The Homilies of Mush

There’s one original manuscript at the Matenadaran whose story, if it had taken place in another country, would have been made into a blockbuster film. The Homilies of Mush is the largest, surviving Armenian manuscript and was created between 1200 – 1202. This manuscript is associated with the Holy Apostles Monastery of Mush (now in eastern Turkey).

The Homilies of Mush was rescued during the Genocide in 1915 by two women, who split the 28kg parchment in two, and vowed to reunite the two parts in eastern Armenia. One woman reached Echmiadzin and gave her section to the church there. Sadly, the other woman died, but not before burying her half in the grounds of Erzurum monastery, also in eastern Turkey. Miraculously, this half was found by a Russian soldier who took it to Tbilisi from where it was reunited with the other half in Armenia in the 1920s. If the Homilies of Mush wasn’t priceless before 1915, it certainly is now. When I read this story, I could just imagine who would play the lead roles in the film.