The Riddles of Nerses Shnorhali in the Yaysmawurk Collections

Abstract The article is dedicated to the riddles by St. Nerses Shnorhali that are included in the Yaysmawurk (hereafter Synaxarium ) collections. We have attempted to show that the inclusion of riddles in these collections is not a result of chance but has a specific purpose. All of the Synaxarium collections examined within the scope of this article were edited by Grigor Khlatetsi. This fact, along with several other key pieces of evidence, indicates that the inclusion of riddles into the Synaxarium collections was carried out by Khlatetsi, and that this occurred at the beginning of the 15th century. By incorporating riddles, Khlatetsi aimed to make the Synaxarium more accessible to the general public and to facilitate the understanding of the Lives of the Saints, given that the Synaxarium collections served as pedagogical tool for a period. Thus, by incorporating riddles into the Synaxarium collections, Khlatetsi established a distinctive genre juxtaposition that is unique within the Armenian medieval literature.