An Opuscule of Ḥovhannēs Orotnets‘i on Divine Names

Abstract

This article presents a small text by Ḥovhannēs Orotnets‘i on divine names that is preserved in Matenadaran manuscript 2121. The article first provides a brief overview of Orotnets‘i’s life and work, and then an edition and translation of the text with commentary. The commentary elucidates parallels with the works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, as well as with Aristotle, Dawit‘ Anyaght‘, the scholiastic tradition on the corpus Areopagiticum, John of Damascus, and Armenian commentaries on grammar. Many of the points forwarded by Orotnets‘i also appear in the writings of his student, Grigor Tat‘ewats‘i,  The text underscores not only Orotnets‘i’s erudition, but also how much the ideas found in the works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite were integrated with the study of grammar, philosophy, theology, and exegesis in the monastic school curriculum of Gladzor and Tat‘ew.