THE VALUE OF NIKOLAI MARR’S WORK “FROM A SUMMER TRIP TO ARMENIA” FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF PHILOLOGY AND RELEVANCE

Marr’s work “From a Summer Trip to Armenia” is one of the early works of the specialist in Armenian Studies and is a valuable and relevant study in the field of Armenian studies. The scientist calls on philologists to pay special attention to the cuneiform inscriptions preserved on ancient facilities of Armenia, as well as to those works that we find in handwritten books stored in monastery libraries. N. Marr, being a passionate defender of the “History of Armenia” by Movses Khorenatsi, tries to make a number of corrections to the already published copy of Khorenatsi’s work, based on the handwritten copy which he had at his disposal. N. Marr emphasized the role and significance of facts in science, the obviousness of what was seen and read. He cites valuable facts concerning the apocryphal works “The Childhood of Christ” and “The Vision of the Virgin Mary”, which were widely popular in Armenian medieval manuscripts. The explanations regarding the title of the books “Voskeporik” (encyclopedias), widespread in medieval Armenia, deserve special attention. Marr made the original vision of Gregory the Illuminator (the Enlightener), which was created in the V century, the legacy of medieval Armenian Studies, drawing parallels with similar works of Slavic culture. Marr was the first in the field of Armenian Studies to address the theme of the confrontation between the soul and the body in medieval Armenian literature. A memorable fact from the biography of the great scientist is known: in order to be admitted to work at the Chair of Armenian Studies at the University of St. Petersburg, N. Marr passed an exam in the Armenian language and literature, the Zend (Avestan) language, the Persian language and literature, Sanskrit, the history of Armenia, as well as the history of the peoples considered to be Aryans.