Ecclesiastical History

Page 10.

...to have used the Small Socrates. The name of Socrates is also mentioned among the ancients by Mkhitar Anetsi Mkhitar of Ani, a 12th-13th century Armenian historian and priest. 1.

Until most recent times, only one translation was known to modern scholars. Chamchian Mikayel Chamchian (1738–1823), a prominent Armenian historian and member of the Mekhitarist Congregation., having the smaller version in hand, compared it with the Greek original and, finding obvious differences, concluded that it was either translated from a corrupted copy or was corrupted later 2. The compilers of the New Armenian Dictionary The "Nor Haykazian Baṛgirk," a monumental dictionary of the Armenian language published in Venice in 1836. repeat approximately what Chamchian stated 3. Fr. G. Zarbhanalian, in the second edition of his History of Ancient Armenian Literature published in 1886, still says nothing about the existence of duplicate versions of Socrates. However, in his History of Ancient Armenian Translations published a few years later, he distinguishes the two from one another, and only after receiving transcriptions of several passages from the Jerusalem manuscript of the Great Socrates 4.

Summarizing the information we have gathered, we can conclude: the Great Socrates begins to be mentioned starting from the tenth century; it is mentioned by Asoghik Stepannos Taronetsi, known as Asoghik, a historian of the late 10th and early 11th centuries.,

1 Mkhitar Anetsi, Ed. K. Patkanian. St. Petersburg 1879. p. 15.
2 Chamchian. History of Armenia Vol. I. p. 27. original: "Թուի թէ այն օրինակ յորմէ թարգմանեալ է. խանգարեալ էր և կամ զկնի անզգոյշ անձանց խանգարեալ իցէ. զի բազում տեղիս օտարաձայն տեսանի յուղիղ բնագրէ յունաց" "It seems that the copy from which it was translated was corrupted, or perhaps it was corrupted afterward by careless persons; for in many places it appears discordant with the correct Greek original."
3 New Dictionary of the Armenian Language. Venice 1836. p. 19. original: "կէս մի հարթ, և կէս մի անհարթ ոճով. թող զբազմապատիկ սխալանս գրչաց" "...partly in a smooth style, and partly in an uneven one, setting aside the numerous errors of the scribes."
4 Fr. G. Zarb[hanalian]. Ancient Armenian Translations. Venice 1889. p. 696.