- Yeznik of Kolb
Eznik, or Yeznik Koghbatsi, was an Armenian
Christian writer of the fifth century.Biography
He was born at
Golp , in the province ofTaikh , a tributary valley of theChorokh , in Northern Armenia. He was a pupil of Isaac, thecatholicos [?Isaac the Great of Armenia orIsaac of Seleucia ] , and ofSaint Mesrop . At their reqest he went first to Edessa, then toConstantinople to perfect himself in the various sciences and to collect or copySyriac and Greek manuscripts of the Bible, and the writings of theFathers of the Church . He returned to Armenia after theCouncil of Ephesus (431). He is probably identical with Eznik,Bishop of Bagrevand , who took part in the Synod ofArtashat in 449.Works
In addition to his labours in connection with the new version of the Bible and various translations, he composed several works, the principal of which is his remarkable treatise "Against the Sects" or "On God". It was written between 441 and 449, and contains four books or chapters. In the first, against the heathens, Eznik combats the eternity of matter and the substantial existence of evil. In the second he refutes the chief doctrines of
Parseeism . The third is directed against the Greek philosophers (Pythagoreans ,Platonists ,Peripatetics ,Stoics andEpicureans ), taking his arguments from the Bible rather than from reason. The fourth book is an exposition and refutation ofMarcionism . In the work Eznik displays much acumen and an extensive erudition. He was evidently as familiar with Persian - as with Greek literature. His Armenian diction is of the choicest classical type although the nature of his subject matter forced him to use quite a number of Greek words. His "Against the Sects" was first published atSmyrna (now Izmir) in 1762; again, much more correctly and from several manuscripts, by theMechitarists at Venice in 1826 and in 1865. An indifferent French translation was made by LeVaillant de Florival, "Réfutation des différentes sectes", etc. (Paris, 1853). A good German translation is that by J. M. Schmid, "Eznik von Kolb, Wider die Sekten" (Leipzig, 1900). Langlois published a general introduction to the whole treatise and a translation of part of book II (section 5, 1-11, containing Magism) in his "Collection des historiens anciens et modernes de l'Arménie", II, pp. 371 sq. Eznik is also the author of a short collection of moral precepts, printed with his more important treatise.References
* [http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/scanned/yeznik_refutation.htm Yeznik, Refutation of the Sects] - translated and paraphrased by Thomas Samuelian.
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