V. Calzolari, The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Armenian (Studies on Early Christian Apocrypha 18), Leuven, 2022

Tuesday 6th June
17:00
SCR Parlour, Pembroke College

Speaker: Valentina Calzolari
Discussant: Sebastian Brock

This talk will give a short overview of the Christian Apocrypha in Armenian and will stress the importance of the apocryphal writings as evidence for a better understanding of ancient Christianity in Armenia in its different facets and in its relations with the neighboring Christian communities. Focus will be placed on the apocrypha related to the apostles of Armenia (Thaddaeus and Bartholomew) and their relations with the Syriac traditions about old Christianity of Edessa. Special attention will be also devoted to the legend of St Thecla (the disciple of the apostle Paul according to the apocryphal Acts of Paul) and to the different paradigms of holiness (virgin, martyr, apostle, and patroness of Nicaean orthodoxy) that she embodies in the ancient Armenian historiographical literature of the fifth century.

Valentina Calzolari is Professor in Armenian Studies at the University of Geneva and Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford (January.-July 2021 and May-July 2023). Read more here.

Sebastian Brock is Reader Emeritus in Syriac and Aramaic at the University of Oxford.

Find the link to the 'The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Armenian' here.