Philo of Alexandria - Books and Journals

370 part two
‘Preface to Philo’ originated in the school of Vardapet Vanakan; in addition the
series of scholia in the codex of Yerevan Matenadaran No. 1672 may be ascribed
to the school of Mxit‘ar Gosh. (DTR; based on the author’s summary)
20575. O. S. Vardazarian, ‘Patča˙rk‘ groc‘ P‘iloni. Usumnasirut‘yun
ew bnagir’ [Armenian: The ‘Introductions’ to the Writings by Philo. Texts
and Studies], Proceedings of the ‘V. Brusov’ Yerevan State University of
Linguistics. Social studies 3 (2005) 185–233.
The Patča˙rk‘, introductory summaries (Gr. πέσεις, Lat.argumenta, causae,Syr.elta)
of the class-readings of authors included in the school curriculum,
represents the most interesting part of the medieval Armenian commentaries on
the ‘Armenian Philo’. They display the notions about Philo and his literary heritage
which circulated in Armenian monastic schools in the 12th–13th centuries.
The commentators have used the scheme of the εσαγωγή, withabiographical
chapter of encomiastic character at the beginning. Four compositions of this
genre are preserved in Armenian manuscripts: Anonymous A, Anonymous B,
the argument by David Kobayrec‘i and—related to the latter—‘Introduction to
Philo’. The critical edition of these texts is accompanied by a brief introduction,
which contains the description of the manuscript tradition and the comparative
dating within the group, and also by notes which mainly focus on the sources of
the concepts used by the Armenian scholiasts or give literary parallels for their
phraseology. (DTR; based on the author’s summary)
20576. C. Vasantharao, ‘The Right to Life in Human Discourse:
Emphasis on Animal Life,’ Religion and Society 50 (2005) 13–30.
ForguidanceabouttheroleofhumansinrelationtoanimalsandtoGod,
the author considers the law of not boiling a kid in its mother’s milk, especially
in Deut 14:21b. Philo and others view this law, whose significance is obscure,
as relating partly to the pain that the suckling mother would feel if she could
not express milk to her young. The law must also, however, be seen in the
larger context of the mother-offspring bond. Here too, Philo—followed by later
Jewish and Christian exegetes—provides evidence that this and other biblical
laws regarding animal mothers and offspring were meant to show kindness to
animals. Another possible explanation, found in Virt. 143, is the separation of
the forces of life (represented by the mother’s milk) and death (represented by
cooking), a theme also found elsewhere in biblical laws pertaining to animals.
This explanation and others aid Vasantharao in understanding why the rabbis
greatly developed the prohibition of boiling a kid in its mother’s milk to extend
to the separation between milk and meat products and utensils. (EB)
20577. J.P.Ware,The Mission of the Church in Paul’s Letter to the
Philippians in the Context of Ancient Judaism, Supplements to Novum
Testamentum 120 (Leiden 2005), esp. 131–143.