“Causes” of Paul’s 14 Epistles by the 11th century Armenian commentator Gevorg Kagh

“Causes” of the Old and New Testaments were already widely circulated during the period of early Christianity. They were placed before the commentary of a certain book of the Bible and gave compact information about its author, content, purpose, as well as the time and place it was written, etc.; moreover, they contained elements of literary and commentarial writings. “Causes” were also compiled in anthologies called “Book of Causes.” Later writers considered the “causes” to be a branch of Church literature that mainly focused on issues related to the creation of the Biblical books. In the course of time, “causes” were replaced by “introductions”. Preserved in Armenian manuscripts, we find “causes” of the Epistles, various homilies, and Christian holidays, composed by John Chrysostom, Ephrem the Syrian, Epiphanius of Salamis, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyrus of Alexandria, Origen, and other universal church fathers and vardapets. This article is dedicated to the “causes” of Paul’s 14 epistles by the 11th century Armenian theologian, vardapet, outstanding scholar Gevorg Kagh. In medieval Armenian manuscripts kept at the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, the “causes” of Gevorg Kagh are known by several titles in which the author talks about the syntax of the epistles and the interconnected relationship between them, arranging them in chronological order and according to the contents.In the current article, we examine the syntax and the contents of Gevorg Kagh’s “causes,” emphasizing their chronological and theological features. We are currently preparing the texts of the “ Causes” for publication to make them available to a wider readership. It will allow researchers dealing with the epistles of the Apostle Paul to study the works of medieval Armenian commentator Gevorg Kagh, which are of scholarly interest.