The Introduction of the Theme of Martyrdom Into the “Ganjaran” System

Abstract The Armenian ecclesiastical poetic Ganjaran miscellany, whose individual unit is the poem known as the ganj and attested from the 10th century, is closely related in its function and purpose to the history of the development of the festive system and other miscellanies with liturgical and ceremonial significance. It supplements and enriches the content and essence of the festive celebration. The prevailing worldview, together with political and historical concerns, conditioned the interconnection of written traditions and the pan-literary atmosphere. As a result, religious texts during the 10th–15th centuries were introduced into various genres with thematic uniformity and repetition, through which systematic miscellanies were compiled, creating intertextual links among different types of texts. The purpose of compiling these miscellanies was the preservation of national and religious identity, the popularization of Christian understandings and theses, and the nationalization of Armenian miscellanies on Christian themes. In this regard, the Yaysmavurk and Ganjaran miscellanies are of particular interest, as they were expanded, completed, and systematized simultaneously. Of special importance are these two different miscellanies compiled by Grigor Khlateci. Above all, Grigor Khlateci was a historian. At the basis of his compilations lay the same historical-political purpose: to make the church calendar accessible to the people and to nationalize it with the stories of national saints and martyrs, enriching it with them, and to present the stories of Armenian Christian martyrs alongside those of universal Christian saints and narratives. The article examines the process of thematic enrichment of these two miscellanies. It also considers the parallel purpose and regularity of popularizing and nationalizing the same themes within them.