ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
January 30, 2005 Sunday

Garegin II calls for marking 1,600 jubilee of Armenian alphabet

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

Head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Garegin II, has
issued an encyclical on the occasion of the 1,600 anniversary of the
Armenian alphabet to be marked later this year. The document was read
out at a liturgy service in Holy Echmiadzin on Sunday.

Sixteen centuries have passed since the day when enlightener and
scientist Archimandrite Mesrop Mashtots invented the Armenian written
language for Armenians to read the Bible in their native tongue,
Garegin II said. “St. Mesrop’s alphabet made the Armenian language
immortal. That golden root gave life to the beautiful tree of
Armenian culture, which unites Armenians all over the world by their
Christian originality and spirituality directed into the future,” he
said.

The Catholicos called on people to cherish the Armenian written
language and school “so that our fatherland and Holy Church live
forever.”

He also called on archpriests and clerics of the Armenian Church and
all believers to celebrate the jubilee.

The Armenian language, a separate branch of the Indo-European family
of languages, has a 39-letter alphabet.