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He is best known for inventing the Armenian alphabet c. 405 AD, which was a fundamental step in strengthening Armenian national identity.[5] He is also considered to be the creator of the Caucasian Albanian[6] and, possibly, the Georgian script, though it is disputed.[14]
Sources
The chief sources for the life and work of Mashtots are Koriun, Ghazar Parpetsi, and Movses Khorenatsi.[15] The Life of Mashtots (Վարք Մաշտոցի),[b] a hagiography by Koriun, a disciple of Mashtots, is the primary and most reliable source.[16][17][18][19] The oldest fragments of the incomplete The Life manuscript are dated 12th century and are kept in Paris's Bibliothèque nationale (Arm. 178), two shorter versions of The Life dated to middle of the 14th century and one longer version of The Life is dated to the late 17th century.[20]Hrachia Acharian, who authored the most comprehensive study on Mashtots and the Armenian alphabet,[21] defended Koriun's work as the only accurate account.[22] It was commissioned by Catholicos Hovsep I,[22] also a student of Mashtots, and written c. 443–450/451.[23][18] The work has two versions: long and short. The former is considered by most scholars to be the original.[24] Parpetsi and Khorenatsi largely relied upon Koriun's work.[25] The oldest extant manuscript of Koriun's Life of Mashtots has been dated to the 12th century.[26] It was first printed in Armenian by the Mekhitarists in San Lazzaro degli Armeni, Venice in 1833,[27][28] and has been translated thrice into Modern Armenian[29][c] and several foreign languages.[e]
Name
A depiction of Mashtots in Kapan's St. Mesrop Mashtots Church
While Koriun, his chief biographer, only refers to him as Mashtots, Movses Khorenatsi[f] and later Armenian historiography predominantly calls him Mesrop.[42][43][g] It was not until the 20th century that he came to be referred to by both names,[44] sometimes spelled with a hyphen.[44] Some scholars, including Malachia Ormanian, maintain that Mashtots was his birth name, while Mesrop was his ecclesiastical name by which he was ordained.[42]Anton Garagashian believed the opposite to be true.[46] According to James R. Russell, Mashtots was his primary name, while Mesrop a secondary one, "possibly an epithet."[47]
The etymologies of both Mesrop and Mashtots have been widely debated. In his authoritative dictionary of Armenian names, Hrachia Acharian described Mashtots to be of uncertain origin.[48]Nicholas Adontz believed it stemmed from Iranian mašt (from mazd), which is also the origin of the name Mazdak.[49]Asatur Mnatsakanian suggested an origin from the name of the Urartian goddess Bag-Mashtu.[50][51] Russell argued that the original form of Mashtots may have been Maždoc‘, originated from Middle Parthianmozhdag and means "bearer of good news or reward".[52] Today, Mesrop (Mesrob) is a common male name and Mesropyan (Mesrobian) a common last name among Armenians.[53]
There is more agreement about Mesrop. Acharian considered it to be of unknown origin, but noted that it is usually thought to have originated from "serovbe", Armenian for "seraph", a word of Biblical Hebrew origin.[54] Russell described Mesrop a mysterious word, seemingly Syriac, "perhaps an epithet meaning 'seraphic'."[55] Some scholars maintain that Mesrop is a blend of "Mar" ("lord" in Syriac) and "Serob", a version of "Serovbe".[42][56]
Background and early life
A Soviet-era sculpture of Mashtots in Yerevan
The date of birth of Mashtots is not well-established, but recent scholarship accepts 361.[57] Others give 361–364 as the likely range.[58][h] He was born in the village of Hatsekats (Հացեկաց) in the canton of Taron,[i] to a father named Vardan, who may have been a priest or a nobleman. Some scholars believe he was affiliated with the Mamikonian dynasty since Taron was their feudal domain. Others suggest he may have belonged to the lesser nobility or reject his noble origin at all.[62] Leo believed he was the son of a peasant.[57] According to Anania Shirakatsi, Vardan was an azat.[63][j] Some scholars, including Stepan Malkhasyants,[65] have identified Vardan with Vrik, mentioned by Pavstos Buzand. Vrik was the illegitimate son of Catholicos Pap (not King Pap), the grandson of Gregory the Illuminator (through Husik). Mashtots, thus, may have been a second cousin to Catholicos Sahak Partev. Acharian outright rejected this theory,[66] but it has been cited by Elizabeth Redgate.[67] Other scholars, including Ormanian, believed Mashtots was the son of Vardan Mamikonian (not the better known one),[58] the older brother of sparapetVasak Mamikonian.[68][k] This theory has been rejected by Hakob Manandian and Garnik Fntglian.[58]James R. Russell writes that Mashtots' father was "probably a member of the Mamikonean clan."[69]
Another point of contention is whether Mashtots was a student of Nerses the Great,[68] first mentioned by Khorenatsi.[70] Both Acharian and Leo rejected it.[42][71] Acharian noted that Mashtots probably studied at the prominent Surb Karapet Monastery, not far from his birthplace.[72] Koriun tells that Mashtots received "Hellenic education," i.e. education in the Greek language.[72][l] Besides his native Armenian, Mashtots knew Greek, Persian (Middle Persian), and Syriac (Aramaic).[74][75]
In late 380s Mashtots moved to Vagharshapat, Armenia's capital, where he began a career at the court of King Khosrov III.[76] While Khorenatsi says that he worked as a royal secretary, both Koriun and Parpetsi assign him other positions as well, especially in the military. He was initially royal chancellor (ark’uni divanapet),[73][77] then moved on to serve in the military after receiving training.[78][77]
In c. 394 Mashtots became a clergyman[75] and was ordained as a monk and lived in a monastery, in Goghtn. He, thereafter, became an ascetic hermit to live in the mountains and uninhabited areas.[79] Mashtots then gathered a group of 40 disciples and began missionary work among Armenians, many of whom were still pagan. He begin his first mission in Goghtn around 395.[80][4] He successfully spread Christianity in the area and expelled the pagans.[81]
Koryun, his pupil and biographer,[82] writes that Mashtots received a good education and was versed in the Greek and Persian languages. On account of his piety and learning, Mesrop was appointed secretary to King Khosrov IV, in charge of writing royal decrees and edicts in Persian and Greek.
Leaving the court, Mashtots took the holy orders and withdrew to a monastery with a few companions, leading a life of great austerity for several years. In 394, with the blessing of Sahak Part'ev, Mashtots set out on a proselytizing mission. With the support of Prince Shampith, he preached the Gospel in the district of Goghtn near the river Araxes, converting many.
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. He himself taught at the Amaras monastery of the Armenian province of Artsakh (located in the contemporary Martuni region of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic).[citation needed] However, his activity was not confined to Eastern Armenia. Provided with letters from the Catholicos, he went to Constantinople and obtained from emperor Theodosius the Younger permission to preach and teach in his Armenian possessions. Having returned to Eastern Armenia to report to the patriarch, his first thought was to provide religious literature for his countrymen. He sent some of his numerous disciples to Edessa, Constantinople, Athens, Antioch, Alexandria, and other centers of learning, to study the Greek language and bring back the masterpieces of Greek literature. The most famous of his pupils were John of Egheghiatz, Joseph of Baghin, Yeznik, Koriun, Moses of Chorene, and John Mandakuni.
Verses of Mesrop Mashtots
The first monument of 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 was 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 authentic copies of the Greek text with them. 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. This version, now in use in the Armenian Church, was completed about 434.
Gravesite of Mesrop Mashtots in the village of Oshakan
The decrees of the first three ecumenical 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. Many works of the Greek Fathers were also translated into Armenian. The loss of the Greek originals has given some of those versions a special importance; thus, the second part of Eusebius's Chronicle, of which only a few fragments exist in Greek, has been preserved entirely in Armenian. In the midst of his literary labors, Mashtots revisited the districts he had evangelized in his earlier years, and, after the death of Isaac in 439, looked after the spiritual administration of the patriarchate. He survived his friend and master by only six months. Armenians read his name in the Canon of the Liturgy and celebrate his memory on 19 February.
Mashtots is buried at a chapel in Oshakan, a historical village 8 km (5.0 miles) southwest from the town of Ashtarak. He is listed officially in the Roman Martyrology of the Roman Catholic Church; his feast day is February 17.
Alphabet
Armenia lost its independence in 387 and was divided between the Byzantine Empire and Persia, which received about four-fifths of its territory. Western Armenia was governed by Byzantine generals, while an Armenian king ruled as Persian vassal over eastern Armenia. The principal events of this period are the reinvention of the Armenian alphabet, the revision of the liturgy, the creation of an ecclesiastical and national literature, and the revision of hierarchical relations. Three men are prominently associated with this work: Mashtots, Part'ev, and King Vramshapuh, who succeeded his brother Khosrov IV in 389.
Armenians probably had an alphabet of their own, as historical writers reference an "Armenian alphabet" before Mashtots,[83][84] but used Greek, Persian, and Syriac scripts to translate Christian texts, none of which was well suited for representing the many complex sounds of their native tongue. The Holy Scriptures and the liturgy were, to a large extent, unintelligible to the faithful and required the intervention of translators and interpreters.
Mashtots was assisted in inventing an Armenian writing system by Sahak and Vramshapuh. He consulted Daniel, a bishop of Mesopotamia, and Rufinus, a monk of Samosata, on the matter and created an alphabet of thirty-six letters; two more (long O (Օ, օ) and F (Ֆ, ֆ)) were added in the twelfth century.
The first sentence in Armenian written down by Mesrop after he invented the letters was the opening line of Solomon's Book of Proverbs:
The reinvention of the alphabet around 405 was crucial for Armenian literature and was significant in the creation of a separate idea of Armenian language and what was connected to it. "The result of the work of Isaac and Mesrop", says St. Martin,[85] "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. 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".
Medieval Armenian sources also claim that Mashtots invented the Georgian and Caucasian Albanian alphabets around the same time. Most scholars link the creation of the Georgian script to the process of Christianization of Iberia, a core Georgian kingdom of Kartli.[86] The alphabet was therefore most probably created between the conversion of Iberia under King Mirian III (326 or 337) and the Bir el Qutt inscriptions of 430,[87] contemporaneously with the Armenian alphabet.[88]
Legacy and recognition
Modern Armenian scholarship recognizes Mashtots as the founder of Armenian literature and education[19][59] and as the "greatest enlightener and first teacher" of the Armenian people.[89] The figure of Mashtots has become a "symbol that embodies the Armenian language, church, and school system, connecting each to one another."[90] In Armenian narratives, Mashtots is portrayed as the key figure who preserved the national language and the nation against cultural absorption.[90]James R. Russell describes Mashtots as "the culture-hero of Armenian civilization."[91]Anthony D. Smith noted that Mashtots, with his invention, helped "convert and unite Armenians as a chosen people."[92]Gerard Libaridian argued that Mashtots and the alphabet "constitute the most important symbols of cultural identity and regeneration."[93]
Koriun, his biographer, compared Mashtots' return to Armenia after the invention of the alphabet to Moses' descent from Mount Sinai.[94] In another passage, Koriun compared the work of Mashtots and Sahak to the work of the Four Evangelists.[95] Modern scholars have compared Mashtots to Gregory the Illuminator, often describing the former as the "second illuminator."[96][97] Russell argues that both were visionaries, found a champion for their program in the king, looked to the West, had very strong pro-Hellenic bias, trained the children of pagan priests and assembled their own disciples to spread the faith through learning.[97]
In his 1904 book on Mashtots, the historian Leo called him the greatest of all of Armenia's historical heroes[100] and contrasted the continued legacy of Mashtots with the legacy of Tigranes the Great's brief empire.[101] Similarly, historian Ashot Hovhannisyan described Mashtots as the "greatest benefactor" of the Armenian people,[102] while the linguist Eduard Aghayan called him simply the "greatest Armenian",[103] a view that has been expressed by others as well.[104] Aghayan further described Mashtots as the "greatest linguist of his time in the broadest sense of the word."[105] Catholicos Vazgen I stated that "everything truly Armenian" was born out of the vision and genius of Mashtots.[106]Viktor Ambartsumian, the long-time president of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, stated in 1962։ "The history of our culture has given many outstanding figures, but of all these figures, the Armenian people owe the most to Mashtots."[107]
Soviet Armenian historiography portrayed Mashtots as a secular figure, in line with the official Marxist-Leninist interpretation of history. Hakob Manandian argued in a 1940 pamphlet that although the invention of the Armenian alphabet by Mashtots was primarily aimed at spreading Christianity, in the long-run it was also politically significant. Armenians entered the "family of ancient cultured peoples" and developed an original culture and rich literature.[108] In a 1991 book Catholicos of Cilicia Karekin I complained that his work was being "depicted with colours of purely political, nationalistic and secular nature."[109]
At the height of the Karabakh movement in 1989, Rafayel Ishkhanian characterized Mesrop Mashtots as "our most genuine, our greatest independentist [...] who, at the moment of the disintegration of the Armenian state, gave us the Armenian alphabet, language and literature, gave us Armenian schools and, as a result, although without political independence, we kept our moral and cultural sovereignty."[110]Levon Ter-Petrosyan, philologist and Armenia's first president, postulates that Mashtots and Gregory the Illuminator had the most influence on the course of Armenian history.[111] Catholic Armenian Archbishop and scholar Levon Zekiyan further argued that Mashtots "was our greatest political thinker."[112] Zekiyan argues that Mashtots laid the foundations of a national ideology, "which gave the Armenians a qualitatively new self-awareness [...] in the wider cultural-anthropological sense of a vision of the world, or Weltanschauung."[113]
Music
Mashtots also produced a number of liturgical compositions. Some of the works attributed to him are: «Մեղայ քեզ Տէր» (Meġay k’ez Tēr, “I have sinned against you, Lord”), «Ողորմեա ինձ Աստուած» (Voġormea inj Astuac, “Have mercy on me, God”), «Անկանիմ առաջի քո» (Ankanim aṙaǰi k’o, “I kneel before you”) and «Ողորմեա» (Voġormea, “Miserere”), all of which are hymns of repentance.[citation needed]
Veneration
Mashtots on a 1776 miniature[114](left) and a painting by an unknown 18th century Armenian artist (right)[m]
The Armenian Apostolic Church has two major days of feast dedicated to Mashtots.[136] The first is the Feast of the Holy Translators (Սուրբ Թարգմանչաց, Surb T’argmanchats), which is celebrated on the second Saturday of October. It was declared a national holiday in 2001.[137] Acharian postulates that it was established no earlier than the 12th century. It is dedicated to Mashtots, Yeghishe, Movses Khorenatsi, David the Invincible, Gregory of Narek and Nerses Shnorhali.[138] Today pilgrimages to the grave of Mashtots in Oshakan are made on this feast.[139][140] In the Soviet period it became a secular festival.[136]
The second, the Feast of Sahak and Mashtots, is celebrated on the 33rd day after the Pentecost, on Thursdays, between June 11 and July 16.[138] Acharian considered it the continuation of the original feast dedicated to Mashtots. It was on this feast that pilgrimages to Mashtots' grave in Oshakan were made until the mid-20th century.[138][141][142] With the rise of national consciousness in the 19th century, it came to be celebrated in large Armenian communities in Tiflis and Constantinople.[138]
Commemorations
The celebration of the 1500th anniversary of the Armenian alphabet in Etchmiadzin in 1912 with Catholicos George V in the middle and Stepanos Nersissian's portrait of Mashtots hanging overhead (left); and a 1962 Soviet stamp celebrating the 1600th anniversary of the birth of Mashtots (right)
Mashtots on a 1,000 dram bill
The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrated the 1500th anniversary of the Armenian alphabet in 1912–13[143] and the 1600th anniversary of the birth of Mashtots in 1961.[119]
In May 1962 the 1600th anniversary of the birth of Mashtots was marked with "massive official celebrations" in Soviet Armenia, which had a "powerful impact on Armenian national pride."[144]Vahakn Dadrian noted that Yerevan became an "arena of nationalist fervor and outburst."[145] The statue of Mashtots was ceremonially opened in front of the Matenadaran on May 26.[107] The Matenadaran, established three years earlier, was named after Mashtots on that day according to a government decree.[60]
Mashtots and the Matenadaran were featured on the 1,000Armenian dram banknote of the first series, put into ciculation in 1994.[150]
The widest street in central Yerevan, called Stalin, then Lenin Avenue in the Soviet period, was renamed after Mashtots in 1990.[151][152][p] Between 1985 and 1996, one of Yerevan's eight districts, what are now the districts of Ajapnyak and Davitashen, was called Mashtots.[154][155]
The statue of Mesrop Mashtots in front of the Matenadaran (1962).The statue of Mashtots and Sahak in front of Yerevan State University, erected in 2002.
Mashtots has featured prominently in Armenian poetry. In one poem («Սուրբ Մեսրովբի տոնին»), the mid-19th century poet Mikayel Nalbandian ranked him above Moses.[202] In another, Nalbandian lamented the state of the church in Oshakan where Mashtots is buried.[203] In his 1912 poem "St. Mashtots", Siamanto compared him to Moses and called him "God of Thought."[204] In a 1913 poem, Hovhannes Tumanyan, Armenia's national poet, praised Mashtots and Sahak as luminaries.[205]Paruyr Sevak, a celebrated Soviet Armenian poet, characterized Mashtots as a great statesman who won a "bloodless battle, which cannot be compared to any of the victories of our glorious commanders" in a 1962 poem.[206][207][208] It was set to stage in 2011.[209] A popular poem by Silva Kaputikyan, "Words for my Son", reads: "By Mesrop's holy genius, it [the Armenian language] has become letter and parchment; it has become hope, become a flag."[210]
In the early 1970s, the popular song "Glorious Nation" («Ազգ փառապանծ»), written by Arno Babajanian and Ashot Grashi [hy; ru], and frequently performed by Raisa Mkrtchyan [hy], included the line "The powerful language of Mashtots is the bright hope of every Armenian."[211][212]
^Full title: Պատմութիւն վարուց եւ մահուան առն երանելւոյ սրբոյն Մաշտոցի վարդապետի մերոյ թարգմանչի ի Կորիւն վարդապետէ, English: The Story of the Life and Death of the Blessed Man St. Mashtots Vardapet Our Translator by Koriun Vardapet.
^There are various spellings of Mesrop (Մեսրովպ, Mesrovp; Մեսրովբ, Mesrovb; Մեսրոբ, Mesrob; Մասրովպ, Masrovp) and Mashtots (Մաշթոց, Masht’ots Մաշդոց, Mashdots, Մաժդոց, Mazhdots).[44][45]
^In the Soviet period, the consensus was at 362.[59] It was the date chosen for celebrating his 1600th anniversary in Soviet Armenia, in 1962.[60] However, the official magazine of the Armenian Church, in the biographies of its saints (1980), placed his birth at 360.[4]Malachia Ormanian put his birth at 353.[57]
^The village, some 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of Mush, was still inhabited prior to the Armenian Genocide and was known to local Armenians as Hatsik (Հացիկ) and to Kurds as Xasik.[61] It was known as Hasık in Turkish until 1928, when it was renamed Güven.[2]
^Azat is described by Nina Garsoïan as "junior nobility". It literally means "free [men]", who "usually held conditional land tenures.".[64]
^Vardan Mamikonian's daughter, Sahandukht, was the wife of Nerses the Great. Thus, if this version is true, Mashtots was the uncle of Sahak Partev.[68]
^He may have traveled to Antioch to receive Greek education.[73]
^Hacikyan, Agop Jack; Basmajian, Gabriel; Franchuk, Edward S.; Ouzounian, Nourhan (2000). The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Oral Tradition to the Golden Age. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p. 91. ISBN9780814328156.
^Jost, Gippert (2011). "The script of the Caucasian Albanians in the light of the Sinai palimpsests". Die Entstehung der kaukasischen Alphabete als kulturhistorisches Phänomen: Referate des internationalen Symposions (Wien, 1.-4. Dezember 2005) = The creation of the Caucasian alphabets as phenomenon of cultural history. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. pp. 47–48. ISBN9783700170884. There can be no doubt that the Albanian alphabet as established now depends in its structure on the Armenian alphabet in quite the same way as the latter depends on the Greek... the two alphabets differ considerably from the Old Georgian one as this has preserved the Greek arrangement intact to a much greater an extent...
^Thomson, Robert W. (1996). "The Origins of Caucasian Civilization: The Christian Component". In Suny, Ronald Grigor (ed.). Transcaucasia, nationalism and social change: essays in the history of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia (Rev. ed.). Ann Arbor, Mich: Univ. of Michigan Press. pp. 29–33. ISBN978-0-472-09617-6. The actual invention of the Armenian script by Mashtots took place in North Syria... Although Armenian writers claim that Mashtots invented a script for the Georgians and the Caucasian Albanians as well as for themselves, there is not corroborating evidence.
^Braund, David (2003). Georgia in antiquity: a history of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC - AD 562 (Reprinted ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 215–264. ISBN978-0-19-814473-1. Movses Khorenatsi has the Armenian Mesrop give Georgia a script, having created the Armenian script: one suspects his regular attempt to subordinate Georgia to Armenia... An Armenian tradition stresses, as usual, the subordination of Georgia to Armenia... In political terms, the tradition can hardly be taken seriously, for it is typical of an Armenian conception of Colchis and Iberia as subordinate...
^Winkler, Gabriele; Koriun (1994). Koriwns Biographie des Mesrop Maštocʿ: Übersetzung und Kommentar. Orientalia christiana analecta. Roma: Pontificio Instituto Orientale. pp. 288–319. ISBN978-88-7210-298-5. According to Armenian tradition, the Georgian script was developed by Mashtots and his students based on the report of Koriun in The Life of Mashtots and Movses Khorenatsi in History of the Armenians, on which the other Armenian sources depend... It is also possible to think of an early interpolation of Koriun's chapters on the creation of the Georgian alphabet by Mashtots because Koriun's Life is not always entirely trustworthy... It may be that Koriun's reporting here is either biased, or at least inaccurate and has less to do with the events of that time than with the Armenian Church's claim to leadership in church affairs, whereby Koriun implicitly expresses the dependence of the Georgian church leadership on Armenia, the absence of any trace of the people and events in other sources makes things particularly difficult.
^Rapp, Stephen H. (2003). Studies in medieval Georgian historiography: early texts and Eurasian contexts. Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium Subsidia. Lovanii: Peeters. p. 450. ISBN978-90-429-1318-9. There is also the claim advanced by Koriun in his saintly biography of Mashtots (Mesrop) that the Georgian script had been invented at the direction of Mashtots. Yet it is within the realm of possibility that this tradition, repeated by many later Armenian historians, may not have been part of the original fifth-century text at all but added after 607. Significantly, all of the extant manuscripts containing The Life of Mashtots were copied centuries after the split. Consequently, scribal manipulation reflecting post-schism (especially anti-Georgian) attitudes potentially contaminates all manuscripts copied after that time. It is therefore conceivable, though not yet proven, that valuable information about Georgia transmitted by pre-schism Armenian texts was excised by later, post-schism individuals.
^Seibt, Werner; Preiser-Kapeller, Johannes, eds. (2011). Die Entstehung der kaukasischen Alphabete als kulturhistorisches Phänomen: Referate des Internationalen Symposions (Wien, 1. - 4. Dezember 2005) = The creation of the Caucasian alphabets as phenomenon of cultural history. Veröffentlichungen zur Byzanzforschung. Wien: Verl. der Österr. Akad. der Wiss. pp. 7–8. ISBN978-3-7001-7088-4. There is not even a hint of direct involvement of the Mashtots or other Armenians in the creation of the Georgian alphabet...
^Rayfield, Donald (2013). Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia. London: Reaktion Books. p. 41. ISBN978-1-78023-070-2. The earliest inscription in Georgian is dated 430 and the alphabet was devised perhaps decades before. Georgia not only received Christianity, it also disseminated it: ecclesiastical language of Caucasian Albania (Old Udi) borrowed Old Georgian vocabulary - Easter, grace, image, throne. Greek terms also entered Old Udi via Georgian.
^Codoñer, Juan Signes (2014). "New Alphabets for the Christian Nations: Frontier Strategies in the Byzantine Commonwealth between the 4th and 10th Centuries.". In Hernández de la Fuente, David A.; Torres Prieto, Susana; Francisco Heredero, Ana de (eds.). New perspectives on late antiquity in the Eastern Roman Empire. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 136–138. ISBN978-1-4438-6947-8.
^Terian, Abraham (2022). The Life of Mashtots' by his Disciple Koriwn: Translated from the Classical Armenian with Introduction and Commentary. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780192847416.
^Koriwn, Vita di Maštoc΄ (in Italian). Translated by Y. Ashrafian. Venice: S. Lazzaro. 1998.
^Almost 1,600 people named Mesrop are found in Armenia's voters list: "Մեսրոպ (Mesrop)". anun.am (in Armenian). Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. and 3,270 people with the last name Mesropyan: "Մեսրոպյան (Mesropyan)". anun.am (in Armenian). Archived from the original on 2 February 2021.
^Acharian, Hrachia (1946). Հայոց անձնանունների բառարան [Dictionary of Armenian Proper Names] Volume III (in Armenian). p. 328.
^Barbara A. West; Oceania (2010-05-19). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia. Infobase. p. 230. ISBN9781438119137. Archaeological work in the last decade has confirmed that a Georgian alphabet did exist very early in Georgia's history, with the first examples being dated from the fifth century C.E.
^Smith, Anthony D. (2010). "Diasporas and Homelands in History: The Case of the Classic Diasporas". In Gal, Allon; Leoussi, Athena S.; Smith, Anthony D. (eds.). The Call of the Homeland: Diaspora Nationalisms, Past and Present. BRILL. p. 13. ISBN9789004183735.
^Libaridian, Gerard, ed. (1991). Armenia at the Crossroads: Democracy and Nationhood in the Post-Soviet Era. Watertown, MA: Blue Crane. p. 35.
^Arakel of Tabriz (2005). The History of Vardapet Arak'el of Tabriz. Translated by George Bournoutian. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers. p. 255. ISBN1-56859-182-9. Armenians consider Mesrop their second illuminator and have deep respect for his memory.
^Ishkhanian, Rafayel (1991). "The Law of Excluding the Third Force". In Libaridian, Gerard J. (ed.). Armenia at the Crossroads: Democracy and Nationhood in the Post-Soviet Era. Watertown, MA: Blue Crane. pp. 35–36.
^Mashtots kahana Galpakjian (September 24, 2016). "Վարագայ Սուրբ Խաչը". Jamanak (in Armenian). Istanbul. Archived from the original on 7 January 2021. ...Օշականի Սուրբը, այբենաստեղծ ու գրագիւտ Սուրբ Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց Վարդապետը...
^"Հայաստանյայց առաքելական սուրբ եկեղեցու շքանշաններ". Հայաստան հանրագիտարան [Armenia Encyclopedia] (in Armenian). Yerevan. 2012. p. 1046.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Hakobian, T. Kh.; Melik-Bakhshian, St. T.[in Armenian]; Barseghian, H. Kh.[in Armenian] (1991). "Մաշտոցի շրջան [Mashtots district]". Հայաստանի և հարակից շրջանների տեղանունների բառարան [Dictionary of Toponyms of Armenia and Surrounding Regions] Volume III (in Armenian). Yerevan University Press. p. 697.
Issaverdenz, James (1875). The Island of San Lazzaro, Or, The Armenian Monastery Near Venice. Venice: Armenian Typography of San Lazzaro. p. 18. The two pictures in the Choir, on each side of the high altar, come next. They are by Maggiotto and represent, the one S. Isaac translator of the Bible into Armenian, the other S. Mesrob inventor of the Armenian Alphabet.
^"Buste Mesrop Machtots". acam-france.org (in French). Association Culturelle Arménienne de Marne-la-Vallée. 2016. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016.
^Jrbashian, Edvard[in Armenian], ed. (1988). Հովհաննես Թումանյան. Երկերի լիակատար ժողովածու. Հատոր առաջին [Hovhannes Tumanyan. Complete Works: Volume I] (in Armenian). Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences Press. pp. 264-265.
Abeghian, Manuk (1980). "Mesrop Mashtots, the Inventor of the Armenian Alphabet and the Origin of Literature". "The Life of Mashtots" by Koryun. Translated by P. Mesrobian. Yerevan University Press. pp. 224–259.
Aghaian, Ed. B. (1986). Mesrop Mashtots. Yerevan University Press. p. 14.
Thomson, Robert W. (1997). "Armenian Literary Culture Through the Eleventh Century". In Hovannisian, Richard G. (ed.). The Armenian People From Ancient To Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 199–239.
Zekiyan, Boghos Levon (2005). "Christianity to modernity". In Herzig, Edmund; Kurkchiyan, Marina (eds.). The Armenians: Past and Present in the Making of National Identity. RoutledgeCurzon. pp. 41–64. ISBN0-203-00493-0.
Winkler, Gabriele (1994). Koriwns Biographie des Mesrop Maštocʻ : Übersetzung und Kommentar. Rome: Pontificio istituto orientale. ISBN9788872102985.
Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Vaschalde, A. A. (1911). "Mesrob". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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