Representation of Transcendence. The Armenian Letter “On the Image-Fighters” from the Seventh Century CE

Abstract

The major aim of this article is to study the Armenian Letter “On the Image-Fighters” by Vrt’anes K’ert’oł (approx. seventh century CE) from a religious studies’ perspective by examining the use and the role of representation (through images) in the Letter. The topic of representation is important both for the study of religion as well as for the history of iconoclasm and closely connected to the analytical concept of immanence/transcendence. The peculiarities of the use of representation in the Letter demonstrate that some aspects of the broader notion of representation must be adjusted when talking about religious representation. The approach of this article combines an in-depth investigation of the Letter (including an English translation in the appendix) with comparisons to different semantic layers of the modern notion of representation and the use of representation in Greek (pre-)iconoclastic sources from the same period.