Page:Lesser Eastern Churches.djvu/417

Rh and is almost entirely ecclesiastical. But they have a native school of historians too.

For the early history of Christianity in Armenia there are two authentic sources of first importance — Faustus and the life of St. Gregory in Agathangelos. Faustus Byzantinus is a native Armenian of the family Saharunikh. He lived in the 4th century and was in Holy Orders. He wrote in Greek a Historical Library, of which Books iii-vi contain the story of the conversion of Armenia and the history of the Armenian Church down to the division of the country between Rome and Persia in 385 (p. 386). It is not known why he is called "Byzantine"; either because he whites in Greek, or because of a sojourn he made at Constantinople. He writes in Greek because there was no possibility of a native literature till Mesrob invented an Armenian alphabet (pp. 408-9). Agathangelos is the pseudonym of an unknown Armenian writer of the 5th century. He fictitiously calls himself Agathangelos, secretary of King Trdat II (261-314?). His work, History of the reign of King Trdat and of the preaching of St. Gregory, exists in two recensions, Armenian and Greek, of which the Armenian appears to be the original. The author culls from many sources. Alfred v. Gutschmid in a careful examination of the text concludes that there is here a coherent nucleus of primary value, which he separates from the rest as the (original) Life of St. Gregory. Into and around this the compiler has woven many later legends. Lazarus of Pharbi, at the end of the 5th century, wrote a History of Armenia from various sources, chiefly from Faustus. The Vartapet Elisæus about the same time composed a history of the war against the