CATEGORIES OF TIME AND ETERNITY IN GRIGOR TATEVATSI'S "VOSKEPORIK"

Abstract

 Time perception is one of fundamental categories in theology and philosophy.

The formulation of such a question, in the paradigm of the Armenian philosophical and theological tradition, remains superficially researched. Although insignificant, the legacy of Armenian Medieval thinkers on the concepts of time remain almost untouched by civilisation up to this day, which removes it from the general history of the development of secular discourse on the matter of time and mostly simply questions national characteristics and traditions. As a result the concepts of time and eternity in Armenian medieval philosophy were not studied for a long time as an independent discipline of medieval philosophy, but were only mentioned as an auxiliary means for building a peace picture of the world. Тhe article is dedicated to identification and consideration of the main aspects of the ideas about time and eternity of the Armenian medieval philosopher-theologian Gregory Tatevatsi, set out in the scientific endeavour “Ոսկեփորիկ”. The article makes an attempt of a logical and philosophical analysis of eternity and time in order to outline the main current issues. The relationship between the categories of time and eternity in Armenian medieval philosophy with the philosophical tradition of antiquity and with the medieval Eastern Christian tradition is shown. This article is written at the intersection of philosophy and theology, where time and eternity are analyzed from the point of view of ontology in the book “Ոսկեփորիկ” authored by Grigory Tatevatsi, and an attempt is made to show their axiological orientation.