow and incumbent of the Calouste Gulbenkian Professorship Theo Maarten van Lint, Professor Jaś Elsner (Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford), Professor Emeritus Thomas F. Mathews (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), and Professor Christina Maranci (Tufts University, Boston MA), with the assistance of Pembroke alumnus Dr David Zakarian.

Vrt‘anēs treatise is an extraordinary seventh-century text in support of the veneration of holy images, which offers a robust sense of the position of images within contemporary theology and culture, providing scholars with precious insights into the relations (particularly regarding image-making) between the Armenians and Byzantines.

The workshop’s primary aim was to place a mostly neglected early text on image veneration from Armenia within the wider context of the study of image veneration in Late Antiquity and the Byzantine Empire. It offered the scholarly community a fresh translation into English of Vrt‘anēs’ treatise. It brought out the particular position the text holds in its addressing aspects particular to Armenia, while firmly forming part of the long discussion in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East on image veneration.

Distinguished scholars from Armenia, the United States, France and leading universities in the United Kingdom shed light on theological, art-historical, literary and historical aspects and contexts of the treatise. As a result of the highly engaged discussions a volume will be prepared with a new edition and translation of the text as well as a commentary including the contributions of the specialists, thus restoring the text to its proper place within the scholarly discussion. One of the highlights of the workshop was the public lecture by Dr Elizabeth Bolman (Temple University, Philadelphia) entitled Doctrine and the Economy of Salvation at the Red Monastery held at the Pichette Auditorium.

The workshop was made possible by a generous grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.’