Mesrop Mashtots

Mesrop Mashtots
Painting by Stepanos Nersisian (1815–84), kept at the Pontifical Residence at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
Born	c. 362 Hatsik, Taron Province, Kingdom of Armenia
Died	February 17, 440 Vagharshapat, Armenia
Venerated in	Armenian Apostolic Church Armenian Catholic Church Roman Catholic Church
Major shrine	St. Mesrop Mashtots Church in Oshakan, Armenia
Feast	The Armenian Church remembers St. Mesrop (together with St. Sahak), twice each year, first in July and then again on the Feast of the Holy Translators in October; February 17 in the Roman Catholic Church.
Patronage	Armenia

Mesrop Mashtots  listen  (Armenian: Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց; Latin: Mesrobes Mastosius; 362 – February 17, 440 AD), also known as Mesrob the Vartabed, was an early medieval Armenian linguist, theologian, statesman and hymnologist. He is best known for having invented the Armenian alphabet c. 405 AD, which was a fundamental step in strengthening Armenian national identity. He was also the creator of the Caucasian Albanian and Georgian alphabets, according to a number of scholars and contemporaneous Armenian sources.

Mesrop Mashtots was born in a noble family ("from the house of an azat" according to Anania Shirakatsi) in the settlement of Hatsekats in Taron (identified as the village of Hac'ik in the Mush plain), and died in Vagharshapat. He was the son of a man named Vardan.Koryun, his pupil and biographer, tells us that Mashtots (in his work he does not mention the name Mesrop) received a good education, and was versed in the Greek and Persian languages. On account of his piety and learning Mesrop was appointed secretary to King Khosrov IV. His duty was to write in Greek and Persian characters the decrees and edicts of the sovereign.