Western Prelacy Of The Armenian Apostolic Church Of America
Book Series
Fundamentals And Phases In The Making Of The
Western Armenian World*
II
Yovhan III Ōdznets‘i
(R. 717–728)
Saint, Jurist And Great Master Of
Armenian Mesopolitan Culture And Diplomacy
Yovhan III Ōdznets‘I, Saint, Jurist and Great Master of Armenian Mesopolitan Culture and Diplomacy is the second bilingual book in the Book Series of the Western Prelacy “Fundamentals and Phases in the Making of the Western Armenian World.” The first was Nersēs IV Shnorhali Saint and Diplomat and the Persistence of the People and the Church in the Western Armenian World. ** The third in the series is an extensive volume ‒now in press‒ entitled Prolegomenon to the Millennial History of the Western Armenian World From ‘Kingdoms’ to an Awakening Politics and Culture ‒ The First Phase Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries.
The WP Book Series focuses on fresh accounts and analyses of the millennial historical condition and experiences of the Western Armenian World in national and regional contexts. The broad objective is to make the intellectual culture of the Armenians accessible and available to the public as well as academics. This means making the cultural legacy part of their mindset and horizons of understanding. Because, as the author Prof. Dadoyan says in her Introduction of the first volume on Shnorhali, “what we know, or do not, also what we think we do, wholly or partially, right or wrong, necessarily affects our choices and actions. The public’s knowledge as well as ignorance about historical episodes, events and figures are in turn part of their historical experiences. Consequently, just as knowledge is a significant factor, so is ignorance. People often make wrong judgments out of ignorance.”
To provide the reader with basic knowledge for fundamental historiographic discussions and new perspectives, expounded in the third book, the Series started at specific cases, hence the choice of Ōdznets‘i and Shnorhali. Otherwise, there are almost five centuries between the early eighth, the age of St. Yovhan III Ōdznets‘i (r. 717–728) at Dwin, and the twelfth, the age of St. Nersēs IV Shnorhali (r. 1166–1173) at Hṛomkla. Both are presented as “saints and diplomats”, to bring out the significance and relevance of their diplomatic legacy. The larger theme is obviously the political role and the career of the Armenian Church in the Near Eastern region.
The unique position and the role of the Armenian Church is a rarely analyzed yet a very basic aspect of the Armenian historical evolution between powerful empires, or the “mesopolitan” condition, as Dadoyan defines it, and particularly in the Western Armenian World. The latter is another major historiographic model that Dadoyan strongly suggests and documents. By the tenth century, and before the fall of the Armenian dynasties and the mass migrations of the people to the west and south, and under the pressure of multiple regional powers, the Western Armenian World took shape and grew, a millennium ago. Through the Cilician and other polities this much larger world drew its own unique path, so did the Eastern Armenian World as per its circumstances. Throughout, the careers and conditions of the Church and the people in the Western Armenian World were very different from the East, hence the legitimacy, also the urgency to shift paradigms and start new research.
The mesopolitan condition and the historical experiences of the Armenians in the Western Armenian World have their beginnings in the age and career of Yovhan III as well as those of his predecessors. Between powerful and rival Empires, simultaneously doctrinal and diplomatic roles of the Armenian Church became clear during these decades. Great figures of the Church led the people through most precarious circumstances, and their legacy continued beyond the Middle Ages into modern times. The exceptional circumstances of Yovhan III and previously St. Sahak III Dzorap‘orets‘i (r. 677–703) between the Islamic East and the Christian West are like those of the Pahlawuni catholicoi and Shnorhali too, in the Western Armenian World. During the late seventh century if St. Sahak III embodied grave moments of Armenian history in his personal life through battles, exiles, death and posthumous victory away from his country, around three decades later, St. Yovhan III acted as a Master of Diplomacy in complicated mesopolitan circumstances. He was also a reformer, a jurist, and a theologian-philosopher. This is stage/world in which Grigor II, Grigor III and Shnorhali found themselves and continued the legacy. These are few of the main themes in this book and the WP Book Series.
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*Ա.Մ.Նահանգներու Ազգային Առաջնորդարան Արեւմտեան Թեմի Մատենաշար “Հիմնահարցեր եւ Հանգրուաններ Արեւմտեան Հայաշխարհի Կազմաւորումին մէջ”
**The titles in Armenian:
Գիրք I. Ներսէս Դ. Շնորհալի Սուրբ եւ Դիւանագէտ եւ Ժողովուրդին ու Եկեղեցիին Գոյատեւումը Արեւմտեան Հայաշխարհին մէջ
Գիրք II. Յովհան Գ. Օձնեցի (իշխ. 717–728) Սուրբը, Կանոնագէտը եւ Մեծ Վարպետը Հայ Միջնաշխարհեան Մշակոյթի եւ Դիւանագիտութեան (2025)
