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Document Details : Title: Contexte culturel et mode d'emploi des Définitions hermétiques arméniennes (DH) Author(s): MAHÉ, Jean-Pierre Journal: Revue des Études Arméniennes Volume: 39 Date: 2020 Pages: 599-609 DOI: 10.2143/REA.39.0.3288981 Abstract : The Greek series of the 'Collection des Universités de France' has recently included in the fifth volume of Hermes Trismegistos a revised edition of the Armenian Hermetic Definitions along with their Greek parallels and quotations by Armenian medieval authors. The present note explains the stages of the reconstruction of the text, and how it was used within the frame of Armenian tradition. The DH used to be regarded first of all as a textbook for scholars and students. As such it was connected with the first stage of philosophical education: converting the master’s teachings into brief summaries. The second stage would consist in elaborating upon such summaries, as David the Invincible does in his own Definitions of philosophy. Advanced philosophers would also use the summaries as icons while practicing intellectual exercises with the purpose of stimulating their own silent intellectual (noetic) meditations. Significant parallels and similarities can be pointed at between the DH and the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, and quotations by Armenian medieval authors confirm that meditative trend. |
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