PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 10) 517 163
Fax: (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail: ktrij@etchmiadzin.am
October 8, 2005

Encyclical of His Holiness Karekin II on the
1600th Anniversary of the Creation of the Armenian Alphabet

On Saturday, October 8, 2005, the Armenian Church and Nation dispersed
throughout the world celebrated the Feast of the Holy Translators. The
Pontifical Encyclical of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians appears below:

Karekin II, Servant of Jesus Christ,
By the Mercy of God and the Will of the Nation,
Chief Bishop and Catholicos of All Armenians,
Supreme Patriarch of the Pan-National Pre-Eminent Araratian See,
the Apostolic Mother Church of Universal Holy Etchmiadzin

Christ-bequeathed greetings of love and Pontifical blessings
to the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia,
to the Armenian Patriarchates of Holy Jerusalem and Constantinople,
to the Archbishops, Bishops, Archimandrites, Priests and Deacons,
to the Diocesan Delegational Assemblies, Diocesan and Parochial Councils and
Officers,
and to All Beloved Faithful Armenian People.

“The Lord hath been mindful of us; he will bless us”
(Psalms 115:12)

Beloved devout Armenians,

The Grace of God and heavenly mercy visited our Nation and the Land of
Armenia through the remarkable creation of the Armenian Alphabet, the 1600th
Anniversary of which we celebrate today. Let us offer praises to heaven,
because “The Lord has been mindful of us; he will bless us”, granting us
crowning individuals, “who decorated the wisdom of the Uncreate,
establishing the living letters upon the earth.”

The memories which are called to mind are brilliant and praiseworthy.

>From a distance of sixteen centuries, that joyful day of Armenian history
becomes clear before our soul, when the Learned Doctor Mashtots was
returning to Vagharshapat, holding the newly discovered Armenian characters
near his heart – to his heart aching for his nation, for Armenia. He was
happily returning from the distant journey, for God had heard his unceasing
prayers and had blessed his vigilant endeavors, and had blessed his mission.
“²” and “ø” – beginning with “²ñ³ñÇã” (Creator) and ending with “øñÇëïáë”
(Christ), the alphabet of 36 characters was born, so that the Armenian
people could read the Breath of God in their native tongue, “and the
Christ-given salvation would reach all people”, wisdom and instruction be
recognized, and words of insight be understood.

Mashtots was passing through the stations of the road full of hope, because
he knew that they were awaiting him in the homeland to receive the fruits of
his efforts. Even Moses was not as happy, says Koriun – the disciple and
biographer of Mashtots, because when Moses descended Mount Sinai holding the
God-inspired tablets in his arms, the people were worshipping the gold-cast
idol. In contrast, waiting impatiently for Mashtots were Catholicos Sahak
Parthev, King Vramshapuh, the royal court, nobility and the compassionate
clergy; and when they heard that he had neared the capital, they went to
greet him with the multitude of people. Thus, the waters of the river Arax
became witness to the joys of the encounter, the songs of blessing, and the
prayers of praise and thanksgiving.

To make the timeless word of God be heard, the teaching of the Armenian
language was embarked upon. Schools were opened in all provinces of the
land of Armenia through the sponsorship of the king and the care of the
pontiff. Children and the Army of free nobles were educated, and the people
themselves were coming to the “opened source of divine knowledge”. The
letters of Mashtots became the stewards serving the Living Word, and “Moses
the lawgiver and the ranks of prophets; Paul leading the regiment of the
apostles, as well as the life-giving Gospel of Christ, began to speak in
Armenian, to utter in our native tongue.” And the endless stream of souls
was opened; disciples became teachers, translators, commentators,
hymn-writers, historians and philosophers. With the perceptible arch of
light, the dissociated national life and detached lands of Armenia were
united. In our homeland, the word of God adorned and ornamented souls; it
brought to life the hope of salvation and the faith in the resurrection.
God blessed His inheritance, which the holy apostles of the Lord and our
apostolic father of faith, Saint Gregory the Illuminator, had secured with
their witnessing lives. Truly, “the Lord has been mindful of us; he will
bless us.” In difficult times for Armenia, our loyal clergyman and lay
authorities became the guardians and leaders of the nation, “who by the
power of the Uncreate Being, the Wisdom of the Father, established the See
of Saint Gregory, by translating the writings.”

The blessed generation of the Sahak-Mesropian school molded Armenian history
of the fifth century with the inspired and ingenious awakening of mind and
soul, victorious in dedication and fidelity, and gloriously attired in
martyrdom. Those educated by the spirit educated others. All succeeding
centuries of our history were led by the generation of the golden harvest of
the Armenian culture, the Christ-loving and homeland-devoted, kindhearted,
enlightened and intellectual generation, who during times of trial did not
hesitate to defend their faith and homeland with their very lives. Fathers
and sons, recognizing the eternal within the temporal, journeyed the path
from Avarayr to Nvarsak with the sanctified, blessed name of our Lord on
their lips. “The Lord has been mindful of us; he will bless us”, granting
us a century of valor, a century of heroism, when among the few, many were
found to be virtuous, “who called the glorious earthly grandeur ‘darkness’,
relying on the hope of the immortal bridegroom, becoming worthy of the
Ineffable Word”. “The Lord has been mindful of us; he will bless us.” The
sun shone over the plain of Shavarshan and forever united the faith and the
homeland of the Armenians. Regardless if the land of Armenia was protected
or being trampled, if Armenian statehood was existing or overthrown, the
Armenian spirit remained steadfast and secure with the 36 letters of life,
because the characters of Mashtots aligned on parchment had written upon the
souls of our people the purpose and mystery of their very existence.

Through the letters of Mashtots, the exquisite Armenian language has been
immortalized and the fertile tree of Armenian culture has grown tall from
the seed of a golden root, and thereby the Armenian nation dispersed
throughout the world with its Christian identity and with its faithful,
creative and progress-driven spiritual introspection is forever one and
unified. In everything that our people have created throughout sixteen
centuries, our great and blessed learned doctors Saint Sahak and Saint
Mesrop – the first Armenian teachers – are present. As long as their
luminous memory and the spiritual mystery of the Armenian letters are still
alight, they will continue to live and work – preparing invincible minds and
liberated souls by dispensing infinite treasures and divine light that
overcomes the darkness.

Beloved Armenians, guard our native letters of Mashtots, holding them close
to your heart, and our homeland and Holy Church will always remain hallowed.
Love our mother tongue and the glories of our ancestors will be praised;
grace, noble and pure visions, and lofty aspirations will flourish in the
life of the homeland. Keep the Armenian school luminous and bright, and our
future generations will converse about eternity with Free Ararat, Mother
Arax and the Mother Cathedral, which always remember the bliss of those
happy days when our venerable teachers turned the land of Armenia into a
blessed, desirable and magnificent place through the words of God resounding
in Armenian.

>From the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, we exhort our hierarchal sees, our
diocesan primates, our oath-bound clerical order and all our faithful people
in Armenia and in the communities of the dispersion, to celebrate the
glorious memories of the God-sanctified discovery of the Armenian Alphabet
in the year 2005 with pan-national festivities and splendor. Let the
exultant prayers of our souls reach heaven from the four corners of the
world, because “The Lord has been mindful of us; he will bless us”, granting
us crowning individuals, “who decorated the wisdom of the Uncreate,
establishing the living letters upon the earth.”

May the peaceful and righteous gaze of God look upon Armenian life, in our
free and renewing homeland and in all corners of the Armenian Diaspora.

Before the Holy Altar of Descent, we offer prayers to heaven, asking that
God, through the intercession of our learned doctor-translators who dwell in
lights, bestow abundant grace upon our faithful people, so that love and
devotion to the homeland and to our Holy Church be everlasting and our faith
be unshaken that, “Yea, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will
yield its increase”. (Psalms 85:12).

May the grace, mercy and peace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, be with you in truth and in love. Amen.

KAREKIN II
CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS

Encyclical given on the 29th of January
In the Year of our Lord 2005, and in the date of the Armenians 1454
At the Mother Monastery of Holy Etchmiadzin
Number 283