In his Letter to the Armenians, Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, draws on local tradition to respond to queries by the nascent Armenian Church regarding baptism and the Eucharist. He addresses his letter to Vrt anes, elder son and second successor to Gregory the Illuminator as head of the Armenian Church, and reveals much about the nature of pre-Nicene Armenian Christianity and its affinities with East Syrian baptismal and eucharistic traditions thought to stand in need of reform. Terian s study of Macarius Letter to the Armenians establishes the date of this earliest document bearing on the history of the Armenian Church, and highlights the document s place in the baptismal and eucharistic liturgy of Jerusalem prior to Cyril s Catechetical Lectures and in the travel diary of the nun Egeria later in the fourth century.
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Editorial Reviews
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Professor Terian's vindication of the authenticity of the Letter of Macarius to the Armenians is an extremely important work. It not only sheds light on mid-fourth-century liturgical use in Jerusalem, but also confirms that the liturgical usages described in the Mystagogical Catecheses attributed to Cyril pre-date Cyril's episcopate. Whether by Cyril or another writer, it can no longer be maintained that they reflect a later period of liturgical development. --Bryan D. Spinks, Goddard Professor of Liturgical Studies and Pastoral Theology, Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School.
Long thought to be a letter from the sixth century, Abraham Terian s excellent edition, translation, and commentary demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that this important Letter to the Armenians from Macarius of Jerusalem is to be dated in the fourth decade of the fourth century. As such, this becomes extremely important both for the history of Armenian Christianity in this period and also for now being our earliest source for the baptismal and eucharistic liturgies of Jerusalem, formerly known to us only from the Jerusalem baptismal and mystagogical catecheses attributed to Cyril and the witness of Egeria. This is ground-breaking work of the first order; required reading for the study of early liturgy and Armenian Church history. --Maxwell E. Johnson, Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame
This is a work of outstanding, incisive, and meticulous scholarship, definitively restoring Macarius Letter to the Armenians to its rightful place in history. This is a major accomplishment in itself. Yet the fruit of this labor is even more valuable, for the Letter has significant implications for our knowledge of the development of Christian liturgy, the early history of Armenian Christianity, and will certainly be of interest to all students of early Christianity. --John Behr, Dean and Professor of Patristics, St Vladimir s Seminary
Long thought to be a letter from the sixth century, Abraham Terian s excellent edition, translation, and commentary demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that this important Letter to the Armenians from Macarius of Jerusalem is to be dated in the fourth decade of the fourth century. As such, this becomes extremely important both for the history of Armenian Christianity in this period and also for now being our earliest source for the baptismal and eucharistic liturgies of Jerusalem, formerly known to us only from the Jerusalem baptismal and mystagogical catecheses attributed to Cyril and the witness of Egeria. This is ground-breaking work of the first order; required reading for the study of early liturgy and Armenian Church history. --Maxwell E. Johnson, Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame
This is a work of outstanding, incisive, and meticulous scholarship, definitively restoring Macarius Letter to the Armenians to its rightful place in history. This is a major accomplishment in itself. Yet the fruit of this labor is even more valuable, for the Letter has significant implications for our knowledge of the development of Christian liturgy, the early history of Armenian Christianity, and will certainly be of interest to all students of early Christianity. --John Behr, Dean and Professor of Patristics, St Vladimir s Seminary
About the Author
ABRAHAM TERIAN is Professor of Armenian Patristics and Academic Dean at St Nersess Armenian Seminary in New Rochelle, New York. Before coming to St Nersess in 1997, Terian was Professor of Intertestamental and Early Christian Literatures for some twenty years at Andrews University, and for several years a recurring Visiting Professor of Armenian Studies at the University of Chicago.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing Early Church Letter,
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This review is from: Macarius of Jerusalem: Letter to the Armenians, AD 335 (Avant Series) (Hardcover)
The fascinating letter written to the Church in Armenia in the fourth century would be reason enough to want to read this book, but Abraham Terian's commentary on the letter adds to the interest and worth of this book. To read such an eary letter, and one that contains descriptions of the early Church's beliefs on Baptism, the Eucharist and the Clergy, is a most wonderful thing.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An academically impressive model of meticulous and painstaking scholarship,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Macarius of Jerusalem: Letter to the Armenians, AD 335 (Avant Series) (Hardcover)
Ante-Nicenean Fathers refers to the Christian leaders and theologians that came immediately after the generation of the original apostles and their acolytes. Macarisu Of Jerusalem, who lived and worked in the 4th Century A.D. was one of these influential men who were to shape the course of the Christian movement during the increasingly oppressive activities of the Roman Empire which finally ended with Emperor Constantin's 'Edict of Milan' in A.D. 313 which legalized and legitimized the Christian Church throughout the empire. We have only a relative scattering of letters and other writings to document the struggle of these early church fathers, but one such surviving document has now been translated with an informed and informative introduction and commentary by Abraham Terian and published by the St. Vladimir's Seminary Press as "Macarius Of Jerusalem: Letter To The Armenians, A.D. 335". An significant and critically important contribution to 4th Century Christian Studies, "Macarius Of Jerusalem" is an academically impressive model of meticulous and painstaking scholarship, and presents a seminal body of informed and informative work that is solidly recommended for personal, pastoral, academic, and seminary Christian History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.
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