History of Armenian Bible
Armenia was in large measure Christianized by Gregory Lousavorich ("the
Illuminator": consecrated 302 AD; died 332), but, as Armenian had not been
reduced to writing, the Scriptures used to be read in some places in Greek, in
others in Syriac, and translated orally to the people. A knowledge of these
tongues and the training of teachers were kept up by the schools which
Gregory and King Tiridates had established at the capital Vagharshapat and
elsewhere. As far as there was any Christianity in Armenia before Gregory's
time, it had been almost exclusively under Syrian influence, from Edessa and
Samosata. Gregory introduced Greek influence and culture, though maintaining bonds of union with
Syria also.
When King Sapor of Persia became master of Armenia (378 AD), he not only persecuted the
Christians most cruelly, but also, for political reasons, endeavored to prevent Armenia from all
contact with the Byzantine world. Hence his viceroy, the renegade Armenian Merouzhan, closed the
schools, proscribed Greek learning, and burnt all Greek books, especially the Scriptures. Syriac
books were spared, just as in Persia itself; but in many cases the clergy were unable to interpret
them to their people. Persecution had not crushed out Christianity, but there was danger lest it
should perish through want of the Word of God. Several attempts were made to translate the Bible
into Armenian. In 397 the celebrated Mesrob Mashtots and Isaac (Sachak) the Catholicos resolved
to translate the Bible. Mesrob had been a court secretary, and as such was well acquainted with
Pahlavi, Syriac and Greek, in which three languages the royal edicts were then published. Isaac
had been born at Constantinople and educated there and at Caesarea. Hence he too was a good
Greek scholar, besides being versed in Syriac and Pahlavi, which latter was then the court
language in Armenia. But none of these three alphabets was suited to express the sounds of the
Armenian tongue, and hence, an alphabet had to be devised for it.
The Translators:
By 406, Mesrob had succeeded in inventing an alphabet--practically the
one still in use--principally by modifying the Greek and the Pahlavi
characters, though some think the Palmyrene alphabet had influence.
He and two of his pupils at Samosata began by translating the Book of
Proverbs, and then the New Testament, from the Greek Meanwhile,
being unable to find a single Greek manuscript in the country, Isaac
translated the church lessons from the Peshitta Syriac, and published
this version in 411. He sent two of his pupils to Constantinople for copies
of the Greek Bible. These men were present at the Council of Ephesus,
431 AD. Probably Theodoret (De Cura Graec. Affect., I, 5) learned from
them what he says about the existence of the Bible in Armenian. Isaac's
messengers brought him copies of the Greek Bible from the Imperial
Library at Constantinople. Mesrob Mashtots and Isaac, with their
assistants, finished and published the Armenian (ancient) version of the whole Bible in 436. La
Croze is justified in styling it Queen of versions Unfortunately the Old Testament was rendered (as
we have said) from the Septuagint, not from the Hebrew. But the Apocrypha was not translated,
only "the 22 Books" of the Old Testament, as Moses of Khorene informs us. This was due to the
influence of the Peshitta Old Testament.
http://armenianbible.org/
Activity 1:
Word search
Activity 2:
Create your own bible cover (using the children’s Prayer Book)
Activity 3:
Color a page from the bible as the early Armenian bibles were illustrated
Activity 1:
Hayr Mer word search
Making a Hayr Mer word search
http://www.armoredpenguin.com/wordsearch/
Tips:
Create text files with the words to search for
Make the puzzle easy for the little kids
Check the box for ‘simple puzzle’ and ‘grid lines’
Activity 2:
Create your own bible cover (using the children’s Prayer Book)
Bible contains 2 sections, Old Testament and New Testament
The Bible tells us
 how to pray
 about people we should be like
 about God’s laws
 about Jesus
Activity 3:
Armenian Bible
Mesrob Mashtots invented the Armenian alphabet in 405
Can you color in the letters like he did?
Activity 3:
Armenian Bible
Mesrob Mashtots invented the Armenian alphabet in 405
Can you color in the letters like he did?