Author: Emma Nadirian

The Armenian Apostolic Church on Thursday marks the Feast of the Holy Translators St. Sahak and St. Mesrop, Qahana.am reports.

Catholicos St. Sahak Partev and Archimandrite St. Mesrop (Vardapet) Mashtots are the founders of Armenian literature and ecclesiastical bibliography.

St. Sahak Partev was the elder son of Catholicos St. Nersess the Great, and the last Catholicos of the Armenian Church who descended from the lineage of St. Gregory the Illuminator.  He became Catholicos of All Armenians in 387 A.D., and reigned for an astounding 52 years. Being talented in music, and educated in the rhetorical arts, philosophy and linguistics, St. Sahak greatly contributed to the development of Armenian national culture. He was the strongest advocate for the creation of an Armenian Alphabet, and became its chief patron.

St. Mesrop Mashtots was born in 360 A.D. and studied the Greek and Persian languages from childhood.  He initially served as a scribe in the royal court. Leaving secular life behind, he becomes a monk and lives an ascetic life.  During his preaching of the Gospel, St. Mesrop feels the necessity to create a distinct Armenian Alphabet and to have the Holy Bible translated into Armenian. For in those years, the Bible was only available in Greek and Syriac. In Armenia, there once were ciphers, or symbols, which were used by the former pagan priests. Following the Great Conversion of the Armenian nation to Christianity, the symbols fell into disuse, and the only remaining copy was in Mesopotamia with a bishop named Daniel the Syrian. Upon the order of King Vramshapouh, the symbols are brought to Armenia from Bishop Daniel. However, while teaching his new students by means of those symbols for a short period of time, Mesrop soon finds them to be lacking, as they were imperfect and defective. Together with his students he departs for Mesopotamia, and visits the cities of Antioch, Edessa, and Samosata, to conduct further research. In 404/405 A.D., St. Mesrop creates the Armenian Alphabet through Divine Grace.  For the first time in the history of the nation, the Armenian people had a specific and distinctive alphabet.

Following the creation of the Armenian Alphabet, St. Sahak and St. Mesrop opened a school for translators in the city of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin). There they begin the translation of the Holy Bible into Armenian and did it so perfectly, that centuries hence the Armenian Translation is called the “Queen Translation of the Breath of God”. The first sentence translated from the Holy Bible is the opening verse of the Book of Proverbs: “To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding”.

St. Mesrop Mashtots passed away in Vagharshapat, and was buried in his home village of Oshakan.  According to tradition, during the entire journey of transferring the remains of St. Mesrop to Oshakan, a canopy of light fell upon the pilgrims and accompanied them until they reached the tomb. The Church of St. Mesrop Mashtots, which exists to date, was built over his grave.

Armenian expert on Iran Vardan Voskanyan on Thursday hit back at an Azerbaijani historian who echoed the false claims that the Blue Mosque in Yerevan is allegedly Azerbaijani.

“The main “argument” is that the khan of Yerevan who built the mosque was of Turkic origin, while most of the Muslim residents of the city at that time were Turkic speaking people,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Even if we put aside the fact that neither the Yerevan khan nor the Muslims could ever imagine that they would be called Azerbaijanis, the funny thing is that by this very “argument” it turns out that the Shirvanshah’s Palace in Baku with all its structures, including the mosques, is not Azerbaijani, because the Shirvanshahs were a Persianized dynasty of Arabic origin and the Muslim population of the city at the time were exclusively Caucasian Persians (Tats).

“Therefore, by the same “logic” the said architectural complex in Baku is not Azerbaijani, but Iranian,” he wrote, sharing a photo of the palace.

Lawyer Gevorg Danielyan, a former Armenian justice minister, on Thursday called on the authorities to find “other excuses” for making new concessions to Azerbaijan.

“Armenian MPs, state and political figures, I am earnestly asking you to show restraint and refrain from inappropriate judgments regarding the historical affiliation of territories and key legal issues. It is clear that you are prone to surrender and concessions, but look for other reasons,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Don’t deprive the next generation of the opportunity to make decent, reasonable decisions and take action! Finally, you are not experts in history or jurisprudence, which has been made clear multiple times. And making claims that supposedly justify this situation will not be limited to the current events, but the law of the boomerang will apply,” the lawyer said.

Members of the resistance movement launched by Armenia’s opposition staged a protest outside the Prosecutor General’s Office in Yerevan on Wednesday.

Opposition Hayastan bloc MP Aram Vardevanyan denounced the arrests of opposition protesters based on the testimonies of police officers.

“The current authorities, who came to power through acts of civil disobedience, once said that the testimony of a police officer could not serve as a basis for arresting a person. However, people are now being held in custody based on it,” he said via a loudspeaker.

Meanwhile, the MP said no policeman has been arrested and prosecuted for using violence against demonstrators demanding Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation during around 40 days of protests in Yerevan.

“The Prosecutor’s Office should not shy away from charging and prosecuting police officers,” the lawmaker noted.

Vardevanyan said peaceful protests will continue until Pashinyan’s ouster.

Afterwards, the opposition activists blocked a road near the building of the law enforcement agency.