Sahakdoukht of Siwnik on the Assumption

Women’s voices are mostly absent from the countless manuscripts that preserve the spiritual works of medieval Armenia. A notable exception is Sahakdoukht of Siwnik‘, an eighth century poet and composer. The words of three of her hymns survive in a couple of manuscripts. Sahakdoukht was the sister of the theologian and bishop Step‘anos of Siwnik‘, many of whose theological, liturgical, and exegetical works remain extant. According to the account of the thirteenth-century chronicler of Siwnik‘ (a region in the southern part of present-day Armenia), Step‘anos Orbelean, Sahakdoukht was a talented and skilled musician who had devoted herself to an ascetic life. She lived and worked in one of the grottoes in the canyon of Garni, located approximately 20 miles to the east of Yerevan. There she composed hymns and also taught students from behind a curtain. One of her surviving works is a hymn dedicated (կցուրդ, ‘accompaniment’) to the Assumption (Փոխումն) of the Theotokos. The text of the work was edited by Archbishop Norayr Bogharean of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Bogharean’s edition is based on the versions of this hymn in two 15^th century manuscripts housed at the library of the Patriarchate (Jerusalem 2431 and 1741). Further details and commentary are given by Yakob K‘ēosēyan in volume six of the Matenagirk‘ (Antelias: 2007). My translation here is based on the text that follows K‘ēosēyan’s commentary. I plan to translate and present the other two extant hymns of Sahakdoukht soon.

Hymn for the Assumption[1] of the Theotokos

by Sahadoukht of Siwnik‘, c. 700-750

[Translated from Armenian by Michael Papazian]

Today the multitude of apostles and nuns are assembled,

summoned by the Holy Spirit at the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos,

in expectation of the coming of the Son of God.

The Creator came with the celestial chariots and incorporeal ranks

to the Virgin and Mother and Dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit.

Today we see the Holy Virgin lifted up by the chariots of clouds to heaven,

entering the bridal chamber[2] in the company of the wise and holy nuns.

The multitude of the spiritual hosts cry out and say,

‘Blessed are you who are most blessed among women,

for you are the intercessor on behalf of the world to your Only-Begotten Son.’

For this reason too we the multitude of the faithful confide in you,

blessed Lady and Mother of the Incarnate Word,

you who stand beside your Son and God.

---

[1] The Armenian Փոխումն is better translated as ‘Assumption,’ not ‘Dormition,’ the standard term used in Orthodoxy.

[2] The Armenian առագաստ corresponds to the Greek παστάς or νυμφῶν (‘bridal chamber’), both of which occur in the account of the Dormition given by Sahakdoukht’s contemporary John of Damascus:

ὴ παστὰς τῆς θείας τοῦ λόγου σαρκώσεως ὡς ἐν θαλάμῳ τῷ πανευκλεεῖ ἀναπέπαυται τάφῳ, ὁθεν πρὸς τὸν οὐράνιον ἄνεισι νυμφῶνα. (Third Oration on the Dormition 2.17)

[the bridal chamber of the divine Incarnation of the Word has rested in a glorious tomb as in a mansion, from where she ascends to her heavenly bridal chamber.]

           

The daughters of Job

When Job was restored to health and the possessions he had before his tribulations were doubled, he also had seven sons and three daughters, the same number of children as were killed. 

Some versions of the text say that he came to have fourteen sons, presumably to be consistent with the doubling of his fortune. But he still only had three daughters, perhaps reflecting the ancient sentiment that having many sons is a blessing but many daughters not.

Nevertheless the text of Job names the daughters and not the sons. In the Hebrew the names given to the new daughters are Jemimah, Qeziah, and Qeren-happukh. "Jemimah" is translated as "day" in the Septuagint, while "Qeziah" is "cassia", which is cinnamomum iners. "Qeren-happukh", which means "horn of antimony", appears as Ἀμαλθαίας κέρας, "horn of Amalthaia" in the Septuagint. 

In his commentary Stepanos simply notes that the horn of Amalthaia refers to abundant fruitfulness. Olympiodorus, whom Stepanos often follows, has a lot more to say about it and the proper attitude toward mythological references in the Bible:

For what reason I cannot say, but the Greeks fabricated myths and said that Amalthaia became a goat, and that wine, honey, milk and whatever one wished for flowed from the goat’s horn. But I more convincingly construe the myth to be based on some truth. For I say that the goat called Amalthaia dug up the earth with its horn and revealed a hidden treasure, and the goatherd immediately emerged out of poverty, and in this way the name ‘horn of Amaltheia’ came to be applied to any manifestation of happiness in the eyes of men.

One can also refashion countless other myths of the Greeks to make them more convincing, but there is not enough time for those who care about the truth to devote their minds to these matters. We know only that from ancient times the horn of Amaltheia was understood to be a reference to the abundance of goods, so that if the scripture mentions sirens and the hollow of Titans, and notable giants of old, even though the Greeks tell some mythic tales about these, we should not reject the words of the holy scripture, but we should leave behind with them the myths, fictions, and old wives’ tales (cf. 1 Timothy 4:7) and we should lay claim everywhere and from all sides to the truth proceeding from the divinely-inspired and soul-assisting scripture. [Olympiodorus, Commentary on Job 393.4-394.7]

William Blake, Job and his daughters, Morgan Library (PD-old-100)

Background on the Commentary on Job

I've been presenting translations of the fragments of the commentary on Job by the 8th century Armenian theologian Stepanos Siwnetsi (or Stepanos of Siwnik) for over a year now but haven't yet said anything about where these fragments came from. So let me say a few words about this now that I'm almost through with all the fragments.

My translations are based on the text printed in a volume of the Matenagirk, or Book of Manuscripts, produced and published by the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon. This particular volume is devoted to works by 8th century authors. It also contains Stepanos' commentary on the Gospels, my translation of which was published earlier this year.

The fragments of the Job commentary were collected from several manuscripts. Only one of these, a 13th century manuscript housed in the Matenadaran library in Yerevan, Armenia, contains an original version of part of Stepanos' commentary, but unfortunately it is only one page of the beginning of the commentary. The remaining fragments come from manuscripts of the catena on Job of the 13th century Armenian scholar Vanakan Vardapet. Most of these fragments were published in print form by a Mekhitarist priest, Father Jrakean, in Venice in 1913. Jrakean appended the fragments to his edition of the Armenian version of the Job commentary of Hesychius of Jerusalem. The Matenagirk edition makes use of two manuscripts of Vanakan's catena, the 13th century manuscript containing the prologue to Stepanos' commentary as well as the printed edition.

At a time in which the situation of the Christians remaining in the Middle East appears especially bleak, preservation of the documents and materials of the Christian past in this region is especially urgent. It is hoped nevertheless that the Christian presence there remain alive and prosperous and not just be a dying relic of the past. We pray for justice and peace in these regions that have not experienced much of either.

Commentary on Job 40:30

One virtue that our commentator clearly lacks is a concern not to offend ethnic sensitivities. But then that virtue is a modern one. Job 40:30 gives him an opportunity to disparage two different nations:

Do the nations feed on him? (40:30) 

Because just as the Lord is the food of the righteous, likewise the serpent is the food of the wicked. For he gave it to the people of Ethiopia (cf. Ps. 73:14), who feed on the many evil deeds from which demons take pleasure.

Do the nations of the Phoenicians share him? (40:30)

But the Phoenicians are a nation of sordid gain (աղտեղաշահք), and they immerse themselves in sin and share the serpent by sacrificing, some to Bel, some to Dagon, and some to Aramazd, and some by doing other wicked things. But God-pleasing men divide him with a sword of the word of faith and kill him by acquiring good things in opposition to all his evil works, which you may readily compare if you wish.

Here again Stepanos follows Olympiodorus.

Olymp. 368.4-19: 

For just as the Lord is the food of the righteous, thus [the serpent] is of the impious. ‘You gave him as food to the Ethiopians’ says the Psalmist (Ps. 73:14), that is, to the sons of darkness, to those who are in ignorance. 

The Phoenicians are occupied in business (πραγματευτικοὶ) and are lovers of gain (φιλοκερδεῖς). [Scripture] hints through this at their immersion in sins.

Present-day Phoenicia was first called Canaan. For the Gospels call the Syro-Phoenician woman a Canaanite. And the Canaanites worship idols. He says then that the idol-worshippers share the serpent.

Otherwise those who sacrifice to idols are rightly thought to be Phoenicians because they become red (φοινισσόμενοι) from the blood on the altar, and one who happens to sacrifice to Dagon, and one to Bel, and one Astarte all share the serpent. Or one who fornicates, and one who covets, and one who participates in some other unlawful act. Or also one who is a false teacher, and one a false prophet. And the different heresies in various ways cut the serpent in pieces.

Evidence for Stepanos' dependence on Olympiodorus is found in his inclusion of the distorted reference to Psalm 73. The Armenian version of the Psalms has զօրացն Հնդկաց (‘army of the Indians’) in the place of Ethiopia.