STUDIES ON THE ORIENTAL SOURCES AND HISTORIOGRAPHY IN ARMENIA (EARLY Ծր․Ամփ․վերջն1 a5 | Seite 73

Ցորբաձօղլու Պանտելեյմոն - Tsorbatzoglou
Panteleimon - Цорбадзоглу Пантелеймон
Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople (650-730) and Stephen
Metropolitan of Siwni or Siwnik (685-735)
Stephen, the son of a higher clergyman, was born around 680
or 685 in the town of Dvin, Armenia. Later, he travelled to the
West for advanced studies. It is a fact, however, that he was in
Constantinople between 712 and 718, where, along with a man
called David –a member of the imperial court, referred to as ύπατος
και κηνάριος, Consul and Kenarios, i.e. the grandee charged with
the superintendence of the imperial table– he translated the Corpus
Areopagiticum. Stephen must have returned to Armenia in late 718,
since the Arabs besieged Constantinople for more than a year –
from early summer 717 to late August 718.
It is not possible to define the time, when the relationship
between Stephanos and Germanus started. In my opinion, they
must have met right after Stephanos settled in Constantinople, i.e.
when he befriended the Armenian community and the literary
circle of the so-called “Philhellenic School” and started to
cooperate with the imperial officer, Kenarios David. I believe that
he must have met Patriarch Germanus very early on and that the
two men appreciated each other deeply. Judging by the records
provided by the biographers, a strong friendship and cooperation
must have developed between the two men. According to a record,
Patriarch Germanus invited Stephanos to draft a testimonial report
of the Armenian Church in order to learn first-hand its theological
principles.
There is a correlation between the works of Germanus and
Stephanos –the original works of the former and the new
translations of the latter. Germanus I wrote comments on Corpus
Areopagiticum and he also wrote a Commentary to the Divine
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