Mesrop Mashtots

Saint

Mesrop Mashtots
Saint; Mesrop Mashtots
	Portrait of Mashtots by Stepanos Nersissian (1882)
Born	c. 362; Hatsik, Taron Province, Kingdom of Armenia ; (Now Güven village of Korkut, Muş Province, Turkey)
Died	February 17, 440; Vagharshapat, Sasanian Armenia
Venerated in	Armenian Apostolic Church; Armenian Catholic Church; Roman Catholic Church; Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrine	Saint Mesrop Mashtots Cathedral in Oshakan, Armenia
Feast	The Armenian Church remembers St. Mesrop (together with St. Sahak), twice each year, first in July and then again on the Feast of the Holy Translators in October; February 17 in the Roman Catholic Church.
Patronage	Armenia

Mesrop Mashtots (listen^ⓘ; Armenian: Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց Mesrop Maštoc'; Eastern Armenian: [mɛsˈɾop maʃˈtotsʰ]; Western Armenian: [mɛsˈɾob maʃˈtotsʰ]; 362 – February 17, 440 AD) was an Armenian linguist, composer, theologian, statesman, and hymnologist in the Sasanian Empire. He is venerated as a saint in the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Churches.^[2]

He is best known for inventing the Armenian alphabet c. 405 AD, which was a fundamental step in strengthening Armenian national identity.^[3] He is also considered to be the creator of the Caucasian Albanian and Georgian alphabets by a number of scholars.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

^ See St. Sahak and St. Mesrop Feasts
^ St. Mesrop MashtotsArmenian theologian and linguistEncyclopedia Britannica
^ 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. ISBN 9780814328156.
^ Glen Warren Bowersock; Peter Robert Lamont Brown; Oleg Grabar, eds. (1999). Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-51173-5.
^ Rayfield, Donald (2000). The Literature of Georgia: A History (2nd rev. ed.). Surrey: Curzon Press. p. 19. ISBN 0700711635.
^ Grenoble, Lenore A. (2003). Language policy in the Soviet Union. Dordrecht [u.a.]: Kluwer Acad. Publ. p. 116. ISBN 1402012985.
^ Bowersock, G.W.; Brown, Peter; Grabar, Oleg, eds. (1999). Late antiquity: a guide to the postclassical world (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press. p. 289. ISBN 0-674-51173-5.
^ 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. 39–50. ISBN 9783700170884.
^ Der Nersessian, Sirarpie (1969). The Armenians. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 85. After the Armenian alphabet Mesrop also devised one for the Caucasian Albanians.

[1] See St. Sahak and St. Mesrop Feasts

[2] St. Mesrop MashtotsArmenian theologian and linguistEncyclopedia Britannica

[3] 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. ISBN 9780814328156.

[4] Glen Warren Bowersock; Peter Robert Lamont Brown; Oleg Grabar, eds. (1999). Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-51173-5.

[5] Rayfield, Donald (2000). The Literature of Georgia: A History (2nd rev. ed.). Surrey: Curzon Press. p. 19. ISBN 0700711635.

[6] Grenoble, Lenore A. (2003). Language policy in the Soviet Union. Dordrecht [u.a.]: Kluwer Acad. Publ. p. 116. ISBN 1402012985.

[7] Bowersock, G.W.; Brown, Peter; Grabar, Oleg, eds. (1999). Late antiquity: a guide to the postclassical world (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press. p. 289. ISBN 0-674-51173-5.

[8] 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. 39–50. ISBN 9783700170884.

[9] Der Nersessian, Sirarpie (1969). The Armenians. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 85. After the Armenian alphabet Mesrop also devised one for the Caucasian Albanians.

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Saint Mesrop Mashtots
Portrait of Mashtots by Stepanos Nersissian (1882)
Born	c. 362 Hatsik, Taron Province, Kingdom of Armenia (Now Güven village of Korkut, Muş Province, Turkey)
Died	February 17, 440 Vagharshapat, Sasanian Armenia
Venerated in	Armenian Apostolic Church Armenian Catholic Church Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrine	Saint Mesrop Mashtots Cathedral in Oshakan, Armenia
Feast	The Armenian Church remembers St. Mesrop (together with St. Sahak), twice each year, first in July and then again on the Feast of the Holy Translators in October;^[1] February 17 in the Roman Catholic Church.
Patronage	Armenia