Culture: Armenia Church celebrates Feast of the Holy Translators

Panorama, Armenia
Oct 14 2017
Society 12:06 14/10/2017Armenia

The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates today the Feast of the Holy Translators – Sts. Mesrob, Yeghishe, Moses of Khoronk, philosopher Davit Anhaght, Gregory of Narek and Nerses the Gracious (Nerses of Kla). The feast is celebrated from October 3 to November 7.

The Feast of the Holy Translators is one of the most favorite and beloved national-ecclesiastical feasts for the Armenian people, Qahana.am reports.

Nearly two hundred disciples of St. Mesrob Mashtots and St. Sahak are known by the general group name “Holy Translators”. The disciples of the above mentioned group of Holy Translators are known as “Junior Translators”.

Celebrating this feast, the Armenian Apostolic Church pays tribute of respect to the bright memory of St. Mesrob Mashtots, Yeghishe, Moses of Khoronk, philosoppher Davit Anhaght, whose sacred work and mission later has been continued on by St. Gregory of Narek and St. Nerses the Gracious.The word “Translator” means “Interpreter”.

Comprehending and precisely understanding the demands of that period, the Holy Translators initiated the sacred work of creating the Armenian alphabet and literature. By the strength of their faith they dispersed the darkness and warmed the human souls. Thanks to the Holy Translators the Holy Bible was translated into Armenian and the Armenian peoples obtained the possibility to read the Holy Book in the native language. By means of their activity, the Holy Translators contributed to the spiritual-cultural awakening of Armenia. After the translation of the Holy Bible, many books of Church Father were translated into Armenian, and thanks to this fact many translations, the original copies of which haven’t been preserved, presently exist only in the translated variant and thus the translations have obtained the value of the original. 

Disclaimer: This article was contributed and translated into English by Emil Lazarian. While we strive for quality, the views and accuracy of the content remain the responsibility of the contributor. Please verify all facts independently before reposting or citing.

Direct link to this article: https://www.armenianclub.com/2017/10/16/culture-armenia-church-celebrates-feast-of-the-holy-translators/

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS