The Feast of the Holy Translators (, ''Surb T'argmanchats ton'') is dedicated to a group of literary figures, and

saints In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Orth ...

of the

Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the Autocephaly, autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christianity, Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic ...

, who founded the

Armenian alphabet The Armenian alphabet (, or , ) or, more broadly, the Armenian script, is an alphabetic writing system developed for Armenian and occasionally used to write other languages. It is one of the three historical alphabets of the South Caucasu ...

, translated the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, and started a movement of writing and translating important works into

Armenian language Armenian (endonym: , , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the sole member of the independent branch of the Armenian language family. It is the native language of the Armenians, Armenian people and the official language of ...

. The earliest Bible in Armenian is dated 981 (

Matenadaran The Matenadaran (), officially the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, is a museum, repository of manuscripts, and a research institute in Yerevan, Armenia. It is the world's largest repository of Armenian manuscripts. It was establ ...

№ 2679). The Holy Translators are: *

Mesrop Mashtots Mesrop Mashtots (; , ' 362February 17, 440 AD) was an Armenians, Armenian Linguistics, linguist, composer, Christian theology, theologian, Politician, statesman, and Hymnology, hymnologist. He is venerated as a saint in the Armenian Apostolic C ...

Koriun Koriun (; also transliterated as ''Koriwn'', ''Koryun'', ''Coriun'') was a fifth-century Armenian author and translator. He was the youngest student of Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet. His sole known work is the '' Life of M ...

, author of ''Life of Mashtots'' * Eznik of Kolb, author of ''On God'' (1280) *

Ghazar Parpetsi Ghazar Parpetsi (; ) was a fifth-to-sixth-century Armenian historian. He had close ties with the powerful Mamikonian noble family and is most prominent for writing a history of Armenia in the last years of the fifth century or at the beginning of ...

, author of ''History of the Armenians'' (1200) *

Isaac of Armenia Isaac or Sahak of Armenia ( – ) was the catholicos (or patriarch) of the Armenian Church from until . He is sometimes known as ''Isaac the Great'' or ''Sahak the Parthian'' () in reference to his father's Parthian origin. He was the last Ar ...

Gregory of Narek Grigor Narekatsi (; anglicized as Gregory of Narek; – 1003/1011) was an Armenian mystical and lyrical poet, monk, and theologian. He is venerated as a saint in the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic Churches and was declared a Doctor of t ...

, author of ''Commentary on the Song of Songs'' (977) and ''Book of Lamentations'' (1002) *

Movses Khorenatsi Movses Khorenatsi ( 410–490s AD; , ) was a prominent Armenians, Armenian historian from late antiquity and the author of the ''History of Armenia (book), History of the Armenians''. Movses's ''History of the Armenians'' was the first attempt at ...

, author of '' History of the Armenians'' (12th century) *

Yeghishe Elishe (, , 410 – 475) was an Armenian historian from the time of late antiquity, best known as the author of ''History of Vardan and the Armenian War'', a history of the fifth-century Armenian revolt led by Vardan Mamikonian against the ...

, author of ''History of Vardan and the Armenian War'' (1172) *

David the Invincible David the Invincible or David the Philosopher was a neoplatonist philosopher of the 6th century. David was a pupil of Olympiodorus in Alexandria. His works, originally written in Greek, survive in medieval Armenian translation, and he was giv ...

Nerses IV the Gracious Nerses IV the Gracious (; also Nerses Shnorhali, Nerses of Kla or Saint Nerses the Graceful; 1102 – 13 August 1173) was Catholicos of Armenia from 1166 to 1173. During his time as a bishop and, later, as Catholicos of All Armenians, Catholic ...

Gregory the Illuminator Gregory the Illuminator ( – ) was the founder and first official Catholicos of All Armenians, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He Christianization of Armenia, converted Armenia from Zoroastrianism in Armenia, Zoroastrianism to Chris ...

The translation of the Bible was finished by the Holy Translators in 425. The first words written in Armenian were the opening line of the

Book of Proverbs The Book of Proverbs (, ; , ; , "Proverbs (of Solomon)") is a book in the third section (called Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)/the Christian Old Testament. It is traditionally ascribed to King Solomon and his students. When translated into ...

: The first Armenian translation of the Bible, among the world's oldest, has survived and is still used in the liturgy of the Armenian Church. The Armenian Church remembers Holy Translators on the Feast of the Holy Translators in October. Churches of Holy Translators are established in

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

and different diaspora communities (USA,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

etc.). According to Dennis Papazian, "the ''Holy Translators'' are highly revered in the Armenian church. Many of the works translated have since been lost in their Greek or Syriac original, but have been preserved in the Armenian."Armenians
{{webarchive, url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011111122055/http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/papazian/armenia.html , date=2001-11-11 , by Prof. Dennis R. Papazian

References

Armenian saints Armenian translators * Ancient translators Groups of Christian saints