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KORIUN
THE LIFE OF
MASHTOTS
THE STORY OF
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE BLESSED MAN ST.MASHTOTS VARDAPET OUR TRANSLATOR
[WRITTEN] BY HIS PUPIL KORIUN VARDAPET
XVI
And then he caine back to
visit the places he had organized and the provinces in
And he hastened and went with many pupils to the region
of the Greeks[1],
and owing to the renown for his good works which had reached there long before,
from the northern regions[2],
he received at the very outset of his journey a very sincere and amicable
reception from the bishops and princes and provincials of the land, especially
from the commander-in-hief of the area whose name was
Anatolis, who transmitted in writing [Mesrop’s] design to Caesar, whose name was Theodosius[3],
son of Arcadius[4],
from whom there came an order to accord due honors to the Saint, who was to be
called Acoemeti[5].
And he took the group of his pupils 'to.Militene[6]
and left them in the care of the saintly Bishop of the city whose name was Akakios, and [he] named as their supervisor one called Leontius, a loyal and pious man. And then the blessed one
taking with him the excellent Bishop of Derjan, whose
name was Gint, and a few of his pupils there, and
boarding a public transport and receiving much courtesy, arrived at tile capital
city of Constantinople. The court was immediately informed of him, and he
entered into the presence of the exalted throne, the God ordained monarchs and
to the Patriarch and saintly Catholicos of the royal
city, whose name was Atticus, and was well received.
It was ordered that
[Mesrop] be honored in the capital city for a definite period
with the same living accommodations accorded to the Church, the court, and the
excellent nobles of the city.
And after the passage of Easter, he explained to Caesar
the nature of his needs, and obtained unassailable authorization, along with a
sacra rescripta[7]
bearing Caesar's seal, to gather youths from their half of the Armenian nation[ii]
for the purpose of instruction, concerning the Borboritons[8],
evil doing men, and the preservation of the Church, as well as to be honored
with valuable gifts. The virtuous one, however, having prevailed upon the court,
dec]ining the gifts, left
[them]. Thereupon he made obeisance to the empurpled august [personages] and to
His Holiness the Catholicos, and having ~een bid god-speed by the Church and the foremost princes of
the city, they boarded the litters and carriages provided by the court, and with
much pomp and circumstance took the royal road. And they were met at every city,
and were treated as high dignitaries un every] city.
And having received many gifts, they finally arrived at
the appointed places. At once they visited the sparapet of
However, the blessed one devoted himself to his
educational task, organieed and completed it. And
having acquired many a noble book by the church fathers, he further deepened his
knowledge of the doctrine and was filled with all goodness.
Then there came and visited them an elderly man, an
Albanian[9]
named Benjamin. And he [Mesrop] inquired and examined
the barbaric diction of the Albanian Ianguage, and
then through his usual god-given keenness of mind invented an alphabet, which
he, through the grace of Christ, successfully organized and put in order.
After this he separated from the bishops, the princes of
the land, and all the churches. He appointed two of his pupils, the first one of
whom was called, Yenovk, and the second Danan, as overseers for the faithful, clerics, effective men
in. the evangelical service, whom he corn-mended to God and placed them there.
And along with many pupils he came to the regions of Greater Armenia, and
arriving at Nor Kaghak presented himself to the
saintly bishop, Sahak, and to the Armenian King whose
name was Artashes[10],
and to the nobles, and related to them the things wrought by the Grace of God in
those regions, and remained there a few days to distributc spiritual consolation. (288)
XVII
And then he bid farewell to then' in order
to go to the region of the Albanians and arrived in their country, and upon
reaching the royal regions, he saw the saintly Bishop of the Albanians whose
name was Jeremiah, and their King, whose name was Arsvagh, who along with the nobility received [him] in the
name of Christ with utter compliance. And then they inquired and he explained
the reason for his coming. And they, the two associates, the King and the
Bishop, expressed their readiness to adopt the letters and ordered that a large
number of youths be gathered from provinces and places in the realm and to open
schools in suitable places to make provisions for their livelihood.
And when this order was actually fulfilled and bore results, Bishop
Jeremiah soon began the translation of the divine books, whereby at once in one
instant, the barbaric, slothful, and brutal men become well acquainted with the
prophets and the apostles, becoming heirs to the gospel, and in no way ignorant
of the divine traditions. Moreover, the God-fearing King of the Albanians
promptly commanded the satanic and devil worshipping nation to withdraw and to
free itself from the old superstitions and to submit to the sweet yoke of
Christ.
And when they had accomplished it and had done all that
was needed and that which he wanted, he was aided in his sacred task of
indoctrination, in the region of Baghas, by the
saintly Bishop whose name was Moushegh. He then took
leave of the Albanian King, the Bishop, and the Church.
And he named a few of his pupils as overseers over them along with one of
the royal priests whose name was Jonathan, who had shown much eagerness for his
instruction. And committing them and himself in God's providential mercy, he
resumed his journey from the regions of
XVIII
He arrived opposite to the Gardmanian valley. He was met by the ruler of the Gardmank whose name was Khours,
who with god-loving piety welcomed him and placed himself along with his office
at the service of the Vardapet. After enjoying the
richness and essence of his doctrine, he helped the blessed one to get on his
way while he set out towards his destination.
At that time [one] by the name of Ardzugh became King of Georgia and caused learning to
progress and ftounsh, and he visited all the pupils
and exhorted them to remain in righteousness.
At that time the ruler of Dashir[11],
an excellent god-loving man, whose name was Ashusha,
placed himself along with his entire province under his disposal, and the dissenunation of his doctrine was no less successful than in
other provinces.
And leaving them in the care of the saintly Bishop Samuel, mentioned above, he returned to the regions of Armenia Major. Coming to the usual places he warmly greeted Saint Sahak and all those whom he saw, and related to them also of those new endeavors. Upon hearmg him they praised God for [His] bounties.
XIX
Then the blessed ones turned their
attention to the improvement and refinement of the literature of their nation.
(290) Sahak the Great, as before, began to write and
to translate.
And it so happened that they dispatched two brothers
from among their pupils to the city of Edessa in the
region of the [Syrians] the first one Hovsep, as
mentioned above, and the second, Eznik[12]
by name, from the village of Goghb in the province of
Airarat, for the purpose of translating and writing
down the traditions of the church fathers from Syriac
to Armenian.
The translators, therefore, upon arriving at their destination, carried
out their orders and sent [the translations] to the excellent fathers. Then they
went to the region of the Greeks where they studied and became proficient
translators from the Greek language. After a while a few brethren came to the
region of the Greeks, the name of the first one of which was Ghevondes, and the second, was I, Koriun. And as they drew near
Yet blessed Sahak, who had rendered from the
Greek language into Armenian all the ecclesiastical books and the wisdom of the
church fathers, once more undertook, with Eznik, the
comparison of the former random, hurriedly done translations from then available
copies with the authentic copies, and they translated many commentaries of the
Bible.
And thus the fathers passed their time, day and night, with the reading of books, and thus served as good examples to their studious assistants, especially in keeping with the commandments from God's messengers, the first of whom has commended: "On His laws shalt thou meditate day and night," and the second which similarly cornmands: "And give attendance to reading, exhort'ation, and to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in them..... Meditate - upon the things, giving thyself wholly to them... for doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee."
XX
Then the blessed Mashtots with
his excellent erudition began to prepare diverse, easily understood and gracious
sermons, full of the light and essence of the prophetic books and illustrations
of tfue evangelical faith. He then (created) and
organized many examples and allusions from ephemeral things of the world related
to after-life, resurrection, and hope, so as to make them intelligible even to
fools and to those distracted by secular things, to revive, to awaken; and to
convince them of the iewards that have been promised.
XXI
And thus all over Armenia, Georgia, and Albania,
throughout his lifetime, in summer and winter, night and day, fearless and
without hesitation, he bore, with his evangelical and upright life, the name of
Jesus the Saviour of all, before kings, princes, and
all the pagans, and with no c6ntradiction from opponents. And he adorned every
(292) man spiritually with the vestments of Christ, and he saved many who had
been imprisoned and in chains, by wresting them away from the hands of tyrants
by the mighty power of Christ, and he tore up many inequitable contracts and
through the doctrine of consolation gave to many who were in mourning and in
despair, expectation and hope in the appearance of the glory of Almighty God and
our Saviour Jesus Christ, and in general he changed
them all by bringing them under God's law.
XXII
And again he estabjished many
and countiess groups of monks in inhabited as well as
in uninhabited places, count-less groups in lowlands, in mountains, in caves,
and in cloisters. From time to time he showed himself as an example to them.
From all the monasteries he took with him a few pupils to retire into the
mountains and to Jive in caves. They secluded themselves in caverns and ended
the day by receiving their daily nourishment frorn
herbs. And thus they subjected themselves to painful weakness, having especially
in view the consolation of the apostolic word: "When I am weak for Christ, I am
strong," as well as, "It is better that I glory in my infirmities so that the
power of Christ may rest in me." There they did not become drunk with wine, but
were filled with the spirit and their hearts were ever ready to praise with
hymns the glory of God.
There they received training by reading spiritually
instructive books. There the master instructed and exhorted the chosen to go
forward to attain the crown offered by Christ. There they were fired with
God-worshipping service. There they prayed tearfully and pleaded to God, the
lover of (293) mankind, for the reconciliation of the life of all [men].
And thus he performed his spiritual art for many days in
desolate places until he received word from the priests of the region to come to
their assistance for any worthy purpose in the grace of Christ. And he without
hesitation hurried with his assistants whatever happened to the the problem, and through the power of God solved it, and
with ceaseless speech, he caused the streams of the doctrine to flow abundantly
in the hearts of his hearers.
And he did this throughout his lifetime for himself and
for the world. For all true teachers earnestly strive to render their virtues as
examples for their 'pupils, especially stressing that of the Lord, the only wise
God. "For Jesus began to work and to teach." He often took His disciples aside,
and made His all powerful person and example to imperfect men, when on Mount
Tabor He pronounced the Beatitudes and offered on the same mountain the
canonical prayer, while His disciples sailed on the
And if earthen man is deficient in the knowledge of the
minor arts, how much more lacking may he be considered in the art which enables
him to speak with God? Thus blessed Paul states that all are ignorant;
therefore, the omniscient spirit comes to their aid and intercedes for them
"with groanings that cannot be uttered."
Yet when we hear that "Jesus began to work and to
teach," it should be understood that He worked and taught and not as though He
made a present [of the knowledge]. (294) And the intercession of the saints and
the intercession of the Holy Spirit was for the purpose of teaching us, and is
to be understood as intercession for one another, for Godhood is not of varying
but of equal [rank].
While the blessed apostles, having received the example
from the teacher of truth, first applied it to their imperfect selves, and then
transmitted it to their disciples. They greatly exalted the glory of Christ,
sometimes in private, and sometimes by gathering the people together. For in
reality it is far more useful to retreat from all worldly interests, to withdraw
one's self and to engage only in the worship of God, as had done the prophets
who in the mountains and deserts and in caverns had devoted themselves to the
service of the divine faith.
Similarly, all the church fathers who came after the
order of the disciples, endowed as they were with piety, served as examples to
us who have followed them. Thus the blessed one had assumed this honored
tradition, and similarly admonished all who came near him with the same
exhortation. And it was thus that they lived a long time, richly filled by the
grace of divine gifts, risin'g early in the morning
for the same purpose, daily, with perseveranee.
XXIII
At that time there was brought to the
XXIV
After that the blessed Sahak,
righteous to the end, full I the number of years and gracious with the goodness
of God-given bounties, on the first year of Jazdegerd
[II], son of Vram, the King of Persia, in the province
of Bagrevand[14]
and village of Belrotsats, at the end of the month of
Navasard[15],
even as they had been commemorating ie birthday of the
blessed one, at the hour of two, in the course of the administration of extreme
unction with rayers pleasing to God, expired in
Christ, as spoken y the prophet, "Into thine hand
commit I my spirit," rid as the blessed Stephan said, "Lord Jesus receive iy spirit." He, moreover, committed to God those he ft
behind.
Hastily making all preparations, his God-loving officers, his own pupils, the chief of whom was called Yeremia, a saintly and devout man, who with the assistance of noble lady named Douster, the wife of Vardan, whom e have mentioned before, as well as a large group of Lintly men, raised him with psalms, doxologies, and ymns, and going day and night for several days, arrived Taron, thc very village of Ashtishat[16]. And there, at ie altar of All the Martyrs, placed him with sweet-smellg incense of all kinds in the'sarcophagus of the saints, id sealed it with the seal of Christ, and after performing the customary rites, everyone returned to this place. very year coming together at that month, they observed his memory.
XXV
But his blessed colleague, by this I mean
Mashtots, ared with
yearning, was immersed in sad, tearful, and heartfelt lamentations, and deep
mourning. For if the (296) holy Apostle upon not finding his co-worker,
Timothy[17],
says that his soul was restless, how much more sorrow is experienced over those
who are forever departed, by those who are left behind? Even though the sorrow
caused by loneliness would not permit cheerfulness, yet he continued with the
grace of God, faultlessly, his evangelism and administration of the
XXVI
And while he thus revived the religious fervor of those
who were near blin, and sent many messages of advice
and exhortation to all the pr6vinces, the same year, six months after the death
of blessed Sahak[18],
the Armenian Army being located, along with the saintly master, in the Nor Kaghak in Airarat, with the same
godly life he reached the sainfly end of those who
have been summoned by Christ. And after an illness of a few days, on the 13th
day of the month of Mehekan, as was about to become
separated from his beloved pupils to join Christ's legion, freed from his pains
and regaining consciousness, he arose and sat in the midst of those around him,
and with hands upraised to heaven, he surrendered to God's grace those who
remained, and asked assistance of them. (297)
And the names of the prindipal
disciples who had gathered [there] are, first, Hovsep,
whom we have menioned at the beginning; second, Tadik, a temperate nan, most
heedful to the directions of the master. Among he military, the name of the
first one, Vahan, of the Amatouni clan, who was the commander in chief of Arnenia Major, and that of the second, Hmayak[19],
of the Mamikonian clan, excellent and pious men,
heedful to Lile master’s instructions.
And as the hands of the saint were upraised to heaven,
Lhere was seen a luminous vision resembling a cross
over the mansion where the blessed one was dying. This was seen by everyone with
his own eyes, and was not related by acquaintances. And he passed on to the
saints love and unity as a legacy, blessed them that were far and near, and went
to his rest, offering prayers pleasing to Christ.
Vahan and Hmayak, along with the
populace, lifted the deceased, having made all arrangements, with psalms and
doxologies and spiritual joy, with burning bandles and
flaming torches, sweet-smelling incense, and brilliant candlesticks, preceded by
luminous crucifixes, went up to Oshakan[20]
and laid him there in the place of the Martyrs and performed the funeral rites.
Then the vision disappeared, and they all returned to their places.
However, three years later Vahan Amatouni was able to build, with Christ-loving zeal, a marvelous church with finely hewn, sculptured stones, and inside the church built the Saint's tomb. For the altar of the life-giving body and blood of Christ, he prepared graceful vessels of varied colors, decorated with shining gold, silver, and precious stones. And together with the assembled monks, he transferred the body of Mashtots, the witness for Christ's religion of the cross, to the sarcophagus in the church. And for the glory of God they appointed one of 298 his pupils named Tadik, a temperate and pious man, along with brethren, as servants of the Saint who had attained the state of bliss.
XXVII
The
principals, administrators, and vicars had been named by the departed church
fathers. The first of these was Hovsep, chief of the
council, and the second, another pupil named Hovhan, a
truly saintly, truth-loving man. It so happened that, dfter the passing of the Saint, this man victoriously
withstood for Christ many and varied torments and sorrows in chains at Ctesiphone[21]
in a singlehanded combat against redoubled tyranny,
and thereby inherited the designatibn of confessor,
and returned to his administrative task in
As for the beneficent Vahan, who rendered unexpected assistance to all, through the grace of Christ our God, becoming a true spiritual son of the world-reforming fathers, was worthy of being a close participant in their life.
XXVIII
And the fathers went to their reward as we have written.
We did not record them by gleaning them from old tales; on the contrary, we
witnessed their countenances, as assistants in [their] spiritual endeavors, were
hearers of their gracious teaching, and were their co-workers as per the dictum
of the Gospel. We have done.this for my father, not by
resort to false eloquence, but we wrote [this] concise work by leaving out much
and by gathering (299) from all best informed people, [facts] which are known
not only to us but to those who have read this book. For we could not record in
detail all the things that they each of them had done, but sufficed by this
easier apostolic Acts. We set aside a multitude of the acts of the saints, so as
to relate in detail the most important events. And we related this not for the
glory of the saints of God who already have been honored for their most luminous
faith and life, but as an inspiring example to their spiritual sons and to all
who, through them, will be taught from generation to generation.
XXIX
And thus the blessed one's years of faith[iv]
were forty-five years, and the period from the creation of the Armenian alphabet
to his death, thirty-five years[22],
which is computed as follows: The Persian King Kerman[23]
reigned six years and Jazdegcrd, twenty-one years,
(and Vram eighteen years), and the Saint died in the
first year of Vram's son, Jazdegerd II.
Thus, the years of [service] ir, the holy faith began on the fourth year of King Kerman
up to the first year of Vrarn's son Jazdegerd II, and the Armenian alphabet was created on the
eighth year of Jazdegerd [I].
And glory to Christ, the lover of mankind.
[Èñòîðè÷åñêèå ëåòîïèñè] | [«THE LIFE OF MASHTOTS»] | [Áèáëèîòåêà «Âåõè»]
© 2004,
Áèáëèîòåêà «Âåõè»
[1] Greeks - The reference here is to the
[2] Northern region.
[3] Theodosius II - Roman emperor who ruled
408-450.
[4] Arcadius. The first emperor
of the
[5] Acoemeti. A Greek word which
means, “without sleeping”. Sometimes an appellation common to Eastern ascetics
known by rthe rigor of their vigil, but usually the
name of Greek Basilian monks who devoted themselves to
prayer and praise without intermission day and
night.
[6] Militene - Present
[7] Sacra rescripta - Letter or
message from caesar.
[8] Borburitons - According to
Ormanian the Borboritons,
who are supposed to have originated in Syria, in all likelihood, a remnant from
pagan times, considered every law and form of worship superfluous and indulged
in all types of disorderliness, impiety, and lasciviousness, believing a simple
prayer sufficient to wipe out all sins. (From "Azkapatum")
[9] Albanian - (In Armenian, Aghvan), a native of Caspian
[10] Artashes - Son of Vramshapouh, the last Arsacid king
on the throne of
[11] Dashir - Present
Lori.
[12] Eznik - Eznik Koghbatsi, who colIaborated with Cath-(360) tholicos Sahak in the translation
of the Bible from the Greek, and authored the book, 'Concerning False
Sects".
[13] Theodore Mopsuestia - The
teacher of Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople
428-431, who was deprived of his office, as a heretic, by the Council of
Ephesus.
[14] Bagrevand - Present district
of Aiashgerd.
[15] Navasard - The first month of
the Armenian calendar.
[16] Ashtishat - A village where
the celebrated pagan temple which housed the statues of
[17] Timothy - This reference is supposed to be to Titus and
not to Timothy, since it appears to refer to the passage in II Corinthians 2:13:
"I had no rest in my spirit because I found not Titus my
brother".
[18] The death of Sahak occurred
on September 7, 439, and that of Mesrop, on
[19] Hmayak - Brother of Vardan Mamikonian.
[20] Oshakan - Even though a
number of martyrs and confessors already had been buried at Oshakan, it became famous as the final resting place of the
creator of the Armenian alphabet.
[21] Cteslphone - The winter
capital of the Sassanid Persian kings, 18 kilometers
south of
[22] Invention of the Alphabet - As per Koriun Mashtots died 35 years
after the invention of the Armenian aiphahet. If the
figures have not been distorted, the beginning of the invention of the Armenian
alphabet was in 404.
[23] Persian Overlords of Armenia who reigned during the
period described by Koriun were: