The Syriac Presence in the Armenian Translation of the Bible, with Special Reference to the Book of

Syriac and Armenian Christians interacted regionally and theologically. This paper investigates whether it is thus a viable proposition to deduce Syriac readings from Armenian biblical translations. Koriwyn, an early church historian, emphasized the importance of Greek learning to the 4th century Armenian monk Mashtots’ and his students’ translations. The 5th century copyists checked their work against other sources, but this does not mean that Syriac was among them. There is no critical edition of the Armenian texts to cite revisions; however the comparative work by 20th century scholar Lyonnet identifies Armenian 1 as a Syriac source text. At other points, it could be the case that both the Armenian and Syriac redactor used the same Greek text. Omissions and additions are provided in detail for passages from Genesis.