Saint Mesrop Mashtots (Armenian: Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց) (361 or 362, Hatsik, in Taron - February 17, 440, Echmiadzin) was an Armenian monk, theologian and linguist. The Armenian language (hy հայերեն լեզու hajɛɹɛn lɛzu —, conventional short form) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian Events By Place Roman Empire Julian the Apostate becomes Roman Emperor, and tries to restore paganism in the empire Events By Place Roman Empire Julian gathers an army of 60000 men a fleet of fifty warships and a thousand transport boats Taron (Տարոն was a canton of the Duruperan province of Greater Armenia, now in the Muş Province, Turkey Events 1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt. 1600 - Philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive at Campo de' Fiori Events By Place Western Roman Empire Geiseric, king of the Vandals, captures Sicily. The Armenians (Հայեր Hayer) are a Nation and Ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and in the Armenian Highlands A large MONK is a Monte Carlo software package for simulating nuclear processes particularly for the purpose of determining the neutron multiplication factor or k-effective Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields He is best known for having invented the Armenian alphabet, which was a fundamental step in strengthening the Armenian Church, the government of the Armenian Kingdom, and ultimately the bond between Armenians in the Armenian Kingdom, the Byzantine Empire, and the Persian Empire. The Armenian alphabet is an Alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406. The Armenian Apostolic Church (Հայաստանեայց Առաքելական Եկեղեցի Hayasdaneaytz Arakelagan The Kingdom of Armenia (or Greater Armenia) was an independent kingdom from 190 BC to AD 387 and a client state of the Roman and Persian empires until The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia
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Life
Mesrop Mashtots was born in Taron[1] and died in Vagharshapat. Taron (Տարոն was a canton of the Duruperan province of Greater Armenia, now in the Muş Province, Turkey Koryun, his pupil and biographer, tells us that Mesrop received a liberal education, and was versed in the Greek, Syriac, and Persian languages[1]. Koryun ( Armenian: hy Կորյուն or hy Կորիւն also transliterated as Koriun, Goriun or Gorune) was the earliest Armenian-language Medieval Greek (Μεσαιωνική Ελληνική is a linguistic term that describes the fourth period in the history of the Greek language. See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language Middle Persian is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times (224-654 CE became a Prestige dialect On account of his piety and learning Mesrop was appointed secretary to King Chosroes III. Chosroes II The Small (Խոսրով Բ Khosrov Ben) the son of Tiridates III, was a member of the Arshakuni Dynasty and the king of Armenia His duty was to write in Greek, Persian, and Syriac characters the decrees and edicts of the sovereign.
But Mesrop felt called to a more perfect life. Leaving the court for the service of God, he took holy orders, and withdrew to a monastery with a few chosen companions. In a general sense the term Holy Orders refers to those in the Christian religion who have been ordained in Apostolic Succession. There, says Koryun, he practiced great austerities, enduring hunger and thirst, cold and poverty. He lived on vegetables, wore a hair shirt, slept upon the ground, and often spent whole nights in prayer and the study of the Holy Scriptures. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin This life he continued for a few years, preparing himself for the great work to which Providence was soon to call him. Indeed both Church and State needed his services.
Armenia, so long the battle-ground of Romans and Persians, lost its independence in 387, and was divided between the Byzantine Empire and Persia, about four-fifths being given to the latter. For the processor see Intel 80387. Events By Place Roman Empire The widowed Emperor Theodosius I Western Armenia was governed by Byzantine generals, while an Armenian king ruled, but only as feudatory, over Persian Armenia. The Church was naturally influenced by these violent political changes, although the loss of civil independence and the partition of the land could not destroy its organization or subdue its spirit. Persecution only quickened it into greater activity, and had the effect of bringing the clergy, the nobles, and the common people closer together. The principal events of this period are the invention of the Armenian alphabet, the revision of the liturgy, the creation of an ecclesiastical and national literature, and the readjustment of hierarchical relations. Three men are prominently associated with this stupendous work: Mesrop, Patriarch Isaac, and King Vramshapuh, who succeeded his brother Chosroes III in 394. Isaac of Armenia, or Sahak (338 – 439 was Catholicos (or Patriarch of Armenia. Events By Place Roman Empire September 6 — Battle of the Frigidus: Emperor Theodosius I defeats and kills the usurper
Mesrop, as noted, had spent some time in a monastery preparing for a missionary life. With the support of Prince Shampith, he preached the Gospel in the district of Golthn near the river Araxes, converting many heretics and pagans. This article is about the canonical books of the New Testament However, he experienced great difficulty in instructing the people, for the Armenians had no alphabet of their own, but used the Greek, Persian, and Syriac scripts, none of which were well suited for representing the many complex sounds of their native tongue. Again, the Holy Scriptures and the liturgy, being written in Syriac, were, to a large extent, unintelligible to the faithful. Hence the constant need of translators and interpreters to explain the Word of God to the people.
Mesrop, desirous to remedy this state of things, resolved to invent a national alphabet, in which undertaking Isaac and King Vramshapuh promised to assist him. It is hard to determine exactly what part Mesrop had in the fixing of the new alphabet. According to his Armenian biographers, he consulted Daniel, a bishop of Mesopotamia, and Rufinus, a monk of Samosata, on the matter. Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding Samosata (Շամշատ Shamshat was an ancient city on the right (west bank of the Euphrates whose ruins existed at the modern city of Samsat, Adıyaman Province With their help and that of Isaac and the king, he was able to give a definite form to the alphabet, which he probably adapted from the Greek. Others, like Lenormant, think it derived from the Zend. François Lenormant ( Paris, January 17, 1837 &ndashParis December 9, 1883) was a French assyriologist and The Zend or Zand (literally "interpretation" refers to late Middle Persian (see Pazend and Pahlavi) language commentaries on the Mesrop's alphabet consisted of thirty-six letters; two more (long O and F) were added in the twelfth century.
The invention of the alphabet (406) was the beginning of Armenian literature, and proved a powerful factor in the upbuilding of the national spirit. The existing Armenian literature begins around AD 400 History Early literature See also Classical Armenian Armenian literature begins about "The result of the work of Isaac and Mesrop", says St. Martin,[2] "was to separate for ever the Armenians from the other peoples of the East, to make of them a distinct nation, and to strengthen them in the Christian Faith by forbidding or rendering profane all the foreign alphabetic scripts which were employed for transcribing the books of the heathens and of the followers of Zoroaster. Zoroaster ( Latinized from Greek variants) or Zarathushtra (from Avestan Zaraθuštra) also referred to as Zartosht (زرتشت To Mesrop we owe the preservation of the language and literature of Armenia; but for his work, the people would have been absorbed by the Persians and Syrians, and would have disappeared like so many nations of the East".
Anxious that others should profit by his discovery, and encouraged by the patriarch and the king, Mesrop founded numerous schools in different parts of the country, in which the youth were taught the new alphabet. But his activity was not confined to Eastern Armenia. Provided with letters from Isaac he went to Constantinople and obtained from the Emperor Theodosius the Younger permission to preach and teach in his Armenian possessions. Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoúpolis, or gr ἡ Πόλις hē Polis, Latin: la CONSTANTINOPOLIS Flavius Theodosius ( 10 April, 401 – July 28, 450) called the Calligrapher, known in English as Theodosius II, was He evangelized successively the Georgians and Albanians (Aghouanghk), adapting his alphabet to their languages, and, wherever he preached the Gospel, he built schools and appointed teachers and priests to continue his work. The Georgians (ქართველები kartvelebi) are a Nation and Ethnic group originating in the Caucasus, the oldest group of the } Albanians (Shqiptarët are an Ethnic group and a Nation, in the sense of sharing a common Albanian culture speaking the Albanian language Having returned to Eastern Armenia to report on his missions to the patriarch, his first thought was to provide a religious literature for his countrymen. Having gathered around him numerous disciples, he sent some to Edessa, Constantinople, Athens, Antioch, Alexandria, and other centres of learning, to study the Greek language and bring back the masterpieces of Greek literature. Edessa ( Greek:) is the historical name of a Syriac town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's Antioch on the Orontes (Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Δάφνῃ Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ Μεγάλη Antiochia ad Orontem also Alexandria ( Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: ar الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια The most famous of his pupils were John of Egheghiatz, Joseph of Baghin, Yeznik, Koryun, Moses of Chorene, and John Mandakuni.
The first monument of this Armenian literature is the version of the Holy Scriptures. Isaac, says Moses of Chorene, made a translation of the Bible from the Syriac text about 411. This work must have been considered imperfect, for soon afterwards John of Egheghiatz and Joseph of Baghin were sent to Edessa to translate the Scriptures. They journeyed as far as Constantinople, and brought back with them authentic copies of the Greek text. With the help of other copies obtained from Alexandria the Bible was translated again from the Greek according to the text of the Septuagint and Origen's Hexapla. The Septuagint (ˈsɛptuədʒɪnt or simply " LXX " is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the Origen ( Greek: Ōrigénēs, or Origen Adamantius, ca 185–ca Hexapla (Ἑξαπλά Gr for "sixfold" is the term for an edition of the Bible in six versions This version, now in use in the Armenian Church, was completed about 434.
The decrees of the first three councils — Nicæa, Constantinople, and Ephesus — and the national liturgy (so far written in Syriac) were also translated into Armenian, the latter being revised on the liturgy of St. Basil, though retaining characteristics of its own. The First Council of Nicaea, held in Nicaea in Bithynia (present-day İznik in Turkey) convoked by the Roman Emperor Constantine The Second Ecumenical Council the first held in Constantinople was called by Theodosius I in 381 which confirmed the Nicene Creed and dealt with other matters such This article covers the Ecumenical council of 431 For the council of 449 see Second Council of Ephesus. Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great (c 330 – January 1, 379) (Άγιος Βασίλειος ο Μέγας Latin Many works of the Greek Fathers also passed into Armenian. The loss of the Greek originals has given some of these versions a special importance; thus, the second part of Eusebius's Chronicle, of which only a few fragments exist in the Greek, has been preserved entire in Armenian. In the midst of his literary labours Mesrop did not neglect the spiritual needs of the people. He revisited the districts he had evangelized in his earlier years, and, after the death of Isaac in 440, looked after the spiritual administration of the patriarchate. He survived his friend and master only six months. The Armenians read his name in the Canon of the Mass, and celebrate his memory on 19 February. The Armenians (Հայեր Hayer) are a Nation and Ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and in the Armenian Highlands A large Events 197 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum
He is buried in Oshakan, a village 8 km southwest from Ashtarak. Oshakan ( Armenian: hy Օշական is a town in Aragatsotn, Armenia, 8 kilometers southwest from Ashtarak. Ashtarak ( Armenian: hy Աշտարակ meaning tower in Armenian also Romanized as Achtarak and Ashtarakats’ Gyugh) is an industrial
Music
Saint Mesrop also produced a number of liturgical compositions. Some of the works attributed to him are: Megha Qez Ter, Voghormea indz Astvats, Ankanim Aadgi Qo, and Voghormea (Hymns of Repentance).
Documentary films
- Mashtots - 1988 Armenfilm 35mm. Saint Mesrop Mashtots (Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց (361 or 362 Hatsik in Taron - February 17, 440, Echmiadzin) was an Armenian Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) film Director Levon Mkrtchyan (narration by Sos Sargisyan) Artashes Martirosyan (screenplay)
References
- ^ a b Koryun, The Life of Mashtots, translation into Russian and intro by Sh. Director Levon Mkrtchyan,( Լևոն Մկրտչյան Левон Гайкович Мкртчян; born February 25, 1953, in Leninakan (now Gyumri Koryun ( Armenian: hy Կորյուն or hy Կորիւն also transliterated as Koriun, Goriun or Gorune) was the earliest Armenian-language V. Smbatyan and K. A. Melik-Oghajanyan, Moscow, 1962.
- ^ Histoire du Bas-Empire de Lebeau, V, 320.
External links
This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia
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