The Armenian Jerusalem Lectionary

The Armenian Lectionary [Renoux, A. "Le Codex Armenien Jerusalem 121." Patrologia Orientalis 35/1 36/2 (1969-1971)] This lectionary is reconstructed from three main manuscripts:

1. Paris Bibliotheque Nationale ms 44. Manuscript dated between 8th to tenth centuries. This manuscript formed the basis for F. Conybeare's English translation in 1905.


2. Codex Jerusalem 121 (Convent of St James in Jerusalem). Found in 1908 and described in the 1948 catalogue of mss in the convent of St James. It falls into two parts: 1) Folios 1-612 are a translation of the old lectionary of Jerusalem . 2) Foliios 613-698 are fragments of diverse lectionaries. Present are the Saturdays and Sundays of Lent, 19 catechumanal lectures, and 13-14th Sept. The calendar presented in Ms Jer 121 is very similar to the liturgical year described by Egeria
3. Erévan 985. 282 folios. Published first in 1920. This ms has a number of significant divergences from both Paris 44 and Jer.121. Amongst which, it calls the season of epiphany, "day of the nativity", has a stational office in the night from Holy Thursday to Good Friday, and differs in the Holy Saturday paschal liturgy. Most of these peculiarities can be found in later Armenian liturgies.

The lectionary reconstructed by Renoux takes Jer 121 as its basis and collates it with Paris 44. Renoux dates the original lectionary to between 417 and 439. The conscensus is that the mss have their origins in the fifth century typicon of Jerusalem following the Julian calendar.