Chapter 7 Apocryphal Stories in Armenian Manuscripts

Nira Stone

Those involved in the study of Armenian manuscript illumination frequently encounter an interesting phenomenon—pictures occurring in Gospel manu- scripts which show scenes from apocrypha or which, while showing scenes from the Gospels, also contain apocryphal iconographic elements. Our atten- tion here will be focused on scenes that occur together with the Gospel text and not on scenes which illustrate apocryphal literature. This phenomenon is widespread in Byzantine manuscripts and particularly in Oriental Christian manuscripts. However, among all these, it is most frequent in Armenian manuscripts. I shall not be able to exhaust this topic here, but I would like to present a number of interesting instances of this phenomenon. Moreover, I wish to draw attention to the question why this high percentage of apocryphal scenes oc- curs in Armenian manuscripts, rather than in any others.

John and Prochorus

The most widespread of all these scenes in Armenian and other manuscripts is that of John the Evangelist and Prochorus. Generally the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are shown in portraits as thinking and writing down their Gospels, most often as a frontispiece for the Gospel which bears their name.1 As a frontispiece of the Gospel of John there frequently occurs a painting of John standing and listening to the Gospel which is issuing from a heavenly source (fig. 7.1). At his feet an additional figure is seated, writing down his words. This figure is Prochorus and the whole scene is based on the apocryphal Acts of John by Prochorus his disciple, a work apparently written in the fifth cen- tury, which has very little in common with the ancient Acts of John (2nd cen- tury). The book is written in the first person and its author presents himself as Prochorus, John’s close disciple. Prochorus relates a story according to which

1 A.M. Friend, “The Portraits of the Evangelists in Greek and Latin Manuscripts”, Arts Studies 7 (1929), p. 3–29.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004400504_008 90 Chapter 7

figure 7.1 John and Prochorus. Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem MS. 2563