Armenian NT translated fr. Peshitta before Peshitta existed!

[gbausc]

Shlama y'all,

Here is an excerpt from International Bible Encyclopedia on the origin of the Armenian Version:

A council of the nobility, bishops and leading clergy was held at Vagharshapat in 402, King Vramshapouch being present, and this council requested Isaac to translate the Scriptures into the vernacular. By 406, Mesrob had succeeded in inventing an alphabet--practically the one still in use--principally by modifying the Greek and the Pahlavi characters, though some think the Palmyrene alphabet had influence. He and two of his pupils at Samosata began by translating the Book of Proverbs, and then the New Testament, from the Greek Meanwhile, being unable to find a single Greek manuscript in the country, Isaac translated the church lessons from the Peshitta Syriac, and published this version in 411. He sent two of his pupils to Constantinople for copies of the Greek Bible. These men were present at the Council of Ephesus, 431 AD. Probably Theodoret (De Cura Graec. Affect., I, 5) learned from them what he says about the existence of the Bible in Armenian. Isaac's messengers brought him copies of the Greek Bible from the Imperial Library at Constantinople--doubtless some of those prepared by Eusebius at Constantine's command. Mesrob Mashtots and Isaac, with their assistants, finished and published the Armenian (ancient) version of the whole Bible in 436. La Croze is justified in styling it Queen of versions Unfortunately the Old Testament was rendered (as we have said) from the Septuagint, not from the Hebrew. But the Apocrypha was not translated, only "the 22 Books" of the Old Testament, as Moses of Khorene informs us. This was due to the influence of the Peshitta Old Testament.

So the first Armenian version was translated from The Peshitta NT church lessons in AD 411 ! But this is the very year Rabbula became Bishop of Edessa, who we are told by Dr. Burkitt, created the Peshitta after becoming bishop
of Edessa !
Another quote from the same encyclopedia:

The recent investigations of Professor Burkitt and other scholars have made it probable that the Peshitta was the work of Rabbula, bishop of Edessa, at the beginning of the 5th century.

How could the Peshitta have been used in church lessons
in AD 411 unless it were already an established text and tradition. The author here confirms that church liturgy from the Peshitta had already been established. And we are to believe that then Rabbula created The Peshitta after the Armenian was translated from it ?

The second extract is the article on Syriac Versions.
The first is on The Armenian Version.
So the Armenian was first translated from The Peshitta in 411. Then Rabbula the bishop of Edessa created The Peshitta from the Greek. Amazing !

Perhaps Isaac Cathilicos invented a time machine beforehand , so he could go forward a decade or two and copy The Peshitta so he could then go back and translate it into Armenian in 411, while Rabbula was being ordained bishop !

Blessings,

Dave Bauscher