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KAMURJ |
THE BEGINNING OF ARMENIAN LITERATURE
The absence of an alphabet and of any sort of written literature placed a fundamental obstacle, not only to the development of the intellectual and social life of the nation, but also to the existence and the autonomy of the Church, for without these she bad neither the power to mould nor to strengthen her own constitution. No permanent means for spiritual edification were at the command of the people; for bare oral translations were insufficient to satisfy the aspirations of their hearts. Such was the state of things which first incited the attention of the patriarch St. Sahak. Deeply versed in Greek and Syriac learning, he was held, according to his contemporaries, to be in advance of the scholars of his time.
St. Mesrop Maschtotz, a former secretary of the king, and a disciple of the patriarch Nerses, conceived the plan of extirpating the last remnants of paganism in the province of Golthn (Akoulis). But, in the absence of an alphabet, he was confronted with a difficulty, since he was unable to place in the hands of the people he would evangelize any written instructions. In conjunction with the patriarch Sahak, lie besought the king Vramschapouh to put an end to this state of affairs. This happened in 401, at the dawn of the fifth century; and the king placed all available resources at their disposal. At length, in 404, Mesrop succeeded in compiling an alphabet which was excellently suited to the genius of the Armenian language. And as, in the furtherance of this work, he had invoked heavenly aid, he ascribed his success to divine grace. Indeed, the Armenians themselves have always taken a pride in their literature, the origin of which was regarded by them as supernatural. As soon as St. Mesrop invented the alphabet at Balahovit (Palou), St. Sahak, on his part, continued indefatigably to carry on a work which was alike literary and holy. Accordingly, it is on the latter that the grateful Armenians have bestowed the title of Illuminator of Knowledge, on account of what he did for literature, just as St. Grigor enriched their souls by faith, and St. Nerses their hearts by the inculcation of high morality.
The Armenian alphabet contained thirty-six characters, which were capable of representing all the sounds of the language. This number had to be increased later by two supplementary letters, which brought the total up to thirty-eight. Its ingenuity was so happily devised that it was even possible, without difficulty, to represent by the alphabet most of the sounds of foreign languages. But in this place we must confine our remarks to the importance of this innovation from the ecclesiastical standpoint.
The first work which was taken in hand was the translation of the Bible, and to this purpose were dedicated St. Sahak and St. Mesrop, together with a body of scholars selected from among the class of Translators. History places their number at one hundred, of whom sixty had been trained by Sahak and the rest by Mesrop. The Armenian translation of the Old Testament was made from the Greek text of the Septuagint, but with many different readings in accordance with the Syriac translation. This work was begun in 404 and brought to an end in 433, after a final revision by St. Sahak, by comparison with a copy which was expressly sent by the patriarch of Constantinople. When this was accomplished, they employed themselves in the preparation of the books of the liturgy, such as the mass, the rituals of baptism, of confirmation, of ordination, of marriage, of the consecration of churches, and of funerals, the offices of the day, and the calendar. St. Sahak contributed to this work, either directly, or indirectly with the help of his disciples. This organization of the liturgy was inspired by that of St. Basil, that is to say, by the liturgy of the church of Caesarea. It will be admitted that nothing would be more natural than to imagine that the heads of the Armenian Church, as we have indicated above, should derive their teaching from the schools of Cappadocia.
But, while following closely the liturgy of Caesarea, there was no attempt at keeping to a slavish exactitude. St. Grigor had already borrowed liberally from national customs and from pagan rites, which he had adapted into Christian rites. In the course of a century these practices had had time to become so deeply rooted as established customs, that it was impossible for new organisers to escape their influence. More over, they declined to comply wholly with the requirements of the Greek rite. What is peculiarly the property of the Armenian liturgy are its hymns (scharakan), which are indeed of an original character, and which ring as an echo of the old national songs. They are analogous, too, in some respects with the Syriac hymns of St. Ephraim.
The distinctive character of this primitive literature lies in the large number of translations of the works of the Greek Fathers. It is interest mg to notice in particular that certain of these works, the originals of which have been lost, have been preserved in these translations. Besides the translations from the Fathers, most of the philosophical works of antiquity have also been thus preserved. Of original works there were but a few, such as books of ancient and contemporaneous history.