Hovhannes Imastaser

Hovhannes Imastaser (Armenian: Հովհաննես Իմաստասեր, c. 1047–1129), also known as Hovhannes Sarkavag (Armenian: Հովհաննես Սարկավագ), was a medieval Armenian multi-disciplinary scholar known for his works on philosophy, theology, mathematics, cosmology, and literature. Imastaser was also a gifted hymnologist and pedagogue.

Hovhannes Imastaser was born around 1047 in the district of Gardman (village of Pib) of historical Armenia’s eastern province of Utik, which today is located in Azerbaijan, north of Nagorno Karabakh. The most extensive historical account of Hovhannes Imastaser’s life and work is in the 12-13th century Armenian historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi’s “History of Armenia.” There also exists a 13th-century anonymous biography of Hovhannes Imastaser, which is attributed sometimes to Kirakos Gandzaketsi.

Hovhannes received his education in theology and science in Haghbat and Sanahin, two important monastic centers of Armenian medieval scholarship. Upon the completion of his studies, Hovhannes moved to medieval Armenia’s capital city of Ani, where he taught philosophy, mathematics, music, cosmography and grammar. In Ani, Hovhannes received the ecclesiastical rank of sarkavag (deacon), and eventually rose to become a vardapet (archimandrite, Doctor of Theology) of the Armenian Apostolic Church. But it was the title sarkavag, however, that became attached to his name.

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