Creator of the Armenian Alphabet – St. Mesrob Mashtots

In 362 A.D in Taron, St. Mesrob Mashtots was born and passed away in February of 440 A.D. St. Mesrob Mashtots was a theologian in Armenians, Hymnologist, as well as a linguist. In Our Armenian culture, he is best known as for inventing and creating the 38 Letter Armenian Alphabet in 405 A.D. It was an incredible step to increasing, strengthening and establishing a bond between the Armenian Statehood, Armenians Living in the empire of Byzantine and the Armenian kingdom. It also created a sense of identity and difference in the world that prospered into a beautiful language with creating words, where we are now able to read, write, speak and express ourselves in our Armenian communities, churches, in our homes, and in our day-to-day lives.

In Armenia, we have a Library called the “Madenataran“, where his Statue and the Armenian Alphabet beside him sits, and where the most important books, scriptures and important parts of our Armenian Heritage sits in the museum within the Madenataran. In 2005 Armenian Alphabet turned 1600 years old, where then as a celebration a field with all the Letters in the Alphabet was created by the Mt Aragats.

St. Mesrob Mashtots also created the Albanian, and Georgian Alphabets.

St. Mesrob came from a village in “Hatzetgatz Kyough” (HATS-EH-GATS KYOO-GH), and passed away in Vagharshapat (Vagh-are-shahpat), then he was laid to rest in the town of Oshakan. To this very day many tourists and visitors to Armenia, visit his tomb in the church to pay homage and respects to the creator. St. Mesrob Mashtots spent most of his life devoted to Christianity, and to spread the word of God. He is known to be a big icon in the world and prominent individual, which inspired many people in the Global world history and still does to this day from hearing about his biography, what he accomplished which changed our Armenian identity and put a positive and beautiful impact in our world.

Without St. Mesrob, we would not have our alphabet, our ability to read, write and communicate with the words and our beautiful language that exists in our world. This is an example of how Turkey failed to wipe Armenians off the face of this earth during the April 24, 1915, Armenian Genocide, because to this day we continue to speak, read and write our beautiful Armenian Language. Thank you to St. Mesrob Mashtots for giving us our identity. We Armenians are forever grateful and we are so blessed to have you in our life and your legacy will live on within our hearts forever.

Links of Interest:

click this link to see the Armenian Alphabet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_alphabet

click this link to see the Madenataran Library in Armenia – http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Matenadaran

The Road to Beautiful Armenia

Hello, My name is Talin Orfali and I am here to introduce to you my motherland, my culture, my heritage, The Beautiful Armenia and its rich history. Armenia is located in the South Caucasus, which is bordered by Georgia, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. The Official language of Armenia, is Armenian, However you can hear some Russian being spoken, road signs, store signs in Russian, and of course you can hear English as well.

the year 301, Armenia is the first country in the world that has adopted Christianity. The Armenian Church goes back many centuries ago and was founded by 2 Apostles, Thaddeus and Bartholomew. St Gregory the Illuminator was our first Catholicos (Our Pope), of the Armenian Church. He was held in a Hole for 13 years at church named Khor Virap(Khor Virab), which is located close to Mount Ararat, then he had finally be rescued and escaped the Dungeon. Our First ever Church built is the Holy See of Etchmiadzin in the city of Etchmiadzin. It is the oldest Church in the World.

Armenia is mountainous, with rivers, forests, ravines, and it is located mostly at 1800 meters above sea level. The highest point is Aragats Mountain at (4092m), and the lowest is Debed Valley at (400m). We also have our square, Yerevan square, which is Hrabarag. Yerevan is our capital.

The road to beautiful Armenia is incredible, the beauty of our hills and valleys, The Statues, Monuments, Churches, from our great and rich history include, the David of Sassoun, Vartan Mamigonian, Akhtamar, Garni, Geghard, Noravank, St Mary’s, Haghardzin Monastery, Mesrob Mashtots who is the Inventor and creator of The Armenian Alphabet which we have 38 letters, The Madenataran which is our Library with Saint Mesrob Mashtot’s Statue with our Alphabet in the front, There is St. Hripsime, St Gregory the Illuminator Church, You may or may not have heard about our writer William Saroyan. We have many authors, and important figures in our history, past and present.

Some of our Armenian’s include, Atom Egoyan, Andre Agassi, Andrea Martin, Charles Aznavour, Ross Baghdasaryan, Cher, Arshile Gorky, Steve Jobs, Kirk Kirkorian, Aram Khatchaturian, Alex Manougian, David Nalbandian, Raffi, Seymour Skinner who is from the Simpsons, Zildjian Family, System of a Down, Eric Bogosian, Capital Cities group (one of them is Armenian) , the inventor of the MRI ( Magnetic Resonance Imaging), Machine is also Armenian named Dr. Raymond Damadian.

Armenia is just so rich in history, culture, and so much more. Armenia’s flag consists of 3 colours, Red, Blue, Orange. Our currency of money is Dram’s. Check your local Currency for the difference. There is just so much history, so much to know about Armenia, the history, and everything else. If you are more curious, You can definitely search online for more information on our culture, beliefs, religion and so much more.

I had the pleasure of visiting my motherland the Beautiful Armenia in 1999 for the first time. I kissed the ground of Armenia when I first got off the plane. It was a feeling that was beautiful and I was crying with happy tears. It was an amazing journey that really touched my heart. I had gone to Armenian Saturday school and everything I learned came to life, and knowing that and feeling the presence of our history makers, ancestors really made me feel so incredible, knowing that where I may have walked, that several hundred and thousands of years ago, there may have been those people walking the same very steps, as I have took. It was a feeling I will never forget. To this very day, I never forgot the moments when I was there. I will never forget when I took a swim in our lake Sevan, where we put delicious and juicy watermelon in the water so it stays cool where we can eat it by the water.  I had gone to Armenia with my fellow classmates, and couple of my cousins, teachers and volunteers after graduating Armenian School in grade 8. It was a trip I never forgot and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

After returning from Armenia, I began to volunteer and utilize my time in the Armenian community as much as possible. I was in the Armenian community centers here in Toronto and the country more than I was at home. I have just recently began to come back into it all and it feels amazing. It feels great to give back to my community as much as possible.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Armenia and make that part of your travel plans to see the world, it is a must. You can obtain a tourist visa at the Airport, and you do not need any vaccinations or anything. Follow up with your travel agent, tour operator to obtain more information and your preferences. Also if you have any other questions of Armenia, do not hesitate to contact me. I really hope you enjoyed the Road to beautiful Armenia.

I am so proud to be an Armenian.