Dickran Kouymjian Catalogue of The Litur

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Catalogue of the Liturgical Metalwork

Dickran Kouymjian
1765; manuscript 1302-1321 copied in Sis, Mayr Matoc (main Ritual Book) of the Cathedral of St. Sophia, Sis.
Adana. Made by Yarutiwn mahtesi almkiar. 25x18.5cm; silver, gilded, chased, engraved. Ms. Inv. Number 9.
The remarks which follow serve to contextualize the liturgical metalwork in the Cilician Museum of the
Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia. The catalogue of some one hundred objects discussed in detail
below, though a small sample of the collections, presents the most important objects in it.1
The liturgical artifacts silver metalwork, vestments, altar curtains, and manuscripts including
Gospelbooks, lectionaries, prayer books formerly part of the treasury of the Catholicosate of Cilicia in
Sis and now the core of the Cilician Museum in Antelias, present one of the most important and authentic
pre-Genocide collections of Armenian religious art to have reached us. Despite centuries of invasion and
strife by determined enemies of the Cilician state and its catholicosate, including the final solution of the
Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire in 1915, which resulted in the total destruction of its former
capital and religious headquarters of seven centuries, these objects survived. Thanks to the desperate attempt
on the part of a few clergymen to save as many of its important movable and sanctified liturgical treasures,
a miraculous and representative collection is now securely preserved to be visited and admired by Armenians
and non-Armenians alike. In this volume this section of its holdings, including the catalogue of the liturgical
metalwork, is a tribute to those spiritual leaders who sacrificed everything to preserve these inanimate relics
that have been touched by the grace of centuries of faith and reverence.
Western religious institutions, whether the papacy or important bishoprics or powerful monasteries, have
fared much better than most churches in Asia Minor and the Holy Land, the cradle of the three great
monotheistic religions. The Monastery of St. John the Theologian on the Island of Patmos offers some
interesting points of comparison in studying the liturgical implements of the Catholicosate of Cilicia. At
Patmos the collection of church plate was greatly enhanced through pious donations in the twelfth century,
filling its treasury with priceless church objects many from princely patrons in the Balkans. The term church
treasury was actually very appropriate because the greater part of the churchs wealth was stored in it. In
the Western ecclesiastical world as in the Eastern, in times of disaster or distress, such accumulated wealth
was in part sold off to pay for the needs of the monks or those dependent on the church or monastery. This
was the case with Patmos.2 An additional factor also played a decisive role in the dilapidation of the treasury:
in the case of Patmos raids by pirates regularly plundering churches and monasteries and in the case of the
Cilician See and Armenian institutions in general, war, invasion, crushing taxation, and finally at the end of
the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, massacre and genocide. In both cases, Patmos
off the western coast of Ottoman Turkey and Armenia in its eastern regions, the survival of pre-eighteenth
century liturgical objects is rare. Yet, it is with these precious remnants of the last two centuries from the
mountain top residence of the Catholicoi at Sis that the Museum and this catalogue owe their existence.
Armenian metalwork is intrinsically associated with liturgical vessels. Though secular objects in silver,
gold, and bronze have come to light through excavations of Urartean and pre-Christian sites, surviving
objects fashioned in metal from the Christian era, except for an abundance of coins from the twelfth to the
fourteenth centuries, are almost exclusively liturgical items.3 They are abundantly preserved in catholicosal,
patriarchal, and lesser collections. Unfortunately, there are few dating from before the sixteenth century;
many of those are attributed to the patronage of the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia. Excavations at the early
medieval capitals of Dwin and Ani have uncovered a limited number of objects in bronze: crosses, a
candelabra, lamps, and incense burners.4 There is also the tenth-century iron cross of King Aot Erkat, in a
case of a later date, and what is probably a large baptismal basin from the Monastery of Haarcin dated
1232.5 Among exceptional secular works are at least two astrolabes. One in highly polished bronze is dated
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1479 and belonged to the Armenian doctor Amir Dowlat of Amasya (ca. 1420-1496), court physician of
Sultan Mehmed II, now in the collection of the Sultan of Qatar;6 the other crafted with less elegance, but
equally distinguished, belonged to the late seventeenth-century printer and scholar ukas Vanandeci and is
today in the History Museum of Armenian in Erevan.7
The oldest group of surviving liturgical items, a few dating to the tenth and eleventh centuries, is
comprised of reliquaries, either preserving fragments of the True Cross or right hand relics of saints; the
latter, in Armenian a, are known in the West as dexters. Such reliquaries, whether containing fragments of
the True Cross, body parts of saints, or other venerable elements, are found in the collections at the
Catholicosate of Holy miacin,8 the Cilician Catholicosate,9 the Patriarchates of Jerusalem10 and
Constantinople/Istanbul,11 the Armenian Catholic Monasteries of the Mxitarist Fathers in Venice12 and
Vienna,13 as well as the Catholic Monastery at Bzommar in Lebanon, and at church museums such as those
in Aleppo, Tabriz, New Julfa, and Southfield, Michigan.14
The most notable of these, like the right hand of St. Gregory the Illuminator, accompanied Armenian
catholicoi as they moved through the centuries from one region of Armenia to another. Their use in church
ceremonial helped guarantee their safety. During the long history of invasion and occupation of Armenia,
accompanied by looting and destruction, precious objects in silver and gold inevitably disappeared. Yet, a
sufficient number have survived to provide a rich overview of the beauty of these objects fashioned by
Armenian artisans as a way to honor the church and ultimately the heavenly Trinity.
With the election of another catholicos in miacin after 1441, one can at least postulate the beginnings
of the permanent collection now housed in different museums at the Holy See. The Catholicosate of the
Great House of Cilicia, patronized by the kings of Armenia, has a continuous history from its residence at
Homkla (1156), then Sis (1292). During the Genocide, it was relocated in Aleppo (1915), then in 1921 it
was finally evacuated from Cilicia and in 1930 it settled in its present location in Antelias. Little survives,
however, from the glorious days of the Cilician royalty. The Catholicosal Museum preserves the silver
binding dated 1252 of the Barjrberd Gospels of 1248 and the right hand reliquary of St. Nicholas of 1315,
both the oldest dated items in their respective categories. The remainder of the items from the Catholicosate
at Sis for the most part date to the eighteenth century and after. However, certain relics, especially the right
hands of St. Gregory, St. Nicholas, St. Sylvester, and St. Barsauma, as well as a number of smaller ones
preserved within crosses, are much older than their more recent silver reliquaries.
The study of Armenian liturgical art is based on such reliquaries, chalices, candlesticks, altar ornaments,
censers, crosses, flabellae, lamps, silver Gospel covers, and miscellaneous items including chandeliers,
fashioned during the past three centuries. The art historian, therefore, is confronted with the problem of
tracing the line of development of both the form and decoration of such objects from the earliest centuries
of Christianity to the modern period. As in all art, the shape and decoration of objects is affected by tradition
and new waves of stylistic change, thus recording such changes is often a difficult endeavor.
The early fourth-century adoption of Christianity by the state resulted in the participation of the Armenians
in the formation of the styles and forms of early Christian art. We know this from textual sources as well
as the comparatively abundant vestiges of church architecture of the fifth to the seventh centuries and through
painting mostly manuscript illumination from the ninth century on and a few surviving frescoes silver
crosses, and a fragmentary miniature cycle of the paleo-Christian period. This heritage, including
numismatic evidence from the kingdom of Cilicia, demonstrates that Armenian artists were aware of the
modes and fashions of their times in neighboring Christian traditions. There is every reason to believe that
the transformations in minor arts taking place in the Byzantine East and the Latin West, civilizations in
direct contact with Armenia and the Armenians, from the earliest Christian centuries to pre-modern times,
were well understood and employed by Armenian craftsmen and artists.
The inscriptions from liturgical metalwork demonstrate that the craftsmen and artists responsible for their
execution were often laymen. This is in marked contrast to those who produced Armenian manuscripts;
scribes and artists were almost without exception clergymen usually working within a monastery, in general
in an isolated or near isolated rural environment. Metalworkers, whether crafting objects in iron, bronze, or
copper, or jewelers creating with silver, gold, and precious stones, were usually active in an urban or semiurban environment, a town or a village. As for liturgical vestments, altar curtains, chalice covers, and other
textiles, they seemed to be reserved for the skills of female creators. This tripartite division of the arts and
crafts in medieval and early modern Armenia has not been sufficiently studied and will probably yield
interesting information on the social stratification of Armenian life. In this way, that is, by commissioning
or encouraging liturgical art, the church succeeded in integrating all elements of society around its daily
ritual.
As the attentive reader will discover, many of the inscriptions have misspellings, grammatical errors,
incomprehensible forms of place names and names of individuals, at times local dialects, sometimes foreign
words such as Turkish, and occasionally the use of hijr dates of the Muslim calendar. These errors are
carefully recordered and usually not corrected; however, they are noted as errors by the word sic, meaning
recorded exactly as it is written, from the Latin word meaning thus. It was my intent from the conception
of the catalogue of the Cilician Museum to record as accurately and completely as possible all inscriptions
to serve as an important tool for research into the history of these objects as well as the social milieu in
which they were created. There was a conscious effort to escape from the usual beautiful album syndrome
that ignores such information, opting for a splendid photograph and the date. The frequency of the errors,
as pointed out by recurrent us of the word sic, sometimes immediately followed by the correct spelling or
form, shows the level of literacy of those responsible for the inscription, often rather low in the later period.
It also poses a number of questions. Were the craftsmenmetalworkers and jewelerswho fashioned them,
weak in writing skills? Or were the patrons, those who commissioned the works? If it was not the patrons
fault, surely those who were clergy, often vardapets, ought to have checked the inscriptions or supplied a
correct copy of the text for the engraver to execute. Little work has been done in this area and the catalogue
was not the place to try to answer such questions, only to point out directions for further research.15
There is also a major difficulty in establishing the provenance of Armenian metalwork. Though almost
all metal vessels or other object used in church have inscriptions, only rarely do we find the name of the
craftsman who created the piece or the place of its manufacture as distinguished from the church for which
it was intended. Scribal colophons in manuscripts are usually of a substantial length, an integral part of the
object, which is entirely dedicated to the written word. Thus, it is quite common for the scribe to mention
the name of the artist or artists responsible for the illuminations, miniatures, and other decoration in the
manuscript; it is quite common for the artist himself to leave a separate colophon and often the binder to
add one too. Metalwork usually does not provide the abundant space necessary for such long memorials,
thus most works are anonymous and their place of origin, whether a town or a workshop, must be conjectured
from the style of the object or information within the inscription that can provide clues, the name of the
patron, a patriarch or catholicos for instance, or his or her place of origin, or the name of the church to which
the item was gifted. As we will see with common objects like chalices or candleholders, altar crosses, censers,
and the like, inscriptions announce that such and such a person presented the chalice or cross to the Holy
See of St. Gregory the Illuminator at Sis. This has led many, lacking any other indication of origin, to attribute
the origin of the liturgical object to Sis. Yet, we know by the quality of the craftsmanship of many vessels
of precious metal, often enameled or graced with gems, that the best jewelers of Constantinople, the Ottoman
Empires capital, made them.
By the end of the seventeenth century, Constantinople had become the city with the largest Armenian
population in the Empire as well as the seat of the Patriarch, an official of the Ottoman Empires
administrative system, responsible directly to the Sultan for the management of Armenians throughout his
vast realm. It was there that the styles were often set and where the most luxurious liturgical objects were
fashioned. This phenomenon was exactly the same for the Greek Orthodox community, with its Patriarch
also headquartered in the capital from the very establishment of a Christian Byzantine Empire, but like the
Armenian Patriarch, after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, he was
responsible before the Ottoman Porte for all Greeks in the realm. The finest Greek artistic works were
fashioned by craftsmen working in the great cosmopolitan city on the Bosphorus and from there often
supplying the most precious objects to the churches of the provinces as has been pointed out by various
scholars.16 Through inscriptions we know this to be true in the Armenian case too.
Surely the patronage of the princes and kings, including the Bagratids and Arcrunis and afterward the
aristocracy of Cilician Armenia (ca. 1080-1375), created an environment in which artistic innovation and
exchange penetrated the spirit of Armenian artisans responsible for the creation of church art. Later, this
noble patronage was transferred to the prosperous merchant class that dominated Armenian life from the
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seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Because we lack sufficient specimens of metalwork from the early
period it is difficult to judge if certain imported ornamental motifs from the West or even from the Greek
East, first appeared during the late middle ages or if they are to be ascribed to more recent times. Further
targeted research will certainly clear up some of these questions.
Relics and Reliquaries
The cult of relics was inspired by the reverence for the remains of early Christian martyrs during the
persecutions of the Roman Empire. Relics in addition to being sacred objects of veneration, were thought
to have powers of healing and salvation; they were also important signs of authority and even sovereignty.
Throughout Asia Minor and the Holy Land, kings, emperors, and local sovereigns, as well as high church
officials avidly searched for bones or body parts and aggressively accumulated relics. Relics were symbols
of special power endowed on the possessor by God; they also served to reinforce authority, both religious
and political. They were thought of as prophylactic or palliative objects protecting empires, courts, churches,
and their subjects or faithful.17
Despite the ravages caused by centuries of pillage and destruction, culminating in the Genocide, a
considerable number of reliquaries survive. Very few examples are to be found in repositories not belonging
to the Armenian Church, quite different from the Latin or Greek experience where innumerable reliquaries
have made their way into major museums. As in the rest of the Christian world the most venerated Armenian
relics fall into two categories. The first consists of pieces of the True Cross, called in Armenian variously
the Holy Sign (Surb Nan) or the Living Wood (payt kenac, kensagir Surb Nan). Though there are no
large pieces of the True Cross, scores of little fragments are incorporated in cross-shaped reliquaries in most
important collections of church artifacts: miacin, Jerusalem, Antelias, Aleppo, Istanbul, Venice, Vienna,
Bzommar. There are two important relics from Biblical times in miacin, a fragment of Noahs ark18 and
the spear that pierced Christs side at the Crucifixion.19 There is another fragment in a reliquary with the
form of a spear in the Cilicia Museum (to be discussed below).
The second large class of relics is related to the body parts of saints, especially right hand or arm
reliquaries of which some fifty Armenian examples have been recorded.20 As in other church traditions,
many of these are of saints who have a direct relationship to the Armenian Church or nation. The most
prominent are arm relics of the right hand of St. Gregory the Illuminator, who is responsible for the
conversion of Armenia to Christianity in the first quarter of the fourth century.21 There is one each in
the Catholicosate of miacin and the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia. But a third is in
Jerusalem at the Armenian Patriarchate, a fourth in the Armenian Prelacy of New Julfa-Ispahan, and,
finally, a sixth right hand reliquary is preserved in the church of San Gregorio Armena in Nardo,
Italy.22 Atamar, with a catholicosate until the turn of the twentieth century, had at one time its own
right arm relic of St. Gregory, which may have been the same as the one that materialized in miacin
in 1441.
In the Cilician collection there are four dexters (a, plural aer): those of St. Gregory the Illuminator,
St. Nicholas, St. Sylvester, and St. Barsauma the Syrian. In addition, there are numerous reliquaries
of diverse shape with relics belonging to early Christian figures including St. John the Baptist, the
Apostles St. John and St. Peter, St. Stephen, St. Menas, and St. James of Nisibis.23
Armenian Reliquaries
Little work has been done on the overall understanding of the art and the history of Armenian
reliquaries, though articles and short monographs have been published on individual items. As already
mentioned, there are two major types of relics among the Armenians, pieces of the True Cross and
bones of the right hands of saints. Though the former are common among most early Christian rites,
there is an added significance for the Armenian Church. Very early a tradition was established that the
Byzantine emperor Heraclius ( 610-641), who seems to have had Armenian origins, gave fragments of
the True Cross to the Armenians on his return to Constantinople after rescuing it from Persia in 628,
where the Sassanids had taken it after the sack of Jerusalem in 614. 24 Reliquaries with fragments of
the cross of the Crucifixion exist in most Armenian liturgical collections.
A second variety of relic is the dexter or the right hand of a saint.25 Though the large number of
these preserved in ecclesiastic collections includes important figures of the early church and those
associated with the conversion of Armenia, special importance was given to the relics of St. Gregory
the Illuminator and his immediate family. No attempt will be made to solve the riddle of why we
possess multiple right hand reliquaries of St. Gregory, but among holy relics, the dexter of St. Gregory
is the only one that has a precise function in Armenian ritual, being an indispensable instrument in
the blessing of the Holy Oil and used in the consecration of catholicoi and in earlier times kings and
even bishops.
The hierarchy of relics parallels that of the principal figures of any religion. In Christianity, the
ranking is Christ, the Virgin, followed by the Apostles and the saints. The latter also have their order:
John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, the four Evangelists, the other Apostles, followed by local saints. In
Armenia the cult of relics was governed by these precepts and followed this ranking schema, with
minor variants based on its own history. The Armenian interest in relics dates to the same fourth
century in which it adopted Christianity, even though later tradition dates back the phenomenon to
the first century when St. Thaddeus, one of the two Apostles to bring Christianity to Armenia (the
other was St. Bartholomew), brought the Holy Lance of the Crucifixion to Armenia.
The most important surviving relics pertain to Jesus and St. Gregory the Illuminator, founder and
first head of the church. There are no relics affiliated with the Virgin Mary, because her body, like
that of Christs, was taken to heaven at the Assumption, even though her veil, her belt, and the box
holding her veil were later surrogate relics, as were the wood of the cross, the lance, and other nonbody elements associated with Christ. The Virgins veil was supposedly given to St. Bartholomew,
who had not been present at her funeral; he is supposed to have brought it to Armenia where a cult
developed around it.26 Many relics were associated with the Apostles. Curiously, the relics belonging
to the female saints Hipsim and Gayan have been preserved under their respective churches
according to tradition, but seemingly were not encapsulated into reliquaries, as were those of male
saints, until rather modern times. Were female saints simply left out of the cult of relics in Armenia
or in Eastern Christianity? The question deserves further study; nevertheless, two late dexters of St.
Hipsim of 1793 and 1825, the latter from Calcutta, are housed in miacin.27
Part I. Reliquaries
A. Altar reliquaries
Most Armenian altar or display reliquaries are associated with the Crucifixion, either fragments of the
True Cross or the spear that pierced Christs side (see above). Among the oldest surviving liturgical items
are the reliquaries of a tenth-eleventh century triptych of the staff of St. Bartholomew28 and of St. Stephen
the protomartyr of 1302,29 encasements for fragments of the True Cross or relics of saints, including two
triptychs in silver, one from Skewa dated 1293 in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg,30 and the most
splendid example of the period, the Holy Cross of Xotakerac made in 1300 for the Prince ai Poean
now in the Treasury of Holy miacin.31 Such reliquaries in the Cilician collection are entirely from the early
modern period.
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1. Parcel gilt silver triptych, altar ornament
eighteenth century for the triptych. There are rings two-thirds of the way up to open each of the arched
leaves, attached by hinges on each side. The two-line inscription in erkatagir is below. In the large,
beautifully fashioned, gilded arch above there is an allover floral scroll separated by three wreaths; above
the larger upper wreath is a dome shaped building surmounted by a cross (the Holy Sepulcher), on each
side are smaller ones topped by crescents, suggesting the city of Celestial Jerusalem. Further down on each
side are smaller shrines.
Interior (leaves open): In the center is a Crucifixion in a Western style with some Eastern elements. On the
left flap is a standing figure, St. Peter, holding a large key, though his younger look and high forehead is
usually associated with St. Paul. Above him in a cloud band is Christ enthroned with the sun. On the right
panel is another standing figure with a sword, presumably St. Paul, though his face is more appropriate for
St. Peter. Above him, in a cloud band is God the Father seated with a triangular or Trinitarian halo. Below
his feet to the left is the moon. The Crucifixion shows Christ with a loincloth, Mary on the left and St. John
on the right, and Mary Magdalene kneeling and clutching Christs feet at the bottom of the cross. At the top
is the Holy Trinity with a globe and cross underneath. Above the arm of the cross are the sun and the moon.
Below the cross is the skull of Adam, an old tradition in the iconography for the Crucifixion, which took
place on Golgotha, the hill of the skulls. In the four corners are the Evangelists in wreaths fashioned as those
in the upper arch, accompanied by their symbols.
Bibliography: Album, 1965, [30]; Agemian, 1998, 6-7, fig. 4; Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 84-85; Ballian, 2002, 27, fig. 10, 112.
Exhibitions: Halle, 2000; Athens, 2002.
2. Reliquary in the form of the Holy Lance (geard) with a piece of the True Cross
Late eighteenth century, Sebastia. 44x30.5cm when closed. Silver, partially gilded, hammered, hallmarked surfaces, partially chased,
carved (engraved). Inventory Number 28.
Detail
Inscriptions: two lines of elongated erkatagir at the foot

FXGU J XYU%H RRY& DGLJH RYU(E GPY%Y&H NYURGSY(CJ/ ^F%GTE D(JDY(
SG(:FKJH BY( IJU(JHVJ &Y(AY(AJH> &J$GKGIGV ZY*YS(XFGH RFEGRKJY&
TG&( @G*G@JH IGTG%BEG% (sic) PSGIGHJH HY&FTEF(J GTRY& F JH
Donated to the holy throne of St. Grigor the Illuminator of Sis, made by Master Grigor called Giwrinci
(from Giwrin). To the memory of the people of the metropolis of Sebastia, kamazba (sic, meaning uncertain,
perhaps colonnaded), in the year (date omitted) fifth of the month of November.
Note: Though a date formula is provided at the end of the second line, it lacks the year, but gives the day as November 5. On the
cross of the Crucifixion: &HPL &jryur Hgbys9fvj Pgdguy9 L9=jv (= INRI) Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum
[Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews].
Exterior: When closed, the two leaves depict the Annunciation to the Virgin, who is in Western styled robes
on the right with up-raised arms in orans fashion before a reading stand with Archangel Gabriel on the left.
Gabriel holds a long-stemmed flower, intended to be a fleur-de-lys or lily, the symbol of the Virgin, rather
than a staff; the dove of the Holy Spirit descends toward the head of the Virgin. The model for this
iconography is most certainly an engraving of the scene from an early Armenian printed book with an
identical arrangement, except that the Virgin usually has her hands crossed on her chest while standing
before the lectern. Ultimately the source goes back to a wood block by Christoffel Van Sichem II, used by
Oskan Erewanci in his Amsterdam Bible of 166632 and then occasionally with slight variations in his Psalter
of 1673, the Yaysmawurk of Grigor Marzwaneci in its various editions in Constantinople, 1706-1733, and
in a series of araknoc (Hymnals) of 1743, 1768, 1784, suggesting a dating of the second half of the
Eighteenth century. 36x12cm. Silver, gilded, chased, mounted, relic

behind the horn disc, red seal. Inv. Number 187.
Inscriptions:
1. On the cross &HPL (= INRI). Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
2. Under glass on a round piece of paper pasted on a surface where the wings of a seraph appear. Under a
fragment of wood in cursive agir are the words wg7k ifhgv (payt kenac, or wood of life).
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The spear-shaped case has on the relic side a large glass window with sunrays emanating from
it. Under the glass, on a cloth from which a Maltese cross has been cut out, or perhaps the wings
of a seraph, in the center of which is a whiter cloth or piece of cotton-like substance on which is
written wood of life in modern Armenian cursive (agir). Just above this is a small fragment
of wood on another bit of cloth. In the upper and lower corners of the diamond shape are cherubim
and below in the circular part between the point and the base is a red stone. The handle or base is
decorated with a Western style floral scroll frieze. Fine chains are attached to the perimeters of
the object on both sides.
On the other side, the tip of the spear contains a Crucifixion, below which is the knop decorated
with a seraph; the design on the shaft is like that on the other side. The Crucifixion shows Mary and
and the Apostle John standing on either side of the cross and Mary Magdalene kneeling and embracing
its base, below which is the skull of Adam. The mound on which the cross is planted has below it
three domes and two arches with hanging oil lamps, suggesting the Holy Sepulcher, though the wall
of Jerusalem is placed higher up under St. Johns feet. The instruments of the Passion are shown on
the two sides: the vessel for vinegar, the axe, the whip, the ladder, the pliers, the column of the
flagellation; the wreath of thorns is on Christs head. The spear is being thrust into the right side of
Christ by a mounted warrior with a turban and from the wound a double stream of blood and water
squirts into the warriors eyes. Above the arm of the cross are the sun and the moon; at the top of the
cross is a plaque or titulus of Pilate with &HPL (INRI).
Note: There is a problem with a spear-shaped reliquary, which contains a clearly identified piece of the cross. Was the
fragment supposed to be wood from the spear but misunderstood and identified at a later moment as the living wood of
the cross? There is a famous Armenian relic, the geard, or spear, which pierced Christs side. It was kept in the famous
medieval Monastery of Geard but is now at Holy miacin. It is of iron as expected for the tip of such an instrument.
Bibliography: Album of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, [47]; Agemian, 1998, 6, fig. 2; Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 92, 94-95;
Ballian, 2002, 64, fig. 54, 114, no. 46; Armenia sacra, 2007, 392, fig. 2.
Inscriptions:
On the interior plate
1. In cartouche: RYU(E ORK+WGHYR G(JUH +.
This is the blood of St. Stephen.
2. In cartouche: :GKYUGIGH WG&K IFHGV.
Venerable living wood; venerable (relic) of the True Cross.
3. In cartouche: RYU(E IG(G:FKJH TGRYUH@ +.
This is the relic of Surb Karapet.
Main inscription:
&J$GKGI + BG&R KYUWR &YLGHH+R SG(XG:FKOR Y( YUHJ J TJAJ JU(YUT BWG&K IFHGV FU
R(EYV TGRYUH@H J SG&FNYUTH GH^JHR JU( TG(TJHH J TGL PSJH J> %T)D (=1804).
This box is a memory of Yohanns Vardapet, it contains the wood of life and holy relics for the
gratification of his person (body?) at death in the year 1804.
This is a rectangular box in filigree bearing jewel stones on all sides with three shallow domes on top, also
in filigree, each mounted with a cross bearing jewel stones. There are hinges at the back to open the cover.
In the box, there are three candle holder-like sockets for the relic fragments attached to a raised plaque with
floral designs in the corner and a two-line inscription within three connected cartouches. The sides are
rendered with dense filigree scrollwork with a dominant S pattern.
Bibliography: Album, 1965, [47]; Agemian, 1998, 6, fig. 2; Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 92, 94-95; Ballian, 2002, 96, fig. 85, 112, no.
35; Armenia sacra, 2007, 392, fig. 2.
4. Reliquary ostensory with relics of St. John the Baptist, St. James of Nisibis, St. Peter, and the True
Cross
3. Reliquary box with relics of St. Stephen, the True Cross, and St. John the Baptist (or Surb
Karapet), masunknerov arkik
1804, [Sis]. 9x16x8.5cm. Silver, gilded, engraved, filigree, rubies, garnets, emeralds, lapis lazuli,
turquoise. Inv. Number 51 (under Relics).
Late eighteenth century. 42x17cm. Silver, gilded, chased. Inv. Number 195.
Detail
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Inscriptions:
1. a. Next to John the Baptist: &!LGH+R TI(KCJH FU TGRH.
John the Baptist and his relic.
b. Next to patriarch on left: &GIYE T)EHG& (sic) LG&(G:FKH FU TGRH.
The Patriarch James of Nisibis and his relic.
c. Next to patriarch on right: DFK> G(GDFGN (sic) :FK(YR LG&(G:FKH FU TGRH.
The Patriarch Apostle Peter and his relic.
2. On reverse an octagonal seal-like element, the hinged cover of the compartment that held a piece of the
True Cross:
IFHGV/ WG&KH.
The living wood (True Cross).
Below on the cross: &HPL (INRI).
Note: The reading Aakeal preceding the name Petros is clear, thus it is not a Catholicos Petros,33 but the Apostle St. Peter. Only
three patriarchs have that name: Catholicos Petros Getadarj of the eleventh century and two co-adjutor catholicoi of Cilicia, Petros
Kakaeci (1601-1608) and Petros Beriaci (1708-1719). It is hard to imagine why any of these would be pictured on this
ostensory.
Bibliography: Album, 1965 [51]; Agemian, 1998, 7, fig. 3; Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 97, 98 illus.; Ballian, 2002, 72, fig. 61, 114,
no. 49.
B. Cross shaped reliquaries

Norayr Bogharians booklet on Armenian crosses (see note 24) is devoted to relics and reliquaries of the
True Cross. In various historical and hagiographic accounts, there are episodes of how Emperor Heraclius
gave pieces of the wood of Christs cross to Armenians (see above). The original living cross relics must
date from this event. The invention of the True Cross by Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, was
in the fourth century. One of the earliest, if not the earliest, preserved Armenian reliquaries of the Living
Wood, is a cross-shaped gilded copper case with enameling and colored stones, probably of the eleventh
century, in the Treasury of the Cathedral of miacin.34 Presented below are the most important True Cross
reliquaries in the Cilician Museum.
5. Reliquary box in the form of a cross, xaajew masnatup
This reliquary is in the form of a sunburst and apparently was used on the altar (xorani masnatup), as
an ostensory (aan). It is supported by a knop and shaft suitable to be mounted as a processional
item. As it is, it would not rest comfortably in an upright position. It is difficult to determine the
obverse side from the reverse, but since Baptism is chronologically before Crucifixion, I have
considered it the obverse. The object with its carefully executed sunburst, similar to seventeenth and
early eighteenth century Armenian manuscript bindings from New Julfa, suggests it is intended as an
ostensory for the altar, though such objects usually display much longer rays. The craftsmanship is
such that the two sides have identical borders.
Obverse: The large oval is divided horizontally into two unequal parts with the Baptism occupying
the upper two-thirds. The iconography follows the earliest tradition found in Armenian miniatures:
Christ with a loincloth, feet firmly planted in the Jordan River with pairs of fish on either side. John
the Baptist facing frontally to the left appears as usual taller than Christ; he extends his right hand
above Christs cruciform halo. To the right two angels hold Christs garments; above, the dove of the
Holy Spirit appears in the clouds of heaven. In the lower third are two oval medallions containing
upright and frontal views of the mitered patriarchs St. James of Nisibis and St. Peter, each holding
the pastoral staff of his office. In the extremities of the field are four compartments for relics.
Reverse: Christ with a loincloth is flanked near the bottom of the central oval field by the Virgin on
the left and on the right St. John who embraces the cross with his right arm. Such a pose is usually
reserved in later iconography for Mary Magdalene, but perhaps because of the lack of space, the artist
showed John in this position. Adams skull appears at the base of the cross to identify the spot as
Golgotha. Above the horizontal bar are seraphim on each side and at the top in a cloud band
representing heaven, God with a triangular halo and below him the dove of the Holy Spirit. To the
sides are the sun and the moon and six-pointed stars. Below the dove is the hinged receptacle in the
shape of an octagon signet seal for the relic wood of the True Cross, today missing. All around the
field are the instruments of the Passion. Moving from left to right they are: 1) a feather, 2) the spear
that pierced Christs side hanging from the cross, 3) the sponge dipped in vinegar, 4) three nails, 5)
the three dices, cast to divide his robes, 6) the pliers to remove the nails, 7) the three-pronged whip
of the flagellation, 8) the rod he was beaten with, 9) the axe, 10) a square medallion with compartments
(the lantern of Malchus?), 11) the cock which crowed at Peters denial, 12) the column on which
Christ was flagellated, 13) the hand of the High Priest that slapped Jesus, 14) the pitcher and basin
with which Pilate washed his hands, 15) the ladder of the Descent from the Cross, 16) the plaque
(titulus) on the cross &HPL (=INRI, Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum), Jesus of Nazareth, King of
the Jews.
Fourteenth-fifteenth century. 11x12.5cm. Silver, gilded, engraved, appliqued, coarse filigree, rock
crystal, pearls. Inv. Number 94.09.
Inscription: on the back in a primitive bolorgir (minuscule) emerging from the mixed script. #gcr
7j4gkgi = k=9 t3jpg9 i91hguy9jh ju9 0h18gvh gt=9h (sic) 7fk zgtghgijr fh
ryu9e xyu5h ryu9e d=y9i b19gsg9jr 3h6y9 dhft.
This cross is a memorial to the Church of Saint Gworg Zoravar for his parents from the monk Mxitar
[many] years after. [So] Ill buy apples.
The equal armed cross-shaped reliquary has simple flaring ends. An identical design in each arm is made
of twisted wire with four small circles at the end preceded by a palmette or arabesque. Small seed pearls
are mounted at the eight extremities of the cross and around the rock crystal in the center with its relic
underneath. The reverse is plain with a poorly executed commemorative inscription for the parents of the
monk Mxitar.
Bibliography: Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 121 illus.
Exhibitions: Halle, 2000.
170
171
6. Altar cross with relic of the living wood of the True Cross, xorani xa masunkov
Inscription: spiral, in erkatagir on handle, running from the bottom up

RG(DRJ &J$GKGI+ RYU(E #GCR NYURGUY(CJ GP!%Y&R #GCF(O U>>>
This cross is a memorial of Sargis for the crosses of the Throne of the Illuminator. In 12
On the back: in the center within a circle:
RYU(E &YSLGHH+R :FK(YR G%G@FGN RYU(E RKFWGHHYR/ ^F%GTE RYU~%GBVJ
D+Y(@ %T:FD-XGSJK#G (1241 = 1792).
St. Yovhanns [John], Apostle Petros [Peter], St. Stepannos [Stephen]. Made by Gork(sic) of Sufaz.
12 Peg-Davit 41[1792].
Note: In between the two parts of the date is a fancy monogram-like group of letters, which are hard to read because oxidation
has effaced the deep curve of the G joining the two ligatured elements, the left stroke of that ayb is the same line as that of the
right stroke of :; the D floats in the emptiness of the G, while the K is cut through the middle by the loop of the ayb.35
Front: An equal armed cross of lobed configuration with filigree work studded with colored jewels and
turquoise of various sizes. In the interstices, there are four smaller crosses. In the center, under a circular
glass window, there are fragments of three relics. The cross itself is inscribed within a delicate circle from
which radiate a continuous series of long stems or rays. The backside contains the inscription naming the
relics.
Nineteenth century. 32.5x17.5cm. Silver, gilt, filigree, emeralds, rubies, relic
under a disc, corals. Inv. Number 18.
Bibliography: Album, [48]; Agemian, Muse Cilicie, 9 fig. 3; Goltz and Gltz, Rescued Armenian Treasures, 97, 99 illus.; Ballian,
Armenian Relics, 90-91 illus., 111, no. 29.
Inscription: notrgir in two circles on the paper surrounding the piece of wood under glass. Ryu9e h4gh
ifhgv wg7k d9j2y9yr, 7j4gkgi = d9jdy9jr gufkjr sg9xg;fk.
This Holy Seal (Cross) living wood grikoros (sic), is a memorial of Grigoris Awetis Vardapet.
8. Reliquary box in the form of a cross, xaajew masnatup
Front: The elaborate reliquary cross entirely decorated by fine filigree work, has a tiny crucified Christ, but
without the actual cross.
Back: The same elaborate cross entirely decorated with fine filigree work, originally studded with eight
colored jewels, four on each axis. As on the other side, but more pronounced, there are compartments with
lobed edges filling the space between the quadrants of the cross. The effect is that of juxtaposed squares.
The shaft, which supports the cross, suggests that it was also used as a processional reliquary.
Bibliography: Album, 1965, [51]; Agemian, 1998, 7, fig. 3; Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 116, 97, 98 illus.; Ballian, 2002, 72, fig. 61,
114, no. 49.
7. Processional cross with relics

1799, Adana. 12x12cm. Silver, gilded, chased, filigree, rubies. Inv. Number 37.
Inscription: On reverse
&J$GKGI+ RYU(E #GCR TGLKFRJ XGUPJH SGRH LYDUYV HHCFVFNYV (sic) HY(JH
TJAJ TGRHJ IFHGV WG&KJH J SG&FNYUTH &G(YUPJH SG(XG:FKJH%T#O (1248 = 1799)
PSJH RF:KFTEF(J T+IJH
This cross is [donated] by Mahtesi Dawit in memory for his deceased kin, in the center [there is] a piece
of the living wood for the gratification of Yarutiwn Vardapet. In the year 1248[1799], September one.
1792. 37.5xd.23cm. Silver, gilt, mounted, filigree, turquoise and rubies, corals, sapphire, rock crystals. Inv. Number 174.
This equal-armed cross with wide, pointed arms jutting out from a square, has in its center a circular
window for relics. The surface, perhaps cast, is studded with very small star elements. Red and blue
stones are inset in the broad triangular extremities of the cross and the corners of the square from which
they emanate. The other side is reserved for the ten-line inscription, below which is a Maltese cross and
below that a fleur-de-lys.
172
173
Bibliography: Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 116, 117 illus. of the inscription (unfortunately, the photo is upside down); Ballian, 2002,
37, fig. 26, 119.
Inscriptions:
Obverse: in the four arms of the cross
&JRYUR @(JRKYR K+( GRKYUG).
Jesus Christ, Lord God.
9. Reliquary in the form of a small cross, relic of St. Minas
Reverse: circular in a run-on erkatagir inscription without word breaks

GIHVJ F(GTJ Y(XJ TGLKGRJ (sic) TJHGR LGHDYUVFGN LYDJ.
For the soul of the deceased Mahtesi Minas, son of Eram native of Akn.
An equal-armed cross with relic in center under crystal. The lobed arms of the cross each contain one
large green and two small carnelian red stones; the square from which they spring has eight stones
divided between the two colors. A fillet of dots defines the whole perimeter. The reverse contains the
main inscription, which runs around a large, circular, centrally placed emerald. Etched on the upper
and two lateral arms of the cross are seraphim. As on the first side, the whole is surrounded with a
beaded fillet.
Bibliography: Album, 1965, [3]; Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 116, 117 illus.; Ballian, 2002, 37, fig. 28, 118 no. 77.
1761, Sis. 10x10cm. Silver, gilded, emeralds, rubies, coral, sapphire, cameo in center, Crucifixion. Inv.
Number 42/44.
11. Reliquary in the form of a small cross with relic of St. James of Nisibis
Inscription on reverse:
IG%YUVGURYU(E #GCR G&R &GHYUH R(EY&H TJHGRG& BY(GSG(JH (sic) J SG&FNYUTH
IJNJIFVJGAEGHFHV (sic) Y(XJ HF(R+R SG(XG:FKJH J PSJH %EQZ (1210 = 1761) GTJH.
This holy cross was fashioned for St. Minas Zoravar [commander] for the gratification of Nerss
Vardapet, son of the Cilician Abaneans. In the year 1210 [1761].36
An equal-armed, polylobed cross with a dark cameo of the Crucifixion in the center showing the Virgin and
St. John on each side and above in Greek the standard abbreviation for Jesus Christ, IC XC. Each extremity
of the cross contains a colored stone, two red, two blue. In the interstices are the tips of another cross from
which sprouts an extension topped with a colored bead. The whole perimeter has a dotted fillet. The plain
back is reserved for the inscription in erkatagir. At the top is a small loop for a neck chain.
Bibliography: Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 116, 117 illus.; Ballian, 2002, 37, fig. 27, 118 no. 79.
1824, Adana. 13x12.5cm. Silver, gilded, filigree, rubies,
rock crystal; inscribed on the reverse. Inv. Number 43.
10. Reliquary in the form of a small cross

Inscription: In erkatagir
&J$GKGI+ RYU(E H$GH Y( + TGRYUH@ R(EY&H &GIYEG& T)EHG& LG&(G:FKJH J

XYU%H RYU(E GRKYUG)G)HJ Y( J GKGHG> %TLD (1273 = 1824).
The Holy Sign/Cross is a memorial, it is a relic of St. James Patriarch of Nisibis, for the Church of the
Holy Mother of God at Adana. 1273[1824].
The equal-armed filigree cross with the relic under crystal has a gem placed in the middle of each of
the four short arms, which are lobed in a wide spear-shape attached to the central square. The entire
perimeter has a fillet of small beads. The back is plain with a single fillet etched around the entire
outside of the cross. The inscription is in ten horizontal lines neatly covering the plain space on the
back.
Bibliography: Album, [54]; Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 116, 117 illus.
Eighteenth century, Akn province (gava). 11x11cm. Silver, gilded, engraved, rubies, agate, emeralds,
rock crystal, green glass, relic under rock crystal. Inv. Number: 45.
174
175
C. Dexters
There are four major body part relics in the Cilician Museum. Three of them are encased in arm
reliquaries St. Gregory, St. Nicholas, and St. Sylvester; the fourth is the hand relic of the St. Barsauma
enclosed in an oval container. As relics, they date to the time of the saints they represent; as reliquaries, they
are of differing dates, but existed in the collection at least since 1765 when a special chest was fashioned to
hold them. A colophon of 1394 mentions among others relics those of St. Gregory and St. Nicholas.37 The
orientalist Victor Langlois saw all four relics during his expedition of 1852-1853 and offered a short comment
on each as well as the chest in which they were kept together.38 These individual histories will be discussed
below.
In general there was apparently no obsession in enshrining body parts of saints into lavish reliquaries, as
was the case in the West and to some extent in Byzantium. Beside the right arm reliquaries, in the Armenian
tradition one finds no foot or head reliquaries, or other body-shaped cases. In this respect, there seemed to
be no attempt to reconstitute bodies of saints by an accumulation of body part reliquaries as has recently
been suggested for Latin Christianity.39
The right arm reliquary or dexter is the most characteristic of Armenian relic containers,40 preserving
remains of the most important Christian and Armenian saints. Only two of them belong to women, both to
St. Hipsim, whose martyrdom in the first quarter of the fourth century was a major episode in Armenias
adoption of Christianity.41 Beside St. Gregory, founder of the Armenian Church (five known arm
reliquaries),42 there are only a handful of other Armenian figures honored by an arm reliquary, and most of
them are directly involved in the conversion of Armenia to Christianity: St. Hipsim, Stepanns a priest
of the Hipsimeanc, St. Aristaks, son and successor to St. Gregory (two dexters). The others are St. Sahag
Partew, catholicos at the time of the invention of the Armenian alphabet in the first years of the fifth century;
ewond the priest, martyred in Persia just after the battle of Vardananc (451), who struggled in the same
century to preserve Christianity in Armenia; Sukias of the Sukiaseanc family, martyred in the early second
century. The last three reliquaries are known only through an inventory of 1445 of the relics and reliquaries
preserved at Holy miacin;43 their present whereabouts is not clear. The dexters of these seven figures, a
total of thirteen, represent fewer than a quarter of such Armenian arm reliquaries. The majority encases the
bones of the Apostles and non-Armenian saints. The arm reliquary of St. Thaddeus the Apostle is one from
this group;44 other apostles so graced in Armenia include St. Andrew,45 St. James, St. James the Less, St.
Thomas, St. Paul, St. Ananias, to which we can add such figures as St. John the Baptist (three dexters),46 St.
Stephen the Protomartyr, St. Nicholas (two dexters), and St. Sylvester.47
As has been pointed out, Armenian arm reliquaries do not have what would be called bases and were not
intended to be placed upright on the altar.48 This is in contrast to European examples, which have very sturdy
bases and are almost always displayed upright. This pronounced difference probably arises from the function
of these objects in the respective churches. In the West, the arm reliquary, showing the hand of the saint or
bishop to whom it belonged making the sign of the cross, was placed on the altar. Symbolically, the saint,
now in Heaven, provided a blessing directly from God to the congregation. The presiding priest, when not
a bishop, would hold the dexter before the faithful at the end of the mass and with it make the sign of the
cross as benediction to those present.49 In Armenia this practice is unknown. Arm reliquaries were used
during certain services and are indispensable for some of them. Dexters are sometimes still used to dedicate
new altars, also a common practice in the early centuries in Europe50 and Armenia,51 but with relics of saints
often incorporated within the structure itself. Right arm reliquaries are also used for consecrating baptismal
altars and fonts and corner stones of churches and monasteries. These practices are, however, limited among
Armenians because there exist few arm reliquaries outside of the four patriarchal centers: the catholicosates
of miacin and Cilicia/Antelias, and the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Constantinople/Istanbul. Unlike
Europe where the remains of local saints were graced with arm reliquaries, this practice never seemed to
take hold in Armenia. On the other hand, the most important arm reliquaries, particularly those of St.
Gregory the Illuminator, are used for specific rites: the consecration of the catholicos and at times bishops
and the elaborate liturgical ceremony of the blessing of the Holy Oil or Chrism (Surb Miwon). There was
also a strong current of belief, with no canonical basis at all, that possession of the right arm relic of St
Gregory legitimized the rule of a catholicos (see below). This notion and, indeed, the use of the dexter of
St. Gregory in certain rites may have been borrowed from Byzantium.52
The early churchs practice was to bury the remains of saints. Though we read in the oldest Armenian
sources that relics of saints were buried or placed in the foundations of churches, the same sources make no
references to reliquaries containing such relics. Thus we cannot fix the date when St. Gregorys dexter was
separated from his remains or by whom. At least one study suggests this was in Bagratid times, and thus
the supposition that the dexter of St. Gregory was prepared after the ninth century, because it is in that period
we begin to get references to the right hand of St. Gregory and the nxark or masunk, the relics.53
12. Right hand reliquary of St. Gregory the Illuminator
Pre-1765; 1928, Aleppo, restored and reworked at the order of Sahag Catholicos. Length 48cm; weight about 1
kilogram. Silver with gilding on the hand, ring with a ruby stone. Kept with the Catholicos.
Inscriptions: There are three

1. On the inside wrist in agir
^f5gdy90 &> fu G> Dgnft2jg9fgh G7hpg;vj.
Handwork of Y. and A. Galemkiarean natives of Ayntab

2. On the edge of the dexter, just under a church complex: R. Effaced word(s). RYU(E. +ATJG)JH.
S. Holy miacin.
176
177
3. Sf9g4jhfvgu Ryu9e Gar Nyurguy9cjh lyduyv Lg7grkghfg7v j Igpy8jiyryupfgh

Rglgig7 E>j 3g9e=9xvuy7/ gtj Kfg5h j Ef9jg.
This holy dexter of the Illuminator, the soul of the Armenians, was refashioned during the catholicosate of
Sahag II of Xarberd. In the year of the Lord 1928 in Beria [Aleppo]
St. Gregory the Illuminator is directly involved in the cult of relics on at least three accounts. First, we
are told that when he came out of thirteen years of imprisonment, he gathered up the remains of the martyred
saints Hipsim and Gayan and had martyria built for them. Later, after his consecration in Caesarea of
Cappadocia, he came back to Armenia with important relics from the bones of the great prophet, blessed
John the Baptist, and of the holy martyr of Christ, Athenogenes,54 which he divided and dispersed in several
localities.55 The third manner in which St. Gregory is associated with the cult of relics is through his own
remains. Mystery surrounds his retreat to a mountainous hermitage where he died in solitude, perhaps about
328. A century later his bones were miraculously discovered by an ascetic named Garnik, who interred them
in the village of Tordan, the burial ground of the Arsacid kings of Armenia. Around 650, Catholicos Nerss
III built the massive cathedral of Zwartnoc dedicated to St. Gregory and placed relics of the saint, which
came from Tordan, under the four supporting piers of the large circular cathedral and the saints skull in a
casket to be seen by the faithful.56
There is no absolute proof that demonstrates when any of the bones of the saint became separated as an
arm relic, though some scholars speculate the ninth century. But catholicos Babgn Kiwlsrian (Papken
Gulesserian) in his massive History of the Cilician Catholicoi (col. 1275) says:
[We] do not know by whom, where or when the dexter of Gregory was separated from his relics.
Among the treasures of the Cilician kingdom along with the holy relic of the cross, the dexter of
Gregory is mentioned as one of the objects used in assemblies. Contrary to the precepts of the
Armenian Church it was believed among unworthy candidates that who ever possessed the holy arm
relic, he is the catholicos, and thus as a result of unfounded understanding, the dexter disappeared,
reappeared, or others were created.
If we accept the evidence from an inscribed element attached to the dexter of St. Nicholas (see below)
that once belonged to a right hand reliquary of St. Gregory, the dexter was separated by Prince Todos also
known as Todos-Toros (1100-1129). Was this an earlier reliquary or did it contain the same relic of St.
Gregory that eventually was incorporated in the dexter of the Cilician Catholicosate? The arm reliquary is
mentioned several times in the encyclicals of Nerss IV norhali (1163-1173). It had been brought to the
catholicosal seat at Homkla, but from there it went to the royal capital of Cilician Armenia, Sis, during the
time of Catholicos Constantine II (1286-1298), but it was back in Homkla when the city was sacked by the
Mamluks of Egypt whence the holy relic was taken to Cairo. Some sources claim that King Hetum II
ransomed it, though the thirteenth century historian Stepannos rblean reports that the relic disappeared,
but he adds that miraculously in the ruins of a church at the monastery of Tatew they found the relics of St.
Gregory, including his dexter. Esayi, a priest-painter, mentions the relic in a colophon of 1394 (along with
the arm reliquary of St. Nicholas). But Aakel of Tabriz, who in 1645 undertook a history of the relic of
the right hand of St. Gregory, cites a colophon that localizes it at Holy miacin at Vaarapat at the time of
the transfer of the Catholicosate from Sis to miacin, the original seat of the church, in 1441. However,
the relic disappeared for some years, only to be found by the newly elected catholicos of Sis, Karapet. In
an encyclical of Catholicos Gregory Jalalbekian of 1445, St. Gregorys arm relic is listed among ten other
dexters at miacin, only to be taken back to Atamar in 1462.
During the same years another relic of the right hand of St. Gregory was kept at the Catholicosate of
Cilicia at Sis. It survived both the destruction of the last Armenian kingdom in 1375 and the election of
another catholicos in Holy miacin in 1441. The ultimate chapter in the relics tormented history occurred
in Antelias, at the time of the election of the Primate of Beria/Aleppo Zareh Payaslian as Catholicos of
Cilicia in 1956. The election was bitterly contested and declared illegal by the Catholicos of miacin,
Vazken I. During the momentous events, the right arm reliquary disappeared and was only found a year
later in Jerusalem and brought back triumphantly to Lebanon by Archbishop, later Catholicos, Khoren I
Paroyan (1963-1983).
The right arm reliquary of St. Gregory the Illuminator has become an essential liturgical object of the
Armenian Church, enhancing its worth well beyond that of a relic of the founding father of Armenian
Christianity. During the ceremony of the consecration of the Holy Chrism, the right arm of St. Gregory
plays a major role. It is held by the catholicos, who leads the ceremony, over the chrism vessel and then
used to stir the mixture of various plant oils. It is a tenet of the church that by mixing some of the former
chrism with the new oil, the fresh batch is connected directly to the original Holy Oil blessed at the beginning
of Armenian Christianity by St. Gregory himself. His hand reliquary reinforces the bond between the present
and the inception of Christian faith in Armenia. The relic is a direct link with God in heaven through St.
Gregory and it infuses the chrism with the Holy Spirit.
The right hand relic is also used during the consecration of a new catholicos and was certainly visible during
the consecration of the kings of Cilician Armenia. But as Gulesserian has cautioned, there is no regulation or
statute in the church bestowing catholicosal authority merely because of the possession of the relic.
The ecclesiastical authority associated with the right arm of St. Gregory, its power to confer legitimacy
on the bishop or bishops who control it, explains in great part the multiplicity of this relic. Undoubtedly,
the most famous are those of St. Gregory kept by the two catholicosal sees; the one in miacin in a reliquary
case dated 1657 and in Antelias in the restored reliquary case of 1928. It is virtually impossible to know
which of these is the oldest. Whether one contains the true relic of the saint is also a futile question.
That there are right hand reliquaries of St. Gregory in both Armenian Catholicosates miacin and
Antelias is a pseudo-problem. The bones of saints were often partitioned or dispersed to various churches
or high officials. Though no Armenian arm reliquaries have been disassembled to determine exactly what
is inside, it is probable that each enshrines a small piece of a bone.
The right arm relic of St. Gregory the Illuminator is the most important relic of the Armenian Church.
Yarutiwn and Awetis Galemkiarian, natives of Ayntab, restored it in Aleppo in 1928. The dexter is separated
into two parts: the hand from the wrist up is in gold or gold plated silver and the arm is in silver. The hand
is open with the five fingers together rather than the more common form making the sign of blessing.
Though rare, open handed arm relics are known in Armenia, the most famous being the oldest surviving
dexter, that of St. Nicholas in the Cilician collection (see below no. 13) and the hand reliquary of St. John
the Baptist in miacin;57 at least three other open hand dexters are known: in miacin, in Aleppo (Church
of Kaasun Mankanc or Forty Martyrs), and a private collection in New York. Except for the carefully
incised palm lines, our example is totally plain. The upper side of the hand also shows very clearly the
wrinkling around the knuckles and the meticulously cut and manicured fingernails. On the third or ring
finger is a plain gold ring with an oval shaped red stone in a sturdy tooth mount. This detail suggests that
the upper or hand part of the reliquary was tampered with during the 1928 restoration in Aleppo. Victor
Langlois, who saw this most precious reliquary in 1852 describes it as follows: Elle est renferme dans un
bras dargent cisel dans le style byzantin, avec un anneau soud lindex et orn dune meraude; on y
remarque quelques traces de dorures.58 It is hard to imagine that in the seventy-five years between Langlois
and 1928, Catholicos Sahag, whose reverence for this and its companion relics was without bounds,
apparently allowed the goldsmiths involved with restoration to take great liberties by removing the green
emerald ring from the index finger and replacing it with a red stone on the third or ring finger.
Carved on the back of the hand is a curious, highly stylized and newly executed bust portrait of St. Gregory
holding a Gospel book and cross in the right hand and a catholicosal staff (resembling one from the Antelias
collection) ending in a floral scroll in the left hand. The Illuminator is in full liturgical regalia with a pallium
showing crosses on each side and a cross-pendant hanging waist high from a chain. He wears a collar (vakas)
and bishops miter ending in crosses on each point. His face is rendered in a strong frontal staring pose, with
a pointed drooping mustache and pointed beard. The miter has a geometrized design in the center.
The silver forearm, which seems not to have been modified in 1928, is carefully worked on the upper
side and virtually plain on the bottom side. At the wrist are four bands that completely encircle it: the first
two plain and the last two hatched like braiding. Below this is a wider floral scroll of half palmettes, which
forms a rectangular frame down to the base. The segment at the base (the fourth side of the rectangle)
changes the design into a series of symmetrical bouquets. The inside of the rectangle has two narrow bands,
the inner plain, the outer twisted. Within the field there are non-symmetrical decorations, below the wrist
is a pointed cuff with floral designs on the inside and the wide band. The lower section has a similar floral
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design. In the irregularly created field is a large tree-like flowering palmetto to the left and to the right a
rendering of an Armenian church complex identified as St. miacin. This is repouss work, but arranged
sideways along the axis of the dexter. It was done before the floral design that cuts off part of the building
to the left. The structure only vaguely resembles miacin, though it has five conical roofs (one large and
four small), but a rounded dome building to the left and an out chapel to the right, not usually associated
with miacin.59 It should be compared with an engraving on a small silver dish in the collection of the
catholicosate. On the underside of the forearm there is another irregularly shaped rectangle formed on three
sides by a continuous band of pointed petals or scallops. The short lower band is made of alternating diamond
designs. The field is plain and bears the main inscription in a careful agir-bolorgir script.
The bottom of the relic is a perfect oval. A raised design is in the field, also an oval made of two narrow bands,
the outermost of small tongues with a cross engraved in each, the inner made of simple hatching. The field is filled
with a seraph with three pendants hanging from the neck with flowers on each side and a leaf design below.
It is hard to tell what the original form of this reliquary was. The only representation of it prior to its
restoration, but after its journey from Sis to Aleppo, is an older group photo showing it with the arm relics
of St. Sylvester and St. Nicholas. St. Gregorys is wrapped in a crude fabric not affording a view of the
reliquary itself. The protruding fingers, however, make clear that the hand was open, but somewhat different
than its look today (see Kouymjian, 2005, for more details).
Bibliography: Langlois, 1861, 399-400; Gulesserian, 1939, 125-126, 1270-1328; Keleshian, 1949, 200; Album, 1965, [43];
Agemian, 1998, 1; Martoyean, 1998-1999, passim; Aian, 2000, 94-98; Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 2, 88, 89; Armenian Catholicosate,
2001, 6; Kouymjian, 2005, passim; Kouymjian, 2007-2, 80-84; Kouymjian, 2008, 178; Kouymjian, 2009-2, 228.
Provenance: In the possession of the (Ajabahian) family (Ajabahian literally means guardians of the dexter) from the time of
Catholicos Karapet (1446-1477) until 1865. On September 13, 1915 it was moved from the Catholicosate in Sis to Aleppo at the
instruction of Catholicos Sahag II in the famous caravan that set out to Aleppo during the Genocide in the wake of advancing
Turkish troops. It finally arrived safely at Antelias early in the 1930s.60
Inscriptions:
1. Around the portrait on the back of the hand in thick erkatagir:
RYU(E HJIGUNG&. Saint Nikawlay [Nicholas].
2. An inscription carved in monumental erkatagir in six bands on the wrist just below the bust of the
saint:
BGCR (sic, read BGAR) R(EY&H BHJIGUNG& BY( REG* ^TGTE (sic) R(KJ RKGVG FR
IYRKGHKJH IGPY*JIYR/ FU FKYU IGBTFN BRG J &J$GKGI/ JH^J (?)/ FU GPY% R(EY&H
D(JDY(J/ J PGDGUY(/YUPFGH GU$HJ FU Y(XUY&H Y(R NFUYH/J/ J PJSR CIX (764 = 1315)
Note: the X of the date formula is engraved like a ligatured :X.
I, Catholicos Kostandin, received this right hand reliquary of St. Nicholas through my hearts desire and I
gave it to be restored in my memory at the thone of St. Gregory during the reign of King Awin [in] and
his son Lewon in the year 764 [1315].
Note. The colons in the inscription, normally periods in Armenian, are placed at the end of each line.
3. In the second band from the bottom in large repouss erkatagir in three lines:
BGKFV GAR RYU(E D(JDY(J ^F%GTE K+( P+YXYR-PY(YR.
13. Dexter, right hand reliquary of St. Nicholas the Thaumaturgus (Skanelagorc); masunk Surb
Nikoayos
Lord Todos-Toros himself selected this dexter of Saint Gregory.
Note: The inscription is probably that of Prince Todos, also known as Toros or Todos-Toros (1100-1129).61
4. Engraved mid-way on the arm between the two relief bands, above inscription no. 3, in a mixed
erkatagir-bolorgir script:
IgbT=vgu (sic) Ryu9e Rkfwghyrj gar j 6f5h Rglgig7 f;jriy;yrj/ j pyu (sic)
YJO Sf9ghy9y2fvgu (sic) 1926.
The dexter of Saint Stepanos [Stephen] was fashioned by Bishop Sahak. In 628[1179]. It was restored
in 1926.
5. On the oval-shaped bottom of the reliquary, within in a circle with an ox, the symbol of the Evangelist
St. Luke, facing left on its hind legs turned to the right, a three-line inscription in Latin uncials:
S[AN]C[TU]S/ LUCA/S [Saint Luke].
1315, Cilicia, Sis (?), restoration; 1926, Aleppo, restoration. Length 47.5cm, width at palm 9.5cm. Silver, partially
gilded, beaten, chased, engraved, embossed ornamental strips, gemstones. Inv. Number 2V.
The oldest surviving Armenian arm reliquary contains the remains of St. Nicholas (Nikoayos) the
Thaumaturg (Skanelagorc), (c. 270-345/352) bishop of Myra (Smyrna/Izmir) in Lycia, and a participant
in the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325, where he took an anti-Arian position. He was known for his
miracles and was the patron saint of sailors and children. Sailors from Bari, Italy took his remains to their
hometown where they arrived on May 9, 1087.
There are five separate inscriptions on the silver arm reliquary or dexter with attached gilded bands and
plaques. The hand itself does not make the more common sign of benediction, but is opened, thus similar
to the speaking hands of European tradition, with the four straight fingers forming a single block; the
thumb is slightly separated. (The dexter of St. Gregory in Antelias is also of this open hand variety, no. 12
above.) The fingernails and the wrinkles of the knuckles are carved or incised. In the center of the back of
the hand is a carefully executed circle with simple vegetal motifs at the bottom bearing the bust portrait of
St. Nicholas with face in very high relief. In his left hand he holds a book decorated with a slender diamond
shape; with his right hand he offers a benediction in Western style, with the thumb, index, and middle fingers
raised and the last two fingers tucked in. The top of his perfectly circular, plain halo touches the enclosing
frame. His baldhead has a small locket of hair in the center. An omophorion decorated with simple quatrefoil buds is wrapped around his upper chest and hangs down the center. The inscription St. Nikl is an
abridged form of Armenian Nikoayos, or perhaps a Latin (Crusader) rendering of the name.
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Further down, at the wrist of the reliquary, is an inscription carved in monumental erkatagir in six bands,
followed by an attached gilded band of low relief embossed with a geometricized floral design. Lower still,
on the plain polished silver of the arm is another six-line inscription, in large bolorgir mixed with some
erkatagir letters, the last line only dated 1926. A thin gilded plaque follows this with a three-line inscription
in a crude repouss erkatagir. Further down is a another rectangular gilded plaque of blind filigree work
with five paste-glass stones fitted in simple raised mounts placed vertically. At the very bottom of the
polished arm is another attached gilded repouss band made up of a series of very delicately worked wreathroundels in relief connected one to the other at the tangential point by a wide ring. In the open space between
circles, above and below, are flowers with three narrow pointed leaves. In the roundels are a series of birds,
some fabulous, in an oriental or Fatimid style. The bottom end of the object has a Latin inscription next to
a seated ox with a halo holding a Gospel book. The diversity of styles in the various parts of the object
suggests the accretion of heterogeneous elements over the centuries.
Careful examination of the arm reliquarys main inscription suggests a reading of 1315 rather than 1325.
This would allow us to identify the in of the fifth line as the king of Armenia, 1308-1320, son of King
Lewon II and brother of Hetum II, and the Lewon of the inscription as his young son, the future King
Lewon IV, 1320-1342. The catholicos responsible for the reliquary would be Constantine III, 1307-1322.
Gulesserian and those following him,62 read the inscription as 1325, which would also satisfy all three names,
though the catholicos would then be Constantine IV, 1322-1326, and in, the uncle and regent of the young
Lewon IV, assassinated when the latter became of age in 1329. The inscription reads clearly in the reign
of King in and his son (ordwoy nora) Lewon, ruling out a reference to the regent in.
The principal inscription states: I gave it to be restored (or kazmel). The verb can mean to bring
together, thus bind or make, but also to restore. Most have understood this as a restoration. Among
indications supporting this supposition are two inscriptions attached to the case (nos. 3 and 4), which seem
to be unrelated to the relic of St. Nicholas. One (no. 4) was copied on the newly fashioned silver forearm
during its consolidation in 1926. It mentions the right hand relic of St. Stephen and a certain Bishop Sahag
with a date 1179. Anna Ballian, who studied the reliquary for exhibitions in Athens (2002) and New York
(2004), following Gulesserian, says, [B]oth the reliquary of Saint Stephen and the name bishop Sahag are
unknown in the literature.63 In fact there exist two Armenian dexters of St. Stephen, one of the priest
Stephen associated with the Hipsimian martyrs of the fourth century, now in the collection at Holy
miacin, and the other of St. Stephen the Protomartyr, first century, in the Armenian cathedral in Tabriz.
As for Bishop Sahag, several are known from the 1170s, including Bishop Sahag involved in the ArmenianGreek theological disputes of the 1170 and Bishop Sahag of Jerusalem, participant in the Council in Homkla
in 1179.64 The inscription, though a twentieth century copy, shows features that could justify a twelfth
century date because, if copied faithfully as it appears to have been, it is in a mixed erkatagir-bolorgir
script, characteristic of the period, but not often found in Cilicia, suggesting the reliquary was perhaps
presented to the Catholicosal See during a visit in 1179 by this Sahag, Patriarch of Jerusalem, where the
relics of the Protomartyr would have been kept.
St. Stephen the Protomartyr was stoned to death in Jerusalem; the argument for this band being from a
dexter reliquary of St. Stephen is further strengthened by the interesting oval end of the actual object with
the name and symbol of St. Luke. It was Luke in chapter six of the Acts of the Apostles who recorded so
carefully the speech of St. Stephen at his trial. The style and iconography of St. Lukes symbol, the ox or
bull holding his Gospel, is strikingly close to the same symbol in incipits of St. Luke in later twelfth century
Armenian manuscripts mostly originating in northern Armenia, for instance Erevan, M7737, fol. 335; Venice,
V141, fol. 121. There are several such decorated first pages. The orthography of the name NIKAWL also
points to a pre-thirteenth century date when the classical AW diphthong gave way to the in Cilician
manuscripts, a borrowing from the West. It is likely, therefore, that the inscribed band mentioning St.
Stephens dexter and the oval end piece with Sanctus Lucas were part of a lost arm relic of the Protomartyr
brought to Cilicia from Jerusalem.
The other inscription, no. 3, on a band just above the filigree-decorated rectangle was apparently at one
time part of a hand reliquary of St. Gregory the Illuminator. The words St. Gregorys hand are clear, but
the first line and especially the third line are difficult to decipher. If the reading Tr Todorus proposed by
Gulesserian is correct, his suggestion that the reference is to Catholicos Todorus II (1382-92) would be
the logical choice. The style of the script in a rounded erkatagir is acceptable for that date.
The suggestion that relics of more than one saint St. Gregory, St. Stephen, and St. Nicholas might
have once been included in a single case, in this instance a dexter, has little merit. Though in the Latin West
there are right arm reliquaries with the relics of more than one saint and among Armenian reliquaries,
including some in the collection of the Cilician Catholicosate, there are a few with the remains of more than
one saint, and until recently it was believed that there is no known Armenian arm reliquary that contains the
remains of more than one person. However, new information65 suggests that there is in fact one Armenian
right hand reliquary with the remains of two saints. The dexter of St. Stephen (Stepannos) the Protomartyr
kept in the Armenian Prelacy of Tabriz and associated historically with the nearby monastery of St. Stephen
nearby has a very long inscription on its arm. The lower part of the text says that the dexter contains the
relic of the saint, but the upper part of the inscription says the dexter preserves the relic of St. John the
Baptist. The inscription is dated 1621.66
Nevertheless, I do not believe there were actually multiple relics in the St. Nicholas dexter, rather, since
dexters of St. Stephen exist and several of St. Gregory, it is probable that the inscriptions were once part of
these or others now lost. Finally, considering the importance of the right hand reliquaries of St. Gregory,67
founder of the Armenian Church, and their use in the blessing of the Holy Chrism, it is hard to imagine his
arm relic combined with those of anothers in the same receptacle.
If the inscription of 1315 were one of restoration, then when would the original reliquary have been
fashioned? St. Nicholas became popular as a saint in the Latin and Byzantium Churches in the eleventh
century, but there is little evidence that the cult was popular in Armenia before the mid-thirteenth century.
The earliest known Armenian representation of the saint is in a medallion on the Skewa reliquary of 1293,
now in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg (see supra, note 27). The name is virtually unknown in Armenia
before the 1240s and becomes very popular toward the late thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries. This
was the time of the first Franciscan Pope, Nicholas IV, 1288-1292; given the fact that King Hetum II, shown
kneeling on the lower part of the inner right flap of the Hermitage Skewa triptych, was himself a Franciscan
monk, a thirteenth century date is probable. The medallion of St. Nicholas on the back end of the dexter is
of the standard type seen in Byzantine and later Russian art; it is roughly similar to the portrait on the Skewa
reliquary, though more finely carved. However, there is a difference in the identifying inscriptions of the
two objects: NIKAWIOS in 1293 and NIKAWL on the dexter. The oldest attestation of Nicholas as an
Armenian first name is in this form Nikl, the brother of a scribe working in Cilicia in 1241. Chronologically,
the next two occurrences of the form Nikl occur in the fifteenth century in a Western context, Poland and
the Crimea.68 Using the L instead of the more correct Armenian (GH) suggests a clear Latinizing or
westernizing influence. Based on these considerations, I would date the original reliquary to sometime
around or just after the mid-thirteenth century, but again as suggested above, the inscription of 1315 could
also justify the fashioning of the reliquary then.
As to how the Armenian Church got the relics of St. Nicholas, though no direct evidence exists, the
connection had to be from Italians trading in Cilicia, or even directly from Armenians living in Bari, where
they settled as early as the late tenth century.69
The dexter of St. Nicholas was in part radically restored after its rescue from Sis. A photo taken in Aleppo
before restoration of the three dexters belonging to the Cilician Catholicosate allows a comparison of the
reliquary before and after its 1926 rehabilitation. The six-line inscription on the wrist seems to be visible
in the same place it is today; the form of the hand is also the same. The lower part has been reconstructed
or rearranged, with the various pieces now visible on the upper part of the dexter. The forearm section is
today a single piece of dark silver, which might have been part of the original object, because the filigree
rectangular element (called a window by Ballian) is approximately, perhaps exactly, where it was on the
old photo. A vertical three line inscription band, which can be read with difficulty on the old photo, is now
just above the rectangle. The new inscription of restoration has been engraved on the silver body, just above
it. Finally, the upper floral band could be either the original one at that spot or one of the two long vertical
sections (the one to the right on the old photo) recycled to its present location, while the band at the bottom
of the restored object seems to be the vertical segment to the left of the photo. The original bottom band
seems to have disappeared, for the old photo shows raised gem holders for stones. Pieces from the other
side of the arm would also be missing. The old photo shows these various plaques almost hanging loose.
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The only other pre-twentieth century description is by Langlois when he examined the reliquary in 18511852: La dextre de saint Nicolas, patriarche grec de Smyrne, est aussi conserve dans un bras en argent,
mais dun travail plus simple que le premier.70 This is a curious statement because it is more elaborate, as
is clear from the widely published photo of the three dexters taken in Aleppo before their restoration.71
There is a moving and precious description of the arm reliquary of St. Nicholas by Catholicos Sahag II (1902/31939) before it was given for restoration to Coadjutor Catholicos Papken Gulesserian (1931-1936): Letting
the St. Illuminators dexter rest in peace, we freed [those of] Saints Sylvester and Nicholas by stripping them of
their rotten shrouds their fetters and chains. St. Nicholass dexter was crushed , patched, covered with
crude nails and damaged a true example of the suffering of the Armenian nation. After all, why should the
sacred objects venerated by the Armenians have remained exempt from the perennial misery endured by the
Armenian people! Like us, the dexters too have barely survived, going from one mountain to another, from one
fortress to another, and then exiled to the deserts, reaching the brink of death.72
Bibliography: Langlois, 1861, 400; Gulesserian, 1939, 1325-1328; Keleshian, 1949, 200; Album, 1965, [46]; Agemian, 1998, 5;
Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 17, 88, 91; Ballian, 2002, 74, fig. 62, no. 27, 87-90, figs. 78-79, 111; Ballian, 2004, 136-137, no. 72;
Kouymjian, 2005, 232, figs. 2, 8; Kouymjian, 2007-1b, 276-277; Kouymjian, 2007-2, 80-84; Kouymjian, 2008, 171-182;
Kouymjian, 2009-1, 439-447; Kouymjian, 2009-2, 223-229.
Exhibitions: Halle, 2000; Athens, 2002; New York, 2004; Paris, 2007 (catalogue entry only, the dexter was never loaned).
14. Dexter, right hand reliquary of St. Sylvester, masunk Surb Sebestrosi
Restored in 1772, in the time of Eprem Catholicos. 39x10cm; fitted with gold foil, the arm is overlaid with gilded
silver foil, chased, engraved. Inv. Number 3V.
Inscription: The inscription is at the top of the cylinder from which the hand extends. It is in three lines
of thinly engraved erkatagir. Only the first line passes entirely around the arm.
EGBYUI RYU(E GAJR RF*EFRK(YRJ SF(GHY(YDFGNG(XFGTE FW(FT IGPY*JIYRJ J
PSJH %TJG (1221 = 1772).
The arm of the holy right hand reliquary of Sylvester recently restored by Catholicos Eprem. In the year
1221[1772].
The dexter is made up of two parts, a perfectly cylindrical silver base with gilding and carved decoration,
and a golden hand with the index finger pointing up, symbolizing the unity and singularity of Christ, and
the thumb and second finger touching. The hand is unadorned and made up of irregularly cut thin pieces of
gold or thin silver highly gilded. These are attached to the hand by very small rivets or studs of gold. The
seams of the layers or sheets of metal are visible and the unadorned surface is rather granular.
The shaft of the dexter begins with an inscription pertaining to the hands restoration in tall, thin, rather
casually executed, erkatagir in three tapered lines. The inscriptional bands were adjusted to fit the already
existing decoration; the end of the first line even effaces a part of one of the flower buds already chiseled
on the object. The central ornament on the main vertical axis of the back of the hand has a full-length single
stemmed plant with three tiers of half palmette leaves on each side. Above this is a pod from which sprouts
a shallow lobed diamond in which a simple square divided in nine compartments is inscribed. The squares
central part forms a cross with arms of equal length. The bottom of the plant is tapered like the foot of a
chalice. The whole may represent the tree of life. Floating in the polished field are pairs of rosettes at the
top and the bottom of the plant made of nine large punched circles, one in the center and eight around it like
petals. Two other rosettes are placed to the right side mid-way up. To the left, that is what would be the
inside of the right arm, a large composition extends from the bottom to the lower part of the inscription.
Two large squares with slightly convex sides are placed with the angles in the cardinal directions. A
connecting stem joins them with small balls on each side decorated with very small punches. To the left
and the right of this juncture are two crosses of equal rectangular arms, with no finials, made of fine punch
dotting. The design repeats on the inside of the arm. At the bottom of the arm is a bracelet-like band made
of a woven braid composed of four strands framed by double fillets of twisted wire. On the bottom or the
end of the relic, there is another large rosette similar to those on the arm.
The invention or the creation of a right hand reliquary for relic fragments of Pope St. Sylvester (314334) was directly related to the legendary fraternal relations between the pope, who was later attributed the
honor of having baptized Emperor Constantine the Great, and St. Gregory the Illuminator, who baptized
the king of Armenia, Trdat, in the same early fourth century. The story goes back to the fifth century. At the
end of the History of Agatangeos, there is a long section about the purported journey of St. Gregory and
King Trdat to the Emperor Constantine and Pope Sylvester (not mentioned by name in Agatangeos) in
Rome.73 This parallel of king and emperor with their respective church heads, who were responsible for
their conversion to Christianity, is clearly reflected in later Armenian tradition. The late twelfth-century
Letter of Love and Concord, composed around the time of the coronation of the first king of Cilician
Armenia, Lewon, also underlines the close relationship between the Roman/Byzantine emperor and the
Armenian king, and the mutual admiration the pope and catholicos had for one another. The acceptance or
persistence of this apocryphal relationship is graphically affirmed by a full page miniature in a manuscript
of 1529, a miscellany with both the History of Agatangeos and the Concord, placed between the two texts,
thus appropriate to both, showing King Trdat and Emperor Constantine with their armies meeting each other
and above, Pope Sylvester and Catholicos Gregory enthroned and in discussion.74
The present reliquary was restored in 1772 according to its inscription. A likely date for its invention
would be during the reign of King Lewon I (1198-1219), though a fifteenth century date during the struggle
for authority between Cilicia and miacin is also a possibility.
Bibliography: Langlois, 1861, 400; Album, 1965; Gulesserian, 1939, 1270-1328; Keleshian, 1949, 200; Album, 1965, [46];
Martoyean, 1998-1999, passim; Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 2, 88, 89; Ballian, 2002, 83-86, figs. 73, 75, 112 no. 31; Kouymjian,
2005, 239, 244-235; Kouymjian, 2007-3, 171.
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15. Right hand reliquary of St. Barsauma or Bar Sauma, Surb Parsamay gnavori ain tup
are a series of hermit saints who are mentioned by name including Barsauma, thus suggesting this might be
the one meant, nevertheless, he was a proponent of Monophysite doctrine and thereby condemned by the
Council of Chalcedon. In the Domar, or liturgical calendar, published by Fr. Samoorian, the choice is for
Barsauma Bishop of Edessa who died in 250.75 In the catalogue of the Halle exhibit the identification was
for St. Barsauma who died in 458, while in that of Athens, Anna Ballian is unclear about which Barsaumas
hand is in the box. She, however, points out that the cult of his relics became very popular in the twelfth
century and spread among the Armenians and Crusaders.76 The Latin bishop Leonard Abel of Malta,
appointed to Sidon in 1582, visited Sis in 1583 and saw the relic of Barsauma, which was not kept in a
reliquary.77 Within the box-reliquary there is a small hand, without a wrist, as confirmed by specialists who
have recently handled the container, much the same as when Victor Langlois saw it on his expedition of
1852-1853: La main de lermite Barsame, enveloppe dtoffes, est conserve dans une bote de forme
ovale en argent.78
Bibliography: Langlois, 1861, 400; Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 96 illus.; Ballian, 2002, 84, 87, 111.
16. Reliquary chest, ark, for the dexters of Saints Gregory, Nicholas, Sylvester, and Barsauma
1723, Sis. Artisan: ablan Mahtesi. 9x16x8.5cm; silver, engraved, niello, lattice inset. Inv. Number 26V/235.
Inscription: in an oval band along the circumference of the upper lid.

&J$GKGI+/ RORVYV> J> #HX(Y& GA EGH O%ORPGD+R/ @GLGHG&JH ^F%GTE TGLKFRJ
*GENGHJH J XYU%H RYU(E NYURGUY(CJ GT PJS %QLE (1172 = 1723) :GLG(GHR R(EY&H
:G(RGTG/ QDHGUY(JH.
This reliquary of the right arm of the hermit St. Barsauma is a souvenir by request of the natives of Sis to
priest Tr Aristaks at the church of the Holy Illuminator, this case/box was fashioned by Mahtesi ablan.
In the year 1172[1723].
The top of the lid of the rectangular box with semi-circular ends contains the thin and elongated erkatagir
inscription around its perimeter. The lid has two hinges on the back and a pair of rings toward the front. A
large central circle flanked by two smaller ones has equal-armed stylized Maltese crosses, surrounded by
floral scrolls in niello. The sides also contain roundels with crosses. Under the lid is an open grill of small
circles.
The identification of St. Barsauma (or Bar Sauma) is uncertain. The most famous of that name was
Barsauma Bishop of Nisibis who died in 489 and who participated in the Councils of Ephesus II and
Chalcedon, and later moved to Persian territory. This Barsauma was an aggressive Nestorian and the
Armenian Church would hardly accept a Nestorian as a saint. There were other Barsaumas, however, one
of whom was an archimandrite, who opposed the Nestorians and died in 458. In the Armenian liturgy, there
1765, Antioch. Made by Mahtesi Yarutiwn almkiar.

Approx. 60x24x23cm; silver, chased, mounted on a wooden
chest lined with red velvet.
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Inscription: There is a very long inscription of more than sixty lines on the underside of the chest by Bishop
Eprem in twin cartouches, in erkatagir with many ligatures and abbreviations. The inscription was
published by Catholicos Papken Gulesserian, 1939, cols. 511-513, and reprinted in quatrains by B.
Karapetian, 1994, 306-307.
Catholicos Gabril Aapahean (Kapriel Ajabahian) of Sis (17581770) donated the chest or ark in
memory of his brothers and immediate predecessors, the Catholicoi ukas (1731-1737) and Mikayl (17371758). It was on behalf of the Catholicos that his nephew bishop Eprem Aapahean, later Catholicos
(1771-1784), commissioned the reliquary chest while in Antioch in 1765. The silversmith responsible for
its execution was Yarutiwn almkiar who crafted the historiated repouss silver panels that adorn all four
sides and the upper lid of the box. The very long inscription of Bishop Eprem was engraved on the bottom.
The inscription and the scenes on the outside explain that the chest was fashioned to store the four right
hand reliquaries of St. Gregory the Illuminator, St. Nicholas, St. Sylvester, and St. Barsauma (small hand of
bones kept in a small, silver box, see no. 15 above). The chest designed to store the dexters belonging to
the Cilician See is unique, intended to keep together the reliquaries of saints that not only preserved the
holiest of relics but that served as the symbol of the authority of the catholicoi and the sign of the continuity
of their office from the time of the conversion to Christianity of the Armenian nation. The reliquaries were
used at the consecration of successive catholicoi and that of St. Gregory was indispensible for the installation
of the newly elected patriarch of the church and the consecration of the Holy Chrism. Victor Langlois made
the earliest description of the chest during his visit of 1851-1852:
Ces quatre reliques sont renfermes dans une chsse, en argent massif, orne darabesques ciseles.
Comme je lai dit..., elles constituent la lgitimit du patriarche, qui prend le titre de g4;gh (sic,
read ga;gl) (conservateur de la dextre de saint Grgoire), et sont toujours restes en la possession
du catholicos de Sis, mme aprs la sparation de 1441.79
On the front panel, a sequence of five arches serve as frames for four saints and a central panel with a
seated patriarch and a deacon or priest. The single sheet of repouss silver is nailed to the boards with round
silver studs around its perimeter. The panel is also held in place by the overlap of the silver from the right
and left sides and the bottom. The five arches are decorated symmetrically in three different patterns. The
two extremities have columns of a twisted rope design with the outer columns in very low relief and the
inner ones and the arches in high relief. The columns have bases and four-part capitals. The next arches
and their inner columns are made of a chevron pattern in high relief above and low relief on the columns.
The central arch employs a series of overlapping triple-leaf chevron designs in medium relief, alternating
groups of hollowed and incised types, moving upward from the two sides to meet at the top. In the spandrels
reaching up to the edge, almost tangent to the arches are a series of two winged cherubs with very slight
differences. The ground throughout is made of round punches, and in the lower reaches of the four external
panels of medium relief lozenges. The four full-length standing figures, each mitered and holding a bishops
staff, are carved in relief on several planes providing a sculptural effect. Each figure has an omophorion.
There is a cloud band in the upper reaches of each of the arches to the left and right of the mitered heads. A
single palmette-like sprout of foliage is attached to the capitals at shoulder height as an additional framing
element. All are shown in full liturgical regalia, with tunic, cope, omophorion, vakas-collar, double peaked
miter, and bishops staff.
A pair of rounded cartouches to the left of each saint contains their respective names in erkatagir. From
left to right, skipping the central panel, they are:
1) RYU(EH G(JRKGX+R (sic G(JRKGD+R), St. Aristaks (325-333), son and successor of St. Gregory,
holding a book against his right shoulder and facing right toward the central panel, under his feet, below the
lozenge hatching, there is simpler diagonal hatching with scattered four-leaf clover designs, which must
represent a carpet, this is lacking in the other arches.
2) RYU(E RF*EFRK(YR, (Pope) St. Sylvester, turning very slightly toward the right and making the sign
of benediction with thumb and third finger and with a konke (a catholicosal purse) hanging from his belt.
3) RYU(EH HJIY*G&YR, St. Nicholas (NIKOA[Y]OS), holding a book in his right hand and a staff
that ends in a dragon head, his miter like that of St. Sylvesters is divided into two vertical parts each with
an upright diamond design and granules at the extremities. A konke hangs on his right side.
4) RYU(EH SO(PGH+R, St. Vrtans (333-341), brother and successor of St. Aristaks, slightly turned
to the left and giving benediction.
The central panel has a patriarch seated on a throne on the left giving blessing and holding a staff. His
miter is the same as those of the figures on the adjoining arches. Though there is no identifying inscription,
he is St. Gregory the Illuminator. To the left is a bearded and haloed deacon, standing in three-quarter pose,
holding a censer in his right had and an incense box in his left facing St. Gregory. Just above his head are
the clouds of heaven with the dove of the Holy Spirit from which three spear-like rays project toward
Gregorys head. In the center of the arch is a tripartite scroll from below which is a three-lobed flower with
a bud. Above this is attached a thin cartouche-shaped plaque from which two multi-faceted studs protrude.
These must have been for the latch, which once locked the box.
The three central figures St. Nicholas, St. Gregory, and St. Sylvester represent those whose right
hands are stored in the box. The two flanking saints Aristaks and Vrtans are the sons of St. Gregory,
the patriarchs who followed him, brothers catholicoi like were ukas and Mikayl to whom the casket is
dedicated. The artist has varied the decorations of the vestments of the five figures, if at times only in the
ornaments of the staffs, the omophorions, and the miters, though the faces are rather similar. The whole
presents a striking, if somewhat over-charged, effect.
On the square-shaped left side, a mitered figure is seated on a throne placed on a hillock or small
mountain, with a large single palm tree behind him. His hands are held out in orans fashion. Before him are
the walls of a large monastic building from which a smaller mitered figure orans descends the steps facing
the enthroned figure toward a chapel or shrine nestled between the two hillocks.There is a third, younger
figure in the doorway of the edifice. On the opposite, right side, of the casket, the Annunciation to the Virgin
is shown with the dove of the Holy Ghost in a cloud, from which three-pointed rays are directed toward the
Virgin, who appears standing, a Western iconography known in late sixteenth and early seventeenth century
Armenian printed books. There is a column which separates the Virgin from the archangel Gabriel. The
background vine motifs behind Gabriel recall miniatures from the sixteenth century.
The back panel is divided into two segments separated by a large vertical floral meander. On the left are
enthroned higher clergy facing each other. I imagine they are the brother-catholicoi ukas and Mikayl
Aapahean for whose memory the ark was commissioned. In the opposite panel is seated another patriarch,
the living Catholicos Gabril, the latters brother and successor and the commissioner of the reliquary chest,
bearing a dexter. Under his throne is a two line inscription: KFG%H DGE(J+NH (sic) F(GHFNJ To the
blessed Lord Gabril. Before the Catholicos, in the center of the scene, is the cauldron used for the
consecration of the Holy Oil with the dove of the Holy Spirit hovering above emitting very long rays of
light from its halo. To the left facing the patriarch-catholicos is a kneeling clergyman with a monks cowl
(vear) representing in all probability, Bishop Eprem, the nephew and himself future catholicos, assigned
to carry out the commission of the chest and the author of the long inscription on its bottom.
The top of the lid of the box is divided into three panels along its length; the upper and lower ones each
taking up about one-fifth of the space and the large central panel the rest. The crafting is a combination of
repouss work similar to that on the front panel, but employing roundels to frame the many scenes and
portraits of the design carefully highlighted by a play of the silver studs or nails employed regularly as a
design motif. To view Yarutiwn almkiarians finely executed repouss picture, one must turn the reliquary
box ninety degrees to the right. The upper and lower panels are each made of two very large wreath-like
circles almost tangential to the enclosed frame on three sides. Each pair is joined in the middle by a
connecting seraph, above and below which are festoons of flowers ending in more delicate floral scrolls. In
each of the corners there are palmettes. The frames around the four compartments are made with a bead
design with the addition of thicker braids separating the upper and lower rectangle from the central one.
Each of the four circles contains a full length standing Evangelist holding his Gospel in the left hand. Each
188
has a small domed aedicule with arched doorway placed toward the outer side of the lid, representing
Jerusalem. Toward the inner side of each roundel is the symbol of the Evangelist: a winged angel for
Matthew, a winged lion behind Mark, an ox for Luke, and an eagle for John. The work is in high, medium,
and low relief and the backgrounds are left plain.
The central panel has a large oval containing a full-length figure of St. Gregory holding a patriarchal
staff and offering blessing. The oval in high relief is punctuated with six double-winged cherubim, one
centered at the top and bottom and two on each side, all turned toward the saint except the bottom one who
faces out. Above there is a cloud band, below a wavy ground, to the right a tree and to the left a floral motif.
The ground around the figure is made of minute punches, as is that of the broad expanse of the inside of his
chasuble, but here the punching is carefully executed in a diamond pattern. The relief is carried out on
various planes giving a striking sculptural effect. His omophorion is decorated with three raised crosses
over a delicate, but flat, arabesque. Between the oval and the frame are fourteen interconnected roundels
each with four plain studs placed at the tangent positions. The four corners between the roundels and the
oval are filled with symmetrically open cross-shaped flowers with a stud in the center. The spandrel spaces
formed by the roundels and the outer border are filled with three types of decoration: above and in the center
is the dove, in the center on both of the longitudinal sides are small foliate motifs, the others are made of
tiered lozenges in relief with dots. The four empty corners and the rest of the ground have round punch dots.
The roundels contain scenes from the life of St. Gregory. All except one are devoted to a standard repertory
of tortures. The exception is in the lower right corner, which shows a classic scene of St. Gregory dressed
in humble clothes, intended to mean that he has just emerged from his imprisonment in the deep pit, standing
to the right is a retainer with an oriental turban, between them is King Trdat shown as a small crowned,
crouching boar (varaz), the form Trdat was metamorphosed into as punishment for killing Hipsim,
Gayan and the other holy virgins, which according to the legend in Agatangeos was exorcised from the
king by St. Gregory after he preached Christianity before him and his court. The scene encapsulates the
conversion of Armenia to Christianity in 301 AD (a date accepted by convention). The entire central scene
was probably copied from an engraving, of which there are many variants and earlier prototypes, one in
particular of 1731 from Venice, a copy of an earlier one of 1628.80
Note: Gulesserian (1939) writes that Bishop Eprem (later catholicos 1771-1784), when traveling to Antioch in 1765,
commissioned the chest, the silver binding of the Mayr Matoc, and a bishops staff in medieval style from almkiar Mahtesi
Yarutiwn (or Harutiun Kalemkiarian).81 He refers to the inscription as a work of sixty lines in fifteen quatrains, though there are
more lines, and reproduces the poem in cols. 511-513. The penultimate quatrain has five lines, the last quatrain has the date
formula, and a single line is added with the name of almkiar. The inscription is in sixty-four lines, the last two for the memorial
of the craftsman. The inscription mentions his relatives of the Aapahean family, the incumbent catholicos Gabril (1757-1770)
in the ninth quatrain and the Catholicoi of the same family ukas (1733-1737) and Tr Mikayl (1737-1758) in the thirteenth
quatrain. In the seventh quatrain he mentions the relics of St. Sylvester, St. Nicholas, and St. Barsauma. He also mentions himself
(eleventh quatrain) as well as his trip to Antioch (yAndak), but not once are the name of Grigor Lusawori nor his dexter nor
the word a, dexter, used.
Bibliography: Langlois, 1861, 400; Gulesserian, 1939, 509-513; Album, 1965, [45]; Karapetian, 1994, 306-307, reproduces the
inscription of Eprem; Poarian, 1971, 69; Goltz and Gltz, 2000, 14-15, 92-93, 96, fig. 96. Armenian Catholicosate, 2001, 5, 22;
Ballian, 2002, 80, 111, no. 30.
C-CATALOGUE 2014 KOUYOUMJIAN_Layout 1 9/15/14 8:56 PM Page 284
284
285
NOTES
I would like to thank Agns Ouzounian and Jirair Christianian for helping me decipher a few enigmatic inscriptions and Hrair
Hawk Khatcherian for supplying many of his photographs of objects in this catalogue from which I was able to read inscriptions
otherwise concealed. At the beginning Raffi Gergian was quick to supply his photographs of most of the objects, allowing me to
have a global sense of the collection even far away in Paris or Fresno; at an early stage in the preparation of this catalogue, Massis
Vardapet was of great assistance in providing accurate transcriptions of many inscriptions that were not visible on the photographs.
I thank them both for making my task easier. I am also indebted to successive directors of the Cilicia Museum, who over the
years have supplied photographs and answer to specific questions, especially to the current vice-director Barouyr Vardapet for
diligently providing me with over fifty fresh photos of details of object and their inscriptions during the past year and patiently
answering my many questions.
2
Details on the history of the liturgical collection at the Greek Orthodox Monastery are presented by Yota IkonomakiPapadopoulos, , Church Silver, Athanasios D. Koinis, ed., Patmos, Treasures of the Monastery (Athens: Edotike Athenon,
1988), 221-224.
3
Dickran Kouymjian, The Arts of Armenia (Accompanied by a Collection of 300 Slides in Color) (Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation, 1992), 49-54; Dickran Kouymjian, Lorfverie liturgique en Armnie, Maria-Anne Privat-Savigny and Bernard
Berthod, eds., Ors et trsors dArmnie, exhibition catalogue, Muse des tissus et des Arts dcoratifs and Muse dart religieux
de Fourvire (Lyon: 2007), 78-89.
4
Jannic Durand, Ioanna Rapti and Dorota Giovannoni, eds., Armenia sacra: Mmoire chrtienne des Armniens (IVeXVIIIe
sicle), exhibition catalogue, le Louvre (Paris: Somogy, 2007), 208-218.
5
Durand, Armenia sacra, 2007, respectively 207, no. 75, and 221-222, no. 96.
6
It was sold at auction by Claude Boisgirard, A. M. Kvorkian and C. B. Kvorkian, experts, at the Hotel Drouot, Paris, 19
December 1997.
7
B. Tumanean, Hin haykakan astagitakan gorcikner [Ancient Armenian Astronomical Instruments], miacin (1962), no. 4,
51-57.
8
Manya azarean, ed., Treasures of miacin (text and legends in Armenian, Russian, English), (miacin: Holy See, 1984),
objects and pages without numbers.
9
Hermann Goltz and Klaus E. Gltz, Rescued Armenian Treasures from Cilicia. Sacred Art of the Kilikia Museum Antelias,
Lebanon (Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2000); Anna Ballian, Armenian Relics of Cilicia from the Museum of the Catholicosate in
Antelias, Lebanon (Athens: Olkos, 2002).
10
Bezalel Narkiss, with Michael Stone and Avedis K. Sanjian, Armenian Art Treasures of Jerusalem (New Rochelle, NY: Caratzas,
1979).
11
Ronald T. Marchese and Marlene R. Breu, Splendor & Pageantry. Textile Treasures from the Armenian Orthodox Churches of
Istanbul (Istanbul: Armenian Patriarchate, 2010). Vol. 2 on metalwork forthcoming.
12
Boghos Lewon Zekiyan, Gli Armeni in Italia (Rome: De Luca, 1990); Graziella Vigo, I Tesori di San Lazzaro degli Armeni
(Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2011).
13
Heidi Buschhausen, Armenische Silberarbeiten aus den Sammlungen der Mechitharisten-Congregation zu Wien, Steine
Sprechen, no. 136 (Vienna: 2008); mostly nineteenth century objects.
14
A catalogue of the objects has now been published: Edmond Y. Azadian, Sylvie L. Merian, Lucy Ardash, eds., A Legacy of
Armenian Treasures, Testimony to a PeopleThe Alex and Marie Manoogian Museum (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
2013).
15
Ideally, the catalogue or catalogues in this volume should have also been accompanied by an index of person and place names
as a guide for establishing workshops and craftsmen.
16
But as one author points out, attribution of an item to workshops of the capital, when it is not accompanied by clear inscriptional
evidence, remains problematic. Ballian, Armenian Relics, 94.
17
A recent exhibition with a splendid catalogue provides a detail examination of the cult of relics: Martina Bagnoli et al, Treasures
of Heaven. Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010). For general
remarks with earlier and useful references, see also Ballian, Armenian Relics, 83.
18
It is housed in a triptych reliquary case of 1698, Durand, Armenia sacra, 412-414, no. 185.
19
Geard in Armenian; Durand, Armenia sacra, 409-411, no. 184; the triptych reliquary that encloses the spear was fashioned in
1687.
20
Kouymjian,Lorfverie liturgique en Armnie, 80-84 on dexters.
1
Dickran Kouymjian, The Right Hand of St. Gregory and other Armenian Arm Relics, Philippe Borgeaud and Youri Volokhine,
eds., Les objets de la mmoire. Pour une approche comparatiste des reliques et de leur culte, (Geneva: Peter Lang, 2005), 215240.
22
Ibid., 233-234. Originally, in that article I had mentioned another example in the Armenian Patriarchate of
Constantinople/Istanbul, a relic once at the Church of St. Gregory in Caesarea/Kayseri, but further enquiry reveals that no such
dexter exists in Istanbul. It was rather a relic, a piece of bone of the right hand of St. Gregory, but not in the form of a right hand
reliquary.
23
Kouymjian, Lorfvrerie liturgique en Armnie, 80-84.
24
Norayr Archbishop Covakan (Poarean/Bogharian), Haykakan Xaer [Armenian Crosses], (Jerusalem: 1991), 14-15; for
background, see Dickran Kouymjian, Ethnic Origins and the Armenian Policy of Emperor Heraclius, Revue des tudes
armniennes, vol. XVII (1983): 635-642.
25
For an overview, Dickran Kouymjian, Reliques et reliquaires. Comment les Armniens honorent leurs saints Robert
Dermergurian and Patrick Donabdian, eds., ARMENIACA 2. La culture armnienne hier et aujourd'hui (Aix-en-Provence:
2008), 171-182.
26
According to the narrative, as solace to St. Bartholomew for being unable to attend her funeral or see her, he was given a veil
with the image of the Holy Mother, which she had blessed and given to St. John the Evangelist. According to Armenian Church
tradition, St. Bartholomew brought it with him to Armenia and placed it at Darbneac Kar in the province of Anjeweac. A
convent was established there of faithful nuns who honored and protected the relic. As there are no relics of the Holy Mothers
earthly body since she was assumed into Heaven, her personal belongings became articles of pious devotion. The celebration of
the translation of the belt and box of the Holy Mother of God were introduced into the Armenian Church by Catholicos Simeon
Erewanci (1763-1780).
27
Dickran Kouymjian, Bras-reliquaire de sainte Hipsim, in Durand, Armenia sacra, 34, no. 5.
28
Durand, Armenia sacra, 202, no. 71; azarean, Treasures of miacin.
29
Ibid., 203, no. 72; azarean, Treasures of miacin.
30
Alvida Mirzoyan, Le reliquaire de Skevra, text in Armenian and English (New York, 1993); idem, 71. Reliquary Triptych of
the Skewa Monastery, in Helen C. Evans, ed., Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557), (New York: Metropolitan Museum
of Art, 2004), 134-136.
31
Durand, Armenia sacra, 331-333, no. 143.
32
Probably originally inspired by a woodblock of the Annunciation in the Bible de Natalis, published in 1593 by an uncertain
printer, for which see Sarah Laporte-Eftekharian, Arts de la diaspora armnienne. Lvolution des arts visuels au XVIIe sicle
la Nouvelle-Djoulfa, Series Byzantina IX (2011): 95, fig. 4a.
33
Ballian, Armenian Relics, 114.
34
Jannic Durand, 73. Croix-reliquaire (?), Armenia Sacra, 204-205, no. 73.
35
I would like to thank Jirair Christianian for suggesting the solution.
36
The date seems to read 1210 for 1761 and not 1762 as found in Goltz and Gltz, Rescued Armenian Treasures, 116, and Ballian,
Armenian Relics, 37.
37
Perj Karapetean (Berdj Garabedian), Surb aeru xnamatar u pahapan Aapahean patmutiwn [History of the Care and
Preservation of the Holy Dexters by the Aapaheans], Hask Hayagitakan Taregirk [Hask Armenological Yearbook], 6 (1994),
306, quoting Hamazasp Oskean, Kilikiayi Vanker [The Monasteries of Cilicia], (Vienna: 1957), 131.
38
Victor Langlois, Voyage dans la Cilicie et dans les montagnes du Taurus (Paris: Benjamin Duprat, 1861), 399-401.
39
[C]ollections of reliquaries and a goal of reunification of the body also seem to have been important in some cases and
perhaps just as powerful as a spiritual image, Cynthia Hahn, The Spectacle of the Charismatic Body: Patrons, Artists, and
Body-Part Reliquaries, Bagnoli, Treasures in Heaven, 171. In November 2000 Pope John-Paul II formally presented to Catholicos
Karekin II of miacin a reliquary containing the thighbone of St. Gregory, formerly preserved in the Church of St. Gregory in
Naples, where the reliquary of the skull of St. Gregory is still conserved.
40
On Armenian reliquaries in general see Kouymjian, Reliques et reliquaires. Comment les Armniens honorent leurs saints,
171-182. See also Kouymjian, Lorfvrerie liturgique en Armnie, 78-89, especially 80-84.
41
Both are discussed in Kouymjian, Bras-reliquaire de sainte Rhipsim, 2007, 34, no. 5.
42
See supra notes 22; details in Kouymjian, The Right Hand of St. Gregory and other Armenian Arm Relics, 230-234.
43
Babgn Kiwlsrian (Papken Gulesserian), Patmutiwn Katoikosac Kilikioy - 1441- n Minew mer rer [History of the
Catholicoi of Cilicia From 1441 to the Present], (Antelias: 1939), 1299-1300.
44
Kouymjian, Bras-reliquaire de saint Thadde, Durand, Armenia sacra, 420, no. 190.
45
Kouymjian, Bras-reliquaire de saint Andr, Durand, Armenia sacra, 414-415, no. 186.
46
Kouymjian, Reliquaire de la main de saint Jean-Baptiste, Durand, Armenia sacra, 279-280, no. 122.
21
286
287
The latter two, both preserved in the Cilician Museum of the Catholicosate of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon, are well illustrated
in Goltz and Gltz, Rescued Armenian Treasures, 90-91, and Ballian, Armenian Relics, 74, 85. The Cilician Catholicosate also
has one of the two most important dexters of St. Gregory, illustrated in both volumes.
48
Kouymjian, Lorfvrerie liturgique en Armnie, 83.
49
Cynthia Hahn, The Voices of Saints, Speaking Reliquaries, Gesta 36/1 (1997): 22.
50
C. Walker Bynum and P. Gerson, BodyPart Reliquaries and Body Parts in the Middle Ages, Gesta 36/1 (1997): 3.
51
Kouymjian, The Right Hand of St. Gregory and other Armenian Arm Relics, 223.
52
Ioli Kalavrezou, Helping hands for the Empire: Imperial Ceremonies and the Cut of Relics in the Byzantine Court, H. Maguire,
ed., Byzantium Court Culture from 829-1204 (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 1997), 53-79.
53
Navasard Martoyean, Surp Grigor Lusawori nxarnerun te Hayastaneayc Ekeecin ners (The Place of the Relics of St.
Gregory in the Armenian Church), Hask (1998), nos. 9-10: 519-527; nos. 11-12: 670-680; (1999), nos. 1-2: 25-36.
54
Robert W. Thomson, Agathangelos. History of the Armenians (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1976), 348-349
810, 371.
55
[H]e took a part of the saints relics in order to establish their commemorations in other places. Ibid., 355.
56
Yovhanns Catholicos, History, translation Krikor H. Maksoudian, Yovhanns Dastanakertci, History of Armenia (Atlanta:
Scholars press, 1987), 102.
57
Kouymjian, Reliquaire de la main de saint Jean-Baptiste, 279-280, no. 122, 279-280, no. 122.
58
Langlois, Voyage dans la Cilicie et dans les montagnes du Taurus, 400.
59
The reference is probably to the church of St. miacin in Sis, on which see Gulesserian, History, 1221-1222, and Vardan
Tmirean, Kilikioy hayoc vankern u ekeeciner [The Monasteries and the Churches of the Armenians of Cilicia],
Cakepun: Karozneru ew usumnasirutiwnneru 1957-1981 [Bouquet: Sermons and Studies 1957-1981], (Beirut, 1981), 213217, fig. on 216.
60
See the eye witness account by Archbishop Xad Aabahean (1883-1968) in Part I of this volume. An English translation of this
text is published in Goltz and Gltz, Rescued Armenian Treasures, 10-18; the Armenian text can be found in Buzand Eiayan
(Puzant Yeghiayan), amanakakic patmutiwn Katoghikosutean Hayoc Kilikioy- 1914-1972 [Contemporary History of the
Armenian Catholiocosate of Cilicia - 1914-1975], (Antelias: Catholicosate Publications, 1975), 166-169.
61
Hraeay Aaean, Hayoc Anjnanunneri baaran [Armenian First Name Dictionary], vol. II (Erevan: 1944), 293, no. 8 and
346, no. 9.
62
Gulesserian, History, col. 1327; Goltz and Gltz, Rescued Armenian Treasures, 17; Ballian, Armenian Relics, 75, 111; Anna
Ballian, Arm Reliquary of Saint Nicholas, in Byzantium: Faith and Power (12611557), 137, n. 2.
63
Ballian, Ibid., cf. Dickran Kouymjian, The Armenian Right Arm Reliquary of St. Nicholas, Joseph D. Alchermes, ed., Studies
in Honor of Thomas F. Mathews, (Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 2009), 223-229, 226. Henceforth: Reliquary of St.
Nicholas.
64
Aaean, Hayoc Anjnanunneri Baaran, vol. IV (Erevan: 1948), 364, nos. 106-7.
65
Kouymjian, Reliquary of St. Nicholas, 226-227.
66
I owe this information to Bishop Krikor Chiftjian, Prelate and Delegate of His Holiness Aram I in Tabriz, who forwarded
photographs of the dexter attached to his explanatory email of 30 August 2012. I want to thank Bishop Krikor for his kindness
and promptness at a moment of turmoil in Tabriz.
67
See Kouymjian, The Right Hand of St. Gregory and other Armenian Arm Relics, passim.
68
Aaean, Hayoc Anjnanunneri, vol. IV, 76-77,, nos. 1, 17, 21.
69
For details and sources, see Kouymjian, Reliquary of St. Nicholas, n. 25.
70
Langlois, Voyage dans la Cilicie, 400.
71
Gulesserian, History, 1325-1326; Goltz and Gltz, Rescued Armenian Treasures, 14; Ballian, Armenian Relics, 88; Kouymjian,
2005, 244; Kouymjian, 2007-1b, 277; Kouymjian, 2009-2, 228.
72
Gulesserian, History, 1325-1328, unpublished English translation by Aris Sevag, typescript 2005.
73
Thomson, Agathangelos, 1976, 873-884, 407-415.
74
Mat. ms 1920, fol. 133v, see Dickran Kouymjian, Recueil de textes sur la fondation et lhistoire de lglise armnienne,
Valentina Calzolari, ed., Illuminations dArmnie. Arts du livre et de la pierre dans lArmnie ancienne et mdivale, exhibition
catalogue (Geneva: Fondation Martin Bodmer, 2007), 171. See now Zara Poghossian, The Letter of Love and Concord, A Revised
Diplomatic Edition with Historical and Textual Comments and English Translation (Leiden: Brill, 2010).
75
Ghevont Samoorian, Domar, The Calendrical and Liturgical Cycle of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church 2003 A.D.
(n.p., 2002), 348.
76
77
Fr. Jean-Maurice Fiey reports that Jocelin, the Count of Edessa, sacked the convent of Barsauma in 1148 and made off with the
47
sacred relic of the right hand of Barsauma, La vie mouvemente des reliques dans lOrient syriaque, Parole de lOrient, XIII
(1986): 190, and later in the article (193) offers the information from Bishop Abels travel account published by G. D. Mansi, S.
Baluzii Tutelensis Miscellanea, vol. IV (Lucques, 1704), 157; cf. Ballian, Armenian Relics, 87, citing Ernest Hnigmann, Le
couvent de Barsauma et le patriarcat jacobite dAntioche et de Syrie (Louvain: 1954).
78
Langlois, Voyage dans la Cilicie, 400.
79
Langlois, ibid. In his inscriptions and transcriptions, the young orientalist often confused the a with the 4, though the majuscule
form he usually got correct.
80
Mesrop Aean (Mesrob Ashjian), Lusavori Luys Nxarner [The Splendid Relics of the Illuminator], (Holy miacin:
2000), plate facing page 128 for a colored example of 1628. For a twentieth century reproduction by the Mekhitarist Fathers of
Venice, see M. Morel-Deledalle, C. Mouradian, F. Pizzorni-Iti, eds., Loin de lArarat : les petites Armnies de lEurope et de la
Mditerrane. Les Armniens de Marseille, exhibition catalogue, Muse des civilisations de lEurope et de la Mditerrane et
Muse dHistoire de la Ville de Marseille (Paris: Hazan, 2007), 58.
81
Gulesserian, History, 509-513.
82
Erica Cruikshank Dodd, Byzantine Silver Treasures (Bern: Abegg-Stiftung, 1973), 14-15.
83
Ballian, Armenian Relics, 97; in a note she suggests that the lamp could have meaning in several Middle Eastern cultures: St.
Gregorys lamp for Armenian sanctuaries, the Holy Sepulcher for the Byzantines, the mirb for the Islamic world.
84
Boghos Levon Zekiyan, ed., Gli Armeni in Italia, exhibition catalogue (Rome: de Luca, 1900), 75, 162 no. 82, cf. Ballian,
Armenian Relics, 97; azarean, Treasures of miacin, unpaginated.
85
Narkiss, Armenian Art of Jerusalem, 14 fig 18, 146.
86
Garo Krkman, Ottoman Silver Marks (Istanbul: Mathusalem, 1996), 287-289.
87
Dickran Kouymjian, Identifying the Apostles in Armenian Narrative Miniatures, Jean-Pierre Mah and Robert W. Thomson,
eds., From Byzantium to Iran: Armenian Studies in Honour of Nina G. Garsoan (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997), 453-474.
88
Hakobyan, Colophons, vol. III, 299, note 20.
89
See Krkman, Ottoman Silver Marks, 287-289, for archival documents listing by name those working in the capital,
Constantinople.
90
See Reliure dun livre des vangiles, in Armenia sacra, 2007, no. 115, 266-267, notice by Jannic Durand.
91
Yarutiwn Kiwrtean (Harutiun Kurdian), Kesarioy Oskerakan Dprocin Arcat Kazmer (The Silver Bindings of the
Caesarea Goldsmith School), Hask Hayagitakan Taregirk [Hask Armenological Yearbook], vol. I (1948), 51-61; Syvie Merian,
Silver Covers, in Thomas Mathews and Roger Wieck, Treasures in Heaven, Armenian Illuminated Manuscripts (New York:
Pierpont Morgan Library, 1994), 115-123, with several more recent articles on individual examples, see also idem, The Armenian
Silversmiths of 17th and 18th Century Kesaria, The Armenian Communities of Cesarea/Kesaria. Ed. Richard Hovannisian (Costa
Mesa: Mazda, in press); Armn Malxasean, Kesarahay kazmarowesti patmutyunic [From the History of the Art of Binding
of Armenians of Caesarea), miacin, vol. 53 (May-June 1996), 174-190, with inventories of twenty-one bindings from 1653 to
1741. Additional specimens have been identified since.
92
Armn Malxasean, Surb miacni meta krknakazmer (The Metal Double Bindings of Holy miacin), vol. I (Holy miacin:
2011), 63 illustrated items.
93
See the catalogue that follows of some thirty silver bookbindings in the Cilician Museum.
94
Dickran Kouymjian, The Evolution of Armenian Gospel Illumination: The Formative Period (9th-11th Centuries), Philippe
Hoffman, ed., Armenians and the Bible (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1993), 125-142; idem, Armenian Manuscript Illumination in
the Formative Period: Text Groups, Eusebian Apparatus, Evangelists Portraits, Acts of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Centro
italiano di studi sullalto medioevo, Spoleto, Italy (Spoleto: 1996), 1015-1051.
95
I have discussed them in a long series of articles, for example Dickran Kouymjian, Les reliures de manuscrits armniens
inscriptions, ed. Philippe Hoffman, Recherches de codicologie compare. La composition du codex au Moyen ge, en Orient et
en Occident, (Paris: Presses de lcole normale suprieure, 1998), 259-274; idem, The Decoration of Medieval Armenian
Manuscript Bindings, La reliure mdivale, conference proceedings Institut de France, Paris, May 22-24, 2003 (Brepols: 2008),
209-218; idem, Post-Byzantine Armenian Bookbinding and Its Relationship to the Greek Tradition, proceedings of an
international conference, Athens, Greece, October 13-16, 2005, Vivlioamphiasts 3. Niki Tsironis, ed., The Book in Byzantium:
Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Bookbinding, (Athens: 2008), 163-176; idem, From Manuscript to Printed Book: Armenian
Bookbinding from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century, Philip Sadgrove, ed., Printing and Publishing from the Middle East,
Papers from the Second International Symposium on the History of Printing and Publishing in the Languages and Countries of
the Middle East, Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, 2-4 November 2005, ed. Philip Sadgrove, Journal of Semitic Studies,
Supplement 24 (Oxford: 2008), 13-21, 276-297 (plates).
96
Kouymjian, The Decoration of Medieval Armenian Manuscript Bindings, 209-218, 211-214; idem, Post-Byzantine Armenian
Bookbinding, 163-176, 166-167.
288
289
For details on the manuscript, see in Part II of this volume, Sylvia Agmian, Miniatures et Manuscrits au muse Cilicie,
The predominance of this mixed script with the majority of minuscule letters is in keeping with the relatively late date for this
transitional writing form. For details see Michael Stone, Dickran Kouymjian, Henning Lehmann, Album of Armenian Paleography
(Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2002); Armenian translation, (miacin: 2006), Mixed Script, 101-102 and the bibliography
for individual articles.
99
For the illustration of the Crucifixion of the Glajor Gospel see, Mathews, Thomas F. Mathews and Avedis K. Sanjian, Armenian
Gospel Iconography. The Tradition of the Glajor Gospel (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1991) 561. Color illustration of
the page and for a discussion, 160-161.
100
Helen C. Evans and William D. Wixom, The Glory of Byzantium. Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era A.D. 843-1261,
catalogue (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art and Harry Abrams, 1997), no. 27, 66-67, notice by Helen Evans.
101
Armenia sacra, no. 73, tenth-twelfth century, 204-205, notice by Jannic Durand.
102
Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, no. 1796, fol. 288v, illustrated in color in Sirarpie Der Nersessian, Armenian Art (London:
Thames and Hudson, 1978), 126, fig. 90.
103
Sirarpie Der Nersessian, Le rliquaire de Skvra et lorfvrerie cilicienne aux XIIIe et XIVe sicles, vol. I (Lisbon: Calouste
Gulbenkian Foundation, 1973), 714-716, originally in Revue des tudes armniennes, n.s., I (1964); Kouymjian, Identifying the
Apostles in Armenian Narrative Miniatures, 464.
104
Gulesserian, History, 509-513.
105
See Agemian, Muse Cilicie, no. VI, 55-60, for a complete description; the earlier catalogue of manuscripts is also very useful,
Bishop Anuavan Danilean (Anushavan Tanielian), Mayr cucak hayern jeagrac Meci Tann Kilikioy Katoikosoutean
(Master Catalogue of the Armenian Manuscripts of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia), (Antelias: Catholicosate,
1984), no. 9, 96-99.
106
A list of them with their English and Latin names can be found in Goltz and Gltz, Rescued Armenian Treasures from Cilicia,
82.
107
A photograph of the unpublished binding is in an archive of the Aleppo Museum of the Forty Martyrs Church sent to me more
than a decade ago in which there are more than two dozen silver bindings of different periods. A few of the items have inventory
numbers, but other than what is on the photos themselves, I have no way of determining provenance, date, or text of the printed
book the binding is attached to. It should be noted that the binding of 1771 has just been published, Raffi Kortoshian, The
Inscriptions of Aleppo (Erevan: RAA, 2013), 68-69 no. 22. A second binding of 1776 also dedicated to the church of the Holy
Mother of God in Ayntab has a similar upper cover of the Virgin, but a Resurrection on the lower cover, Kortoshian, The
Inscriptions of Aleppo, 69 no. 24.
108
Armn Malxasean, Surb miacni Meta Krknakazmer [The Double Metal Bindings of Holy miacin], vol. I (Holy miacin:
2011), fig. 36, no. 29, 49-50, upper cover.
109
See note 107 above for details on the Aleppo collection. The inscription on the spine of the binding is difficult to make out in
the photograph, but the date is clear. On the upper cover is the Adoration of the Magi, similar to those on the bindings in Antelias
already discussed, but with the addition of two shepherds and their sheep in the lower left. The manger and the broken column
are lacking and the Virgin and Child, uncrowned, are seated under a carefully executed arch.
110
Name attested in a colophon of 1606, Hakopyan, Colophons, vol. 1, 1974, 233, no. 299.
111
I would like to thank Sarah Laporte Eftekiarian for originally suggesting this meaning.
112
Photo archive from Aleppo, see note 106 above for more details.
113
For a discussion of the theological background see Mathews and Sanjian, Armenian Gospel Iconography. The Tradition of the
Glajor Gospel, 163, and the color plate.
114
See the entries by Kouymjian, nos. 25, 28, 30, 119-122, 130-132, 135-137 figs. 28, 30, in Mikal Nichanian and Yann Sordet,
Le livre armnien de la Renaissance aux Lumires: une culture en diaspora (Paris: Bibliothque Mazarine & ditions des Cendres,
2012); see also Ballians well-informed remarks. On the general question, see Dickran Kouymjian, Some Iconographical
Questions about the Christ Cycle in Armenian Manuscripts and Printed Books, in Le sacre scritture e le loro interpretazioni
(Milan: Accadmia Ambrosiana, forthcoming 2014).
115
Both wood engravings are illustrated and discussed in Nichanian and Sordet, Le livre armnien, fig. on 137, a reuse of the
1706 engraving, and figure on p. 132, a reuse of that of 1717. A full discussion will be found in notices nos. 25, 28, 30 as cited
in the previous note.
116
Malxasean, Surb miacni, fig. 20, no. 12, 34-35, upper cover.
117
Edmond Y. Azadian, Sylvie L. Merian, Lucy Ardash, eds., A Legacy of Armenian Treasures. Testimony to a People. The Alex
and Marie Manoogian Museum(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013), 62-63, no. 1.18.
118
119
The upper cover from a nineteenth century silver binding in the collection of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem has the
97
98
same monumental single column supporting nothing as the main element in the Nativity. Though I photographed it in 2009, my
notes have apparently failed to record the book or manuscript to which it belongs. This might suggest that we reconsider a
possible Greek inspiration for the iconography or the style of the whole series and look toward an Armenian source.
120
An undated binding covering what must be a book of 1899 has on its upper silver cover an Annunciation in the top corners
and John the Baptist with the Lamb of God in the lower left opposite St. Stephen as deacon. See Aspects of Armenian Art. The
Kalfayan Collection (Athens: 2010), no. 59, 110-111, the entry by Sylvie Merian.
121
The identity of St. John the Evangelist is confirmed by the lower cover of a silver binding of 1834 in the museum of the Holy
Martyrs Church in Aleppo, on which see note 107 above. On that cover, which resembles in overall appearance that of 1850,
there is greater clarity in the standing portraits, clearly showing the Evangelist holding his Gospel just below his waist with his
right hand. He is on the left, almost in mirror image to his posture on the binding of 1850, where he is on the right holding the
book with his left hand. Other elements are also similar, including the overall look of the box-like binding.
122
This special iconography is discussed in Piotr Grotowski, The Legend of St. George Saving a Youth from Captivity and Its
Depiction in Art, Series Byzantina, I (2003): 2777.
123
On Oskans printing venture see Raymond H. Kvorkian, Catalogue des Incunables armniens (1511/1695) ou chronique
de limprimerie armnienne (Genve: Patrick Cramer, 1986), 39-79; on the artistic influence of printing woodcuts on silver
bindings of the Caesarea/Kayseri school, see Sylvie Merian, Silver Covers, Treasures in Heaven, Armenian Illuminated
Manuscripts, 115-123; more recently, Nichanian and Sordet, Le livre armnien, passim.
124
Der Nersessian, Armenian Manuscripts in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1963, no. FGA 36.15, 90-91, figs. 347348, for a color illustration of the upper cover, see Kouymjian, The Arts of Armenia, no. 208, also on internet
http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/arts_of_armenia/captions.htm.
125
Kouymjian, Encensoir, in Armenia sacra, 426-427 illus., no. 195.
126
Treasures of Emiacin, unnumbered pages; Nathan Hovanessian, ed., Treasures of Armenian Church. Exhibition in the State
Museum of the Moscow Kremlin (Moscow: 1997), no. 33.
127
Mesrop of Xizan, An Armenian Master of the Seventeenth Century, An Exhibition (London: Sam Fogg, Ltd., 2013), item
number 16007.
128
Konstantinos A. Manafis, ed. Sinai. Treasures of the Monastery of Saint Catherine (Athens: Ekdotike Athenon, 1990), 306307, fig. 43. The central trunk terminates with a doubled-headed eagle, thus despite their serpent-like tails, they might represent
the imperial emblem.
129
130
Goltz and Gltz, Rescued Armenian Treasures, 112, 114.
131
Other variants using Jirair Christianians suggestions and other changes:
k+@ DgH)gHg@(sic)KGh NRHJ(Fgkgh (or NRHJ(Fg kgH or NJYURKJ(Fgkgh) RYU(E

gRKYUG)g)JH FIF*FvJRH Y*Y(TYuPJUH HY7FtEF( +( CFH+@K+ :yuNYuHgH
@(JRKYHFG&OHng?
Variant 1: 1258 [1842 if meant to be a hijri date; 1809 if intended as the Armenian era]. 1267 ( 1851 hijri; 1818 Armenian era).
From the charity or alms of the sole (tek) treasury of the church of the Holy Mother of God of (the village of) Lsnierea or Liusteria,
it was November, enek Christians are established (or found) (bulunan).
Variant 2: 1258 ( = 1842 if meant to be a hijri date; 1809 if intended as the Armenian era). 1267 ( = 1851 hijri; 1818 Armenian
era). From the sole (tek) treasury of the church of the Holy Mother of God of (the village of) Lsnierea or Liusteria, the alms
giving of November erenek (where) Christians are established (or found) (bulunan). I would like to thank Agns Ouzounian of
Paris for suggesting this reading, as well as solving other inscriptional problems.
132
Gabriella Uluhogian, Un antica mappa dell Armenia. Monasteri e santuari dal I al XVII secolo (Ravenna: Longo, 2000),
fold out of the map after p. 47 and a detail of the eight staffs and explanations, 174-175.
133
Gabriella Uluhogian, Un antica mappa dell Armenia. Monasteri e santuari dal I al XVII secolo (Ravenna: Longo, 2000),
fold out of the map after p. 47 and a detail of the eight staffs and explanations, 174-175.
134
Ibid.
135
In a private communication, Krikor Markarian indicated he had acquired the staff in Aintab in 1977 from a man who was half
Armenian. He also reports that there is an additional but similar inscription below a serpent:
, at Sis.
136
Dickran Kouymjian and Mikal Nichanian, Le Synaxaire de Grgorie de Marzevan, un monument typographique, in
Nichanian and Sordet, Le livre armnien, 120 fig. 25.
137
The translation was offered by Yervant Pamboukian from Antelias in a letter to Claude Mutafian of 11 May 1993 on the
occasion of the installation of the cross stone in the exhibition at the Chapel of the Sorbonne in the same year, see Gerard Ddyan,
Les Armniens entre Grecs, Musulmans et Croiss, vol. 2 (Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2003), vol. 2, 1245, Claude
Mutafian, LArmnie du Levant (XIe-XIVe sicles), (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2012), vol. I, 335, II, fig. 131: Ce Saint Signe la
290
291
sainte apparence fut dress pour la protection de la tombe de Vasil serviteur de Dieu.
138
The couple are apparently the same as those mentioned in a colophon of 1655, M588, fol. 318v, Vazgen Hakopyan, Hayeren
jeagreri dari hiatakaranner (1641-1660 tt.), (Colophons of Seventeenth Century Armenian Manuscripts (1641-1660), vol.
III, Erevan, 1984, no. 987, pp. 644-645.; I thank Agns Ouzounian for pointing out this colophon. For more details, see O.
Eganian et al, Mayr cucak hayern jeagrac Matoc anuan Matenadarani (Master Catalogue of the Armenian Manuscripts of
the Mastoc Matenadaran), vo. II, Erevan: Nairi, 2005, col. 1404.
GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS, LITURGICAL VESSELS

altar
altar candlestick
altar cross
altar frontal
altar incense burner or container
amice, ephod, collar
Antelias
apron
archimandrite
ark of the covenant
armband
Armenian monks cowl
aspergill, fr. aspersoir, (for holy water)
banner, processional
base or foot of a vessel
basin
bejewelled
belt
binding, cover
bishops miter
bore
bowl
buckle
calyx (cup of the chalice)
candlestick
cape, cope
catholicos
catholicosate
cauldron
cauldron, vessel for blessing
the Holy Chrism
censer
ceramic
hand cross
hermit
chalice
chalice cover
chandelier
chest, casket
chrism vessel (dove-shaped)
chrism
clasp
communion pyx
crosier, cane, staff
Cross
cross-shaped
rf8gh(sean), 3y9gh (xoran)

g4kghgi eftj (atanak bemi)
3y9ghj 3gc (xorani xa)
rf8ghj dydhyv (seani gognoc)
3highyv (xnkanoc)
sgigr (vakas)
Catholicosate of the Great House Of Cilicia, Lebanon
dydhyv (gognoc)
sg9xg;fk( vardapet)
kg;ghgi (tapanak)
egb;gh (bazpan)
sf8g9 (vear)
r9rigtgh rgwy9 (srskman sapor)
3gcsg5 (xava)
;gkyughxgh (patwandan)
iyh2 (konk)
dylg9gbg9x (goharazard)
d1kj (goti)
igbt (kazm), ;gl;ghgi (pahpanak)
3y79 (xoyr)
sg9gb (varaz)
pgr (tas)
qg9tghx (armand)
rijl, chalice, Latin calix, chalice or the flower-form within which the cup
of the chalice is held
g4kghgi (atanak)
4yu9ag5 (urja)
igpy8jiyr (katoikos)
igpy8jiyryupjuh (katoikosutiwn), sflg9gh (veharan)
igprg7 (katsay)
Tju5yhj Igprg7 (miwoni katsay)
eyu9sg5 (burva), 3highyv, 3higtgh (xnkanoc, xnkaman)
7g3qg;gij (yaxapaki)
6f5gv 3gc
qdhgsy9 (gnavor)
rijl (skih)
rijlj 0g0iyv (skihi cackoc)
agl (ah)
g9i8 (ark)
tju5yhgpgw g8guhj (miwonatap aawni),
tju5yh (miwon)
qg9tghx (armand)
tgrhgkyuw (masnatup)
dgugbgh (gawazan)
3gc (xa)
3gcg6fu (xaajew)
cross, pectoral
cross, ostensory, radiant
crown
cuff, maniple
curtain
Dexter, right arm reliquary
doublure
dove
dove-shaped vessel for the Chrism [repeat]
embroidery
enameling
encrusting
engraving
epigonation, pouch, sign of patriarchal
face, cover
fanon
filigree
fine carving
flabellum/rhipidion
gold dipping, gilding
gold thread
gonfalon, banner
Gospel
religious crown, casque
holy
Holy miacin
Holy Oil, Chrism
Holy Sign, the Cross
holy water sprinkler
image, picture
incense
incense burner
incense container
infula, infulae
INRI
jug
lance
lantern, lamp
Latin, sphere and cross, sign of authority
liturgical collar
liturgical crown
majuscule script, uncial
minuscule script
miracle worker, thaumaturgus
miter
modern cursive script with attached letters
molding
notary script
omophorion, stole, sort of a pallium
ostensory
panagia, encolpion, bearing image of Virgin
Pantocrator
parcel gilt
parchment
patriarchal/pontifical
pilgrim to Jerusalem
pitcher
Prayerbook of St. Gregory of Narek
printe
ngtwg3gc (lampaxa)
qgqghcguy9
3gc (aanawor xa), qgqghcg3gc
(aanaxa)
pgd (tag)
egb;gh (bazban)
sg9gdy79 (varagoyr), curtain for altar front, dydhyv (gognoc)
ga (a)
grkg5 (asta)
g8guhj (aawni)
tju5yhgpgw g8guhj, meonatap aawni
df8gljur (geahiws), grf8hgdy90 (asenagorc)
g90h (arcn), g90hg;gkyut (arcnapatum)
lgkjigbg9xyut (hatikazardum)
wy9gd9yupjuh (poragrutiwn}
iyh2f5 (konke, diamond-shaped pouch, sign of patriarchal authority
x9yugd (druag)
g9kg3yu9gi (artaxurak)
byudgpfn (zugatel, literally double threading)
df8g2ghxgi (geakandak)
24yv (koc)
yrifb10 (oskezc)
yrifpfn (osketel)
3gcsg5 (xava, xaua)
gufkg9gh (awetaran)
rg8gug9k (saawart)
ryu9e (surb)
Ryu9e +atjg0jh (Surb miacin, Catholiccosate of All Armenians,
Armenia)
Ryu9e Tju5yh, (Surb Miwon)
Ryu9e H4gh (surb nan)
t4kji (mtik), r9ritgh rgwy9 (srskman sapor)
;gkif9 (patker)
3yuhi (xunk)
3highyv, 3higtgh (xnkanoc, xnkaman)
3higtgh kg;ghgi (xnkaman tapanak)
g9kg3yu9gi (artaxurak, pendant/s for a miter)
&HPL, &jryur Hgbys9fvj Pgdguy9 L9=jv (Yisus
Nazovreci Tagawor Hric), Isus Nazarnus, Rx Idaerum; Jesus
of Nazareth, King of the Jews
rgwy9 (sapor), wg9c (par)
df8g9x (geard)
ighpf8 (kante)
globus cruciger
sgigr (vakas)
pgd (tag)
f9igpgdj9 (erkatagir)
eyny9dj9 (bolorgir)
R2ghcfngdy90 (Skanelagorc)
3y79 (xoyr)
48gdj9 (agir)
3yunyut (xouloum)
h1k9dj9 (ntrgir)
=tjwy9yh (emiporon)
qgqghc (aan)
;ghgifg7 (panakiay), hanging ornament
All Mighty
yrifb10 (oskezc)
tgdg8gp (magaat)
lg79g;fkgigh (hayrapetakan)
tglkfrj, (mahtesi)
iyuz (ku)
Hg9fi (Nareg)
k;g0y7 (tpatsoy), k;yug0 (tpuac)
292
293
processional cross
protomartyr
radiating
relic
relic box
relief carving
reliquary
reliquary box
reliquary box in the form of a cross
reliquary chest
repouss
restored
right hand or right arm reliquary
Ritual Book
rock crystal
rug, small
sculpture
seraph, seraphim
silver binding
silver thread
slipper
small box
small dish for Holy Water
spherical protrusion on stem of a chalice
staff, croisier, ferula, asa
stamp for making of the Eucharistic waifer
spear
sticharion, tunic of deacon
stole (liturgical)
superhumeral
Synaxarion
tabernacle, tabernacle box
throne
tunic, shirt
upright cross stone, usually monumental
urn
vase
veil, cover
vessel
vessel for chrism
wood from the cross
pgwy9j 3gc (tapori xa)

hg3gsig7 (naxavkay)
qgqghcguy9 (aanawor)
tgryuh2 (masunk), h43g9 (nxar)
tgrghv g9i8 (ark)
eg969g2ghxgi (barjrakandak)
tgryuh2j ;glg9gh (masunki paharan)
3gcg6fu tgrhgkyuw (xaajew masnatup)
tgrghv ;glg9gh (masanc paharan)
x9yugdyut (druagum), qh4yut (num)
sf9ghy9ydfgn (veranorogeal)
ga (a)
Tg4kyv, Matoc
nf5hg7jh eju9f8g;gij (lenayin biwreapaki)
ig;f9k (kapert)
2ghxgi (kandak), 2ghxgigdy90 (kandakagorc)
rf9ysw= (serovp), rf9ysw=2 (serovpk)
g90gpg;gk
g90gpgpfn
ly8gpgw (hoatap)
a9gtgh (raman)
dyuhx (gund), knop
dgugbgh (gavazan), (a, in Arabic)
h43g9j ig8g;g9 (nxari kaapar)
df8g9x (geard)
zgtg4g;ij yurghyv (amaapki usanoc)
;gktyuqgh (patmuan), wy9yu9g9 (porurar)
sgigr (vakas, liturgical collar)
&g7rtguyu992 (Yaysmawurk)
kg;ghgi (tapanak), s9gh (vran)
dgl (gah)
4g;ji (apik, sticharion)
3gc2g9 (xakar)
rgwy9 (sapor)
rgwy9 (sapor)
0g0iyv (cackoc)
pgr (tas)
tf5yhgpgw (meonatap), tf5yhgtgh (meonaman)
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2007.

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Catalogue of the Liturgical Metalwork

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1. Parcel gilt silver triptych, altar ornament

Inscriptions: two lines of elongated erkatagir at the foot

Eighteenth century. 36x12cm. Silver, gilded, chased, mounted, relic

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B. Cross shaped reliquaries

5. Reliquary box in the form of a cross, xaajew masnatup

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Inscription: spiral, in erkatagir on handle, running from the bottom up

8. Reliquary box in the form of a cross, xaajew masnatup

7. Processional cross with relics

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Jesus Christ, Lord God.

9. Reliquary in the form of a small cross, relic of St. Minas

Reverse: circular in a run-on erkatagir inscription without word breaks

10. Reliquary in the form of a small cross

&J$GKGI+ RYU(E H$GH Y( + TGRYUH@ R(EY&H &GIYEG& T)EHG& LG&(G:FKJH J

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Inscriptions: There are three

Handwork of Y. and A. Galemkiarean natives of Ayntab

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3. Sf9g4jhfvgu Ryu9e Gar Nyurguy9cjh lyduyv Lg7grkghfg7v j Igpy8jiyryupfgh

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Lord Todos-Toros himself selected this dexter of Saint Gregory.

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Inscription: in an oval band along the circumference of the upper lid.

1765, Antioch. Made by Mahtesi Yarutiwn almkiar.

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Other variants using Jirair Christianians suggestions and other changes:

k+@ DgH)gHg@(sic)KGh NRHJ(Fgkgh (or NRHJ(Fg kgH or NJYURKJ(Fgkgh) RYU(E

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GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS, LITURGICAL VESSELS

rf8gh(sean), 3y9gh (xoran)

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pgwy9j 3gc (tapori xa)

Aspects of Armenian Art. The Kalfayan Collection. Athens: 2010.

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______.The Voices of Saints, Speaking Reliquaries, Gesta, 36/1 (1997).

______. Bras-reliquaire de sainte Rhipsim, Armenia sacra, 2007, 34. no. 5.

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Zekiyan, Boghos Levon. Gli Armeni in Italia. Rome: De Luca, 1990.

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