Վրէժ Վարդանեան2025-11-052025-11-052004Վարդանեան, Վ., «Մեսրոպ Մաշտոցի լուսաւորչական առաքելութեան սկզբնափուլը», «Հայկազեան հայագիտական հանդէս», 2004, Պէյրութ, էջ 39-58https://haigrepository.haigazian.edu.lb/handle/123456789/910The author argues that securing the spiritual independence of the Armenians became a powerful tool towards maintaining this people’s survival in the last decades of the Arshakuni (Arsacid) Kingdom in Armenia. This spiritual independence was achieved thanks to the invention of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots in the year 405 AD. Mashtots’s feat also raised hopes for Armenian political distinctiveness. The invention of the Armenian alphabet was greeted adversely among the pro-Persian Syrian clergy that enjoyed immense influence in Armenia at the time. The Persian kings used to support the Syrian clergy as leverage against the Byzantine Church. Mashtots invented the Armenian alphabet in the Persian-controlled, Syrian city of Edessa in an attempt to weaken the otherwise strong Syrian clergy in Armenia. Mashtots and his disciples also translated the Bible to Armenian initially from the Syriac Peshitta version. The author Koriun drew parallels between Mashtots and the Biblical prophet, Moses, so as to argue that the invention of the Armenian alphabet was an exalted act, sanctioned and blessed by God.