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97-491: The town was founded in 1799 by Armenian settlers from Derbent . During World War II , Budyonnovsk was occupied by German troops from August 18, 1942 to January 10, 1943. The Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis took place in Budyonnovsk from June 14 to 19 of 1995. Within the framework of administrative divisions , Budyonnovsk serves as the administrative center of Budyonnovsky District , even though it

194-615: A hyphen . Some scholars, including Malachia Ormanian , maintain that Mashtots was his birth name, while Mesrop was his ecclesiastical name by which he was ordained . Anton Garagashian believed the opposite to be true. According to James R. Russell , Mashtots was his primary name, while Mesrop a secondary one, "possibly an epithet ." 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. Nicholas Adontz believed it stemmed from Iranian mašt (from mazd ), which

291-730: A brief period, from 1918 to 1920, Armenia was an independent republic plagued by socio-economic crises such as large-scale Muslim uprisings . In late 1920, the communists came to power following an invasion of Armenia by the Red Army ; in 1922, Armenia became part of the Transcaucasian SFSR of the Soviet Union , later on forming the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1936 to 21 September 1991). In 1991, Armenia declared independence from

388-495: A common origin of the Armenian and Greek languages. Some linguists tentatively conclude that Armenian, Greek (and Phrygian ) and Indo-Iranian were dialectally close to each other; within this hypothetical dialect group, Proto-Armenian was situated between Proto-Greek ( centum subgroup) and Proto-Indo-Iranian ( satem subgroup). This has led some scholars to propose a hypothetical Graeco-Armenian-Aryan clade within

485-614: A few elements regarding identification of its pantheon with Greco-Roman deities). In the early years of the 4th century, likely 301 CE, partly in defiance of the Sassanids it seems. In the late Parthian period, Armenia was a predominantly Zoroastrian-adhering land, but by the Christianisation, previously predominant Zoroastrianism and paganism in Armenia gradually declined. This is the period that an Armenian community

582-460: 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

679-403: A number of scholars. The chief sources for the life and work of Mashtots are Koriun , Ghazar Parpetsi , and Movses Khorenatsi . The Life of Mashtots (Վարք Մաշտոցի), a hagiography by Koriun, a disciple of Mashtots, is the primary and most reliable source. Hrachia Acharian , who authored the most comprehensive study on Mashtots and the Armenian alphabet, defended Koriun's work as

776-428: A second cousin to Catholicos Sahak Partev . Acharian outright rejected this theory, but it has been cited by Elizabeth Redgate . Other scholars, including Ormanian, believed Mashtots was the son of Vardan Mamikonian (not the better known one ), the older brother of sparapet Vasak Mamikonian . This theory has been rejected by Hakob Manandian and Garnik Fntglian. James R. Russell writes that Mashtots' father

873-511: A version of "Serovbe". The date of birth of Mashtots is not well-established, but recent scholarship accepts 361. Others give 361–364 as the likely range. He was born in the village of Hatsekats (Հացեկաց) in the canton of Taron , 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

970-545: Is a saint of the Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Catholic churches. He is sometimes referred to by Armenian churchmen as "The Saint of Oshakan" (Օշականի Սուրբը). There are at least two chants ( sharakan ) and several canticles ( gandz ) dedicated to Mashtots and Sahak. A number of churches in modern and historical Armenia and the Armenian diaspora are named after St. Mesrop, Sts. Mesrop and Sahak or

1067-471: Is also the origin of the name Mazdak . Asatur Mnatsakanian suggested an origin from the name of the Urartian goddess Bag-Mashtu . Russell argued that the original form of Mashtots may have been Maždoc‘, originated from Middle Parthian mozhdag and means "bearer of good news or reward". Today, Mesrop (Mesrob) is a common male name and Mesropyan (Mesrobian) a common last name among Armenians. There

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1164-465: 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. Russell described Mesrop a mysterious word, seemingly Syriac , "perhaps an epithet meaning 'seraphic'." Some scholars maintain that Mesrop is a blend of " Mar " (" lord " in Syriac) and "Serob",

1261-637: Is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the town of krai significance of Budyonnovsk —an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts . As a municipal division , the town of krai significance of Budyonnovsk is incorporated within Budyonnovsky Municipal District as Budyonnovsk Urban Settlement . Budyonnovsk has a humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfa ) with low precipitation, much sunlight and large differences between summer and winter. The town experiences some of

1358-400: Is now a Yerevan landmark. A statue of Mashtots and Sahak, erected by Ara Sargsyan in the 1940s, was put up in front of the main campus of Yerevan State University in 2002. Yervand Kochar created two sculptures of Mashtots in gypsum (1952) and plasticine (1953). Ara Sargsyan created a bronze plaquette in 1957/59. A statue of Mashtots and Koriun, by Levon Tokmajyan (1978–79),

1455-529: Is portrayed as the key figure who preserved the national language and the nation against cultural absorption. James R. Russell describes Mashtots as "the culture-hero of Armenian civilization." Anthony D. Smith noted that Mashtots, with his invention, helped "convert and unite Armenians as a chosen people ." Gerard Libaridian argued that Mashtots and the alphabet "constitute the most important symbols of cultural identity and regeneration ." Koriun, his biographer, compared Mashtots' return to Armenia after

1552-717: 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,

1649-611: The Armenian Academy of Sciences , declared that while Mashtots' invention formerly served Armenian national interests, it now serves communist ideas, fraternity of peoples , world peace and progress. It was also celebrated in Moscow's House of the Unions where Armenian ( Silva Kaputikyan and Nairi Zarian ) and Soviet ( Vadim Kozhevnikov , Marietta Shaginyan , Mykola Bazhan , Andrei Lupan ) writers gave speeches. In 1962

1746-679: The Armenian Cathedral of Moscow (2013) and in Alfortville , Paris (2015). In Akhalkalaki , the center of the Armenian-populated Javakheti (Javakhk) region of Georgia, the statue of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin was replaced with that of Mashtots in 1992. Mashtots has featured prominently in Armenian poetry. In one poem (« Սուրբ Մեսրովբի տոնին »), the mid-19th century poet Mikayel Nalbandian ranked him above Moses . In another, Nalbandian lamented

1843-736: The Armenian Highland . Each of the aforementioned nations and tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenian people. Under Ashurbanipal (669–627 BCE), the Assyrian empire reached the Caucasus Mountains (modern Armenia , Georgia and Azerbaijan ). Luwianologist John D. Hawkins proposed that "Hai" people were possibly mentioned in the 10th century BCE Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions from Carchemish . A.E. Redgate later clarified that these "Hai" people may have been Armenians. The first geographical entity that

1940-523: The Armenian language is classified as an Indo-European language , its placement within the broader Indo-European language family is a matter of debate. Until fairly recently, scholars believed Armenian to be most closely related to Greek and Ancient Macedonian . Eric P. Hamp placed Armenian in the "Pontic Indo-European" (also called Graeco-Armenian or Helleno-Armenian) subgroup of Indo-European languages in his 2012 Indo-European family tree. There are two possible explanations, not mutually exclusive, for

2037-490: The Bir el Qutt inscriptions of 430, contemporaneously with the Armenian alphabet. Modern Armenian scholarship recognizes Mashtots as the founder of Armenian literature and education and as the "greatest enlightener and first teacher" of the Armenian people. The figure of Mashtots has become a "symbol that embodies the Armenian language, church, and school system, connecting each to one another." In Armenian narratives, Mashtots

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2134-693: The Bronze Age Trialeti-Vanadzor culture and sites such as the burial complexes at Verin and Nerkin Naver are indicative of an Indo-European presence in Armenia by the end of the 3rd millennium BCE. The controversial Armenian hypothesis , put forward by some scholars, such as Thomas Gamkrelidze and Vyacheslav V. Ivanov , proposes that the Indo-European homeland was around the Armenian Highland. This theory

2231-715: The Bronze Age , several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire (at the height of its power in the 14th century BCE), ( Mitanni (South-Western historical Armenia, 1500–1300 BCE), and Hayasa-Azzi (1500–1200 BCE). Soon after Hayasa-Azzi came Arme-Shupria (1300s–1190 BCE), the Nairi Confederation (1200–900 BCE), and the Kingdom of Urartu (860–590 BCE), who successively established their sovereignty over

2328-460: The Greek language . Besides his native Armenian, Mashtots knew Greek , Persian ( Middle Persian ), and Syriac (Aramaic). In late 380s Mashtots moved to Vagharshapat , Armenia's capital, where he began a career at the court of King Khosrov III . 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

2425-629: The Matenadaran on May 26. The Matenadaran, established three years earlier, was named after Mashtots on that day according to a government decree. In a speech at the Yerevan Opera Theater , Soviet Armenian Prime Minister Anton Kochinyan proclaimed that it was the Soviet government that made "Mesropian literature the property of the whole nation and opened the alphabet for every Armenian child." Viktor Ambartsumian , president of

2522-540: The Mekhitarists in San Lazzaro degli Armeni , Venice in 1833, and has been translated thrice into Modern Armenian and several foreign languages. While Koriun , his chief biographer, only refers to him as Mashtots, Movses Khorenatsi and later Armenian historiography predominantly calls him Mesrop. It was not until the 20th century that he came to be referred to by both names, sometimes spelled with

2619-651: The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin . In 1992–94 Khanjyan created a large mural of the same painting inside the Yerevan Cascade (now the Cafesjian Center for the Arts ). The most recognizable statue of Mashtots, depicted with his disciple and biographer Koriun, is located in front of the Matenadaran and was erected by Ghukas Chubaryan in 1962. Although it was not immediately well-received, it

2716-584: The Mushki and the Kaskians . The Urumu apparently settled in the vicinity of Sason , lending their name to the regions of Arme and the nearby lands of Urme and Inner Urumu. The location of the older site of Armani is a matter of debate. Some modern researchers have placed it in the same general area as Arme, near modern Samsat , and have suggested it was populated, at least partially, by an early Indo-European-speaking people . The relationship between Armani and

2813-848: The Proto Indo-European words póti (meaning "lord" or "master") or *h₂éyos / *áyos (meaning "metal"). Khorenatsi wrote that the word Armenian originated from the name Armenak or Aram (the descendant of Hayk). Khorenatsi refers to both Armenia and Armenians as Hayk‘ (Armenian: Հայք) (not to be confused with the aforementioned patriarch, Hayk). Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European While

2910-673: The Russian Empire following Iran's forced ceding of the territories after its loss in the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) and the outcoming Treaty of Turkmenchay . Western Armenia however, remained in Ottoman hands. The ethnic cleansing of Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire is widely considered a genocide , resulting in an estimated 1.2 million victims. The first wave of persecution

3007-570: The USSR and established the second Republic of Armenia. Also in 1991, the ethnic Armenian-majority Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (later the Republic of Artsakh ), declared independence from Azerbaijan which lasted until 2023. Armenians are believed to have had a presence in the Armenian Highland for over 4,000 years. According to legend, Hayk , the patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation, led Armenians to victory over Bel of Babylon and settled in

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3104-492: The lesser nobility or reject his noble origin at all. Leo believed he was the son of a peasant. According to Anania Shirakatsi , Vardan was an azat . Some scholars, including Stepan Malkhasyants , 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

3201-428: The "greatest benefactor" of the Armenian people, while the linguist Eduard Aghayan called him simply the "greatest Armenian", a view that has been expressed by others as well. Aghayan further described Mashtots as the "greatest linguist of his time in the broadest sense of the word." Catholicos Vazgen I stated that "everything truly Armenian" was born out of the vision and genius of Mashtots. Viktor Ambartsumian ,

3298-668: The 12th century. It is dedicated to Mashtots, Yeghishe , Movses Khorenatsi , David the Invincible , Gregory of Narek and Nerses Shnorhali . Today pilgrimages to the grave of Mashtots in Oshakan are made on this feast. In the Soviet period it became a secular festival. 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. Acharian considered it

3395-672: The 14th century. These manuscripts, around 20 in total were created in Constantinople , Etchmiadzin , Sanahin , Haghpat and elsewhere, depict Mashtots with a halo . In the 18th century Mashtots was portrayed by two Italian painters. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo portrayed Mashtots with a pseudo-Armenian alphabet on the frescoes on the ceiling above the staircase of the Würzburg Residence in Bavaria, while Francesco Maggiotto 's Italianate portrait of Mashtots hangs at

3492-463: The 1600th anniversary of the birth of Mashtots in 1961. 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." Vahakn Dadrian noted that Yerevan became an "arena of nationalist fervor and outburst." The statue of Mashtots was ceremonially opened in front of

3589-679: The 4th century in the Holy Land , and one of the quarters of the walled Old City of Jerusalem is called the Armenian Quarter . An Armenian Catholic monastic community of 35 founded in 1717 exists on an island near Venice , Italy. The region of Western Armenia was an influential part of the Eastern Roman Empire , which was absorbed by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. The Armenian population of

3686-493: The Armenian Catholic monastery of San Lazzaro degli Armeni near Venice. Stepanos Nersissian 's 1882 painting of Mashtots, commissioned by a wealthy Armenian from Elisabethpol , is considered the most widely recognized artistic depiction of Mashtots. During the Soviet period, numerous Armenian artists portrayed Mashtots. Van Khachatur (Vanik Khachatryan) created a panel painting of Mashtots in 1958–59 for

3783-454: The Armenian Highland. Today, with a population of 3.5 million (although more recent estimates place the population closer to 2.9 million), they constitute an overwhelming majority in Armenia, Armenians in the diaspora informally refer to them as Hayastantsi s ( Armenian : հայաստանցի ), meaning those that are from Armenia (that is, those born and raised in Armenia). They, as well as

3880-526: The Armenian genocide, primarily in the Armenian diasporan communities. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots . Most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church , a non-Chalcedonian Christian church, which is also the world's oldest national church . Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus' death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew . In

3977-714: The Armenians of Iran and Russia, speak the Eastern dialect of the Armenian language. The country itself is secular as a result of Soviet domination, but most of its citizens identify themselves as Apostolic Armenian Christian. While the largest Armenian diaspora populations reside in Russia , the United States , France , and other countries, small Armenian trading and religious communities have existed outside Armenia for centuries. A prominent community has continued since

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4074-522: 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. 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

4171-521: 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

4268-570: 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 . The alphabet was therefore most probably created between the conversion of Iberia under King Mirian III (326 or 337) and

4365-710: The Eastern Mediterranean world suddenly and violently collapsed. Armenians have since remained isolated and genetic structure within the population developed ~500 years ago when Armenia was divided between the Ottomans and the Safavid Empire in Iran. A genetic study (Wang et al. 2018) supports the indigenous origin for Armenians in a region south of the Caucasus which he calls "Greater Caucasus". In

4462-706: The Great of Persia refers to Urashtu (in Babylonian ) as Armina ( Old Persian : 𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴) and Harminuya (in Elamite). In Greek , Armenios ( Αρμένιοι ) is attested from about the same time, perhaps the earliest reference being a fragment attributed to Hecataeus of Miletus (476 BC). Xenophon , a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BC. Some have linked

4559-621: The Great , a member of the Artaxiad (Artashesian) dynasty , the Kingdom of Armenia extended from the Caucasus all the way to what is now central Turkey , Lebanon , and northern Iran . The Arsacid Kingdom of Armenia , itself a branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia , was the first state to adopt Christianity as its religion (it had formerly been adherent to Armenian paganism , which was influenced by Zoroastrianism , while later on adopting

4656-541: The Holy Translators. He is regarded as the first great vardapet . The Armenian Apostolic Church has two major days of feast dedicated to Mashtots. 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. Acharian postulates that it was established no earlier than

4753-400: The Illuminator had the most influence on the course of Armenian history. Catholic Armenian Archbishop and scholar Levon Zekiyan further argued that Mashtots "was our greatest political thinker." 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

4850-565: The Indo-European language family from which the Armenian, Greek, Indo-Iranian, and possibly Phrygian languages all descend. According to Kim (2018), however, there is insufficient evidence for a cladistic connection between Armenian and Greek, and common features between these two languages can be explained as a result of contact. Contact is also the most likely explanation for morphological features shared by Armenian with Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic languages . It has been suggested that

4947-492: The Mashtots Chair in Armenian Studies at Harvard University , the Mesrop Center for Armenian Studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg , a number of schools and universities in Armenia, Artsakh and educational and cultural institutions in the Armenian diaspora . No contemporary portraits of Mashtots have been found. The first artistic depictions appeared in Armenian illuminated manuscripts ( miniatures ), primarily in sharakans and haysmavurks , starting from

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5044-407: The Ottoman Empire is estimated to have been between 1.5 and 2.5 million in the early 20th century. Most of the modern Armenian diaspora consists of Armenians scattered throughout the world as a direct consequence of massacres and genocide in the Ottoman Empire . However, Armenian communities in Iran , Georgia ( Tbilisi ), and Syria existed since antiquity . During the Middle Ages and

5141-415: The Soviets put into circulation a stamp commemorating Mashtots. The Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots , awarded for "outstanding achievements" in science, education, healthcare, and culture, was established by the Armenian government in 1993. The St. Sahak-St. Mesrop award was established by the Armenian Church in 1978. Mashtots and the Matenadaran were featured on the 1,000 Armenian dram banknote of

5238-442: 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. In his 1904 book on Mashtots, the historian Leo called him the greatest of all of Armenia's historical heroes and contrasted the continued legacy of Mashtots with the legacy of Tigranes the Great 's brief empire. Similarly, historian Ashot Hovhannisyan described Mashtots as

5335-601: 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. The first monument of Armenian literature

5432-404: The area and expelled the pagans. Koryun , his pupil and biographer, 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

5529-695: The centuries prior to the genocide, additional communities were formed in Greece , Bulgaria , Hungary , Kievan Rus' and the territories of Russia, Poland , Austria , and Lebanon . There are also remnants of historic communities in Turkey ( Istanbul ), India , Myanmar , Thailand , Belgium , the Netherlands , Portugal , Italy , Israel-Palestine , Iraq , Romania , Serbia , Ethiopia , Sudan and Egypt . Mesrop Mashtots Mesrop Mashtots ( listen ; Armenian : Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց Mesrop Maštoc' ; Eastern Armenian: [mɛsˈɾop maʃˈtotsʰ] ; Western Armenian: [mɛsˈɾob maʃˈtotsʰ] ; 362 – February 17, 440 AD)

5626-424: 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. With the rise of national consciousness in the 19th century, it came to be celebrated in large Armenian communities in Tiflis and Constantinople. The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrated the 1500th anniversary of the Armenian alphabet in 1912–13 and

5723-406: 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). However, his activity was not confined to Eastern Armenia . Provided with letters from the Catholicos, he went to Constantinople and obtained from emperor Theodosius

5820-409: 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

5917-400: The early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first state to adopt Christianity as a state religion, followed by the first pilgrimages to the Holy Land where a community established the Armenian Quarter of Old Jerusalem . The earliest attestations of the exonym Armenia date around the 6th century BC. In his trilingual Behistun Inscription dated to 517 BC, Darius I

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6014-417: The entrance hall of the Armenian Academy of Sciences in Yerevan. Hovhannes Minasian and Henrik Mamian created a fresco, in 1961–64, for Saint Mesrop Mashtots Church in Oshakan , where he is buried. In 1981 a tapestry titled The Armenian Alphabet , where Mashtots is the central figure, was completed by French weavers based on a painting by Grigor Khanjyan . It is kept at the Pontifical Residence at

6111-428: The first series, put into ciculation in 1994. The widest street in central Yerevan, called Stalin, then Lenin Avenue in the Soviet period, was renamed after Mashtots in 1990. Between 1985 and 1996, one of Yerevan's eight districts, what are now the districts of Ajapnyak and Davitashen , was called Mashtots. Institutions named after Mashtots include the Matenadaran , the central library of Stepanakert ,

6208-509: 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." Levon Ter-Petrosyan , philologist and Armenia's first president, postulates that Mashtots and Gregory

6305-441: The hottest summers in Russia. Although precipitation is relatively low, the proximity of the Caspian Sea brings significant humidity, causing a steamy summer heat. Budyonnovsk air base of the Russian Aerospace Forces is located 14 km (8.7 miles) northwest of the town. Three Armenian churches were torn down by Soviet authorities during the Soviet period. On July 1, 2010, a new Holy Ascension Armenian apostolic church

6402-435: 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. 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." At

6499-406: The invention of the alphabet to Moses ' descent from Mount Sinai . In another passage, Koriun compared the work of Mashtots and Sahak to the work of the Four Evangelists . Modern scholars have compared Mashtots to Gregory the Illuminator , often describing the former as the "second illuminator." Russell argues that both were visionaries, found a champion for their program in the king, looked to

6596-534: The later Arme-Shupria, if any, is undetermined. Additionally, their connections to Armenians is inconclusive as it is not known what languages were spoken in these regions. It has also been speculated that the land of Ermenen (located in or near Minni ), mentioned by the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III in 1446 BCE, could be a reference to Armenia. Armenians call themselves Hay ( Armenian : հայ , pronounced [ˈhaj]; plural: հայեր, [haˈjɛɾ]). The name has traditionally been derived from Hayk ( Armenian : Հայկ ),

6693-440: The legendary patriarch of the Armenians and a great-great-grandson of Noah , who, according to Movses Khorenatsi (Moses of Khorene) , defeated the Babylonian king Bel in 2492 BC and established his nation in the Ararat region. It is also further postulated that the name Hay comes from, or is related to, one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states— Hayasa -Azzi (1600–1200 BC). Ultimately, Hay may derive from

6790-421: 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

6887-419: 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." 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

6984-437: 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 : Ճանաչել զիմաստութիւն եւ զխրատ, իմանալ զբանս հանճարոյ : Čanačʿel zimastutʿiwn ew zxrat, imanal zbans hančaroy. «To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive

7081-601: The name Armenia with the Early Bronze Age state of Armani (Armanum, Armi) or the Late Bronze Age state of Arme (Shupria) . Armini , Urartian for "inhabitant of Arme" or "Armean country", referring to the region of Shupria, to the immediate west of Lake Van. The Arme tribe of Urartian texts may have been the Urumu, who in the 12th century BC attempted to invade Assyria from the north with their allies

7178-610: The next few centuries, Djenghis Khan , Timurids , and the tribal Turkic federations of the Ak Koyunlu and the Kara Koyunlu ruled over the Armenians. From the early 16th century, both Western Armenia and Eastern Armenia fell under Iranian Safavid rule . Owing to the century long Turco-Iranian geo-political rivalry that would last in Western Asia, significant parts of the region were frequently fought over between

7275-431: The only accurate account. It was commissioned by Catholicos Hovsep I , also a student of Mashtots, and written c. 443–450/451. The work has two versions: long and short. The former is considered by most scholars to be the original. Parpetsi and Khorenatsi largely relied upon Koriun's work. The oldest extant manuscript of Koriun's Life of Mashtots has been dated to the 12th century. It was first printed in Armenian by

7372-535: 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, but used Greek , Persian , and Syriac scripts to translate Christian texts, none of which

7469-580: The rivaling Byzantine and Sassanid Persian empires, until the Muslim conquest of Persia overran also the regions in which Armenians lived. In 885 CE the Armenians reestablished themselves as a sovereign kingdom under the leadership of Ashot I of the Bagratid Dynasty . A considerable portion of the Armenian nobility and peasantry fled the Byzantine occupation of Bagratid Armenia in 1045, and

7566-432: The state of the church in Oshakan where Mashtots is buried. In his 1912 poem "St. Mashtots", Siamanto compared him to Moses and called him "God of Thought." In a 1913 poem , Hovhannes Tumanyan , Armenia's national poet , praised Mashtots and Sahak as luminaries. 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

7663-407: The subsequent flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians . There is a wide-ranging diaspora of around five million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry living outside modern Armenia. The largest Armenian populations today exist in Russia , the United States , France , Georgia , Iran , Germany , Ukraine , Lebanon , Brazil , Argentina , Syria , and Turkey. The present-day Armenian diaspora

7760-550: The subsequent invasion of the region by Seljuk Turks in 1064. They settled in large numbers in Cilicia , an Anatolian region where Armenians were already established as a minority since Roman times. In 1080, they founded an independent Armenian Principality then Kingdom of Cilicia , which became the focus of Armenian nationalism. The Armenians developed close social, cultural, military, and religious ties with nearby Crusader States , but eventually succumbed to Mamluk invasions. In

7857-651: The town of Ashtarak . He is listed officially in the Roman Martyrology of the Roman Catholic Church ; his feast day is February 17. 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

7954-613: The two rivalling empires. From the mid 16th century with the Peace of Amasya , and decisively from the first half of the 17th century with the Treaty of Zuhab until the first half of the 19th century, Eastern Armenia was ruled by the successive Iranian Safavid, Afsharid and Qajar empires, while Western Armenia remained under Ottoman rule. In the late 1820s, the parts of historic Armenia under Iranian control centering on Yerevan and Lake Sevan (all of Eastern Armenia) were incorporated into

8051-508: The victories of our glorious commanders" in a 1962 poem. It was set to stage in 2011. 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." 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

8148-486: The way of a war, or that killings of Armenians were justified by their individual or collective support for the enemies of the Ottoman Empire. Passage of legislation in various foreign countries, condemning the persecution of the Armenians as genocide, has often provoked diplomatic conflict. (See recognition of the Armenian genocide ) Following the breakup of the Russian Empire in the aftermath of World War I for

8245-417: The words of understanding.» 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, "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

8342-436: The world, or Weltanschauung ." 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 . Mashtots

8439-459: Was "probably a member of the Mamikonean clan." Another point of contention is whether Mashtots was a student of Nerses the Great , first mentioned by Khorenatsi. Both Acharian and Leo rejected it. Acharian noted that Mashtots probably studied at the prominent Surb Karapet Monastery , not far from his birthplace. Koriun tells that Mashtots received "Hellenic education," i.e. education in

8536-559: Was an Armenian linguist , composer , theologian , statesman , and hymnologist in the Sasanian Empire . He is venerated as a saint in the Armenian Apostolic Church . He is best known for inventing the Armenian alphabet c.  405 AD, which was a fundamental step in strengthening Armenian national identity. He is also considered to be the creator of the Caucasian Albanian and Georgian alphabets by

8633-673: Was called Armenia by neighboring peoples (such as by Hecataeus of Miletus and on the Achaemenid Behistun Inscription) was the Satrapy of Armenia , established in the late 6th century BCE under the Orontid (Yervanduni) dynasty within the Achaemenid Persian Empire . The Orontids later ruled the independent Kingdom of Armenia . At its zenith (95–65 BCE), under the imperial reign of Tigran

8730-750: Was erected near the central square of Ejmiatsin ( Vagharshapat ). Statues, busts and sculptures of Mashtots have been erected in the Armenian diaspora , including in historical communities such as at the seminary in Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter , the library of the Vank Cathedral in New Julfa , Isfahan, Iran, the Melkonian Educational Institute in Nicosia , Cyprus and in newly-established communities, such as on

8827-532: Was established in Judea (modern-day Palestine -Israel), leading to the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem . Later on, to further strengthen Armenian national identity, Mesrop Mashtots invented the Armenian alphabet , in 405 CE. This event ushered the Golden Age of Armenia , during which many foreign books and manuscripts were translated to Armenian by Mesrop's pupils. Armenia lost its sovereignty again in 428 CE to

8924-475: Was formed mainly as a result of the Armenian genocide with the exceptions of Iran, former Soviet states , and parts of the Levant . Armenian is an Indo-European language . It has two mutually intelligible spoken and written forms: Eastern Armenian , today spoken mainly in Armenia, Artsakh, Iran , and the former Soviet republics; and Western Armenian , used in the historical Western Armenia and, after

9021-575: Was in the years 1894 to 1896, the second one culminating in the events of the Armenian genocide in 1915 and 1916. With World War I in progress, the Ottoman Empire accused the (Christian) Armenians as liable to ally with Imperial Russia , and used it as a pretext to deal with the entire Armenian population as an enemy within their empire. Governments of the Republic of Turkey since that time have consistently rejected charges of genocide, typically arguing either that those Armenians who died were simply in

9118-644: Was initially royal chancellor ( ark’uni divanapet ), then moved on to serve in the military after receiving training. In c. 394 Mashtots became a clergyman 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. 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. He successfully spread Christianity in

9215-489: Was opened in Budyonnovsk. Armenians Armenians ( Armenian : հայեր , romanized :  hayer , [hɑˈjɛɾ] ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Armenian highlands of West Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and constituted the main population of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh until the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and

9312-684: Was partially confirmed by the research of geneticist David Reich (et al. 2018), among others. Similarly Grolle (et al. 2018) supports not only a homeland for Armenians on the Armenian highlands, but also that the Armenian highlands are the homeland for the "pre-proto-Indo-Europeans". A large genetic study in 2022 showed that many Armenians are "direct patrilineal descendants of the Yamnaya ". Genetic studies explain Armenian diversity by several mixtures of Eurasian populations that occurred between 3000 and 2000 BCE. But genetic signals of population mixture cease after 1200 BCE when Bronze Age civilizations in

9409-412: 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

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