I was born into an Apostolic Armenian family. we Armenians are considered part of the Oriental Orthodoxy, and if i am correct, we are in full communion with the syrian, coptic, etc orthodox churches
I wanted to know for someone like me, what type of bible do we use? what books are included in my bible? i want to buy one but eastern orthodoxy has more/less books than us so i wanted to have a list of the books. anyone know?
Ideally you would use the Bible that saint Mesrob translated 1600 years or so ago assuming you are Armenian literate. But the easy answer is to see what your closest Armenian parish uses. But if not probably almost any Bible from Catholics, Protestants or EO will do in the short run.
Saint Mesrop Mashtots, Mesrop also spelled
Mesrob, (born
c. 360, Hatsik,
Armenia [modern Muş, Turkey]—died February 17, 440; Western feast day, Thursday following 4th Sunday after Pentecost, and Monday following 3rd Sunday after the Assumption; Armenian feast day, February 19), monk, theologian, and linguist who, according to tradition, invented the
Armenian script in 405 and helped establish Armenia’s golden age of
Christian literature.
After studying Classical languages with the patriarch Nerses I, Mesrop Mashtots began a monastic existence about 395. He was ordained a priest, maintained a lifelong esteem for the
ascetic life, and founded several monasteries. He spread the
Gospel in remote areas of Armenia and suppressed Mazdaism, a
religion descended from Zoroastrianism. Later, he served as chancellor to King Vramshapuh, who supported him in systematizing or inventing the definitive 36-character
Armenian alphabet, following a Greek model;
Isaac the Great, supreme head of the
Armenian Apostolic Church, and a Greek known as Rufanos were also believed to have helped. (Two letters were added later.) This
alphabet was initially used to translate from the Greek the first popular Armenian Bible, the “Mesropian” Bible (
c. 410). Mesrop Mashtots himself was responsible for translating the New Testament and the
Old Testament book of
Proverbs. He subsequently revised the entire text.
Mesrop Mashtots dispatched his circle of scholars to Constantinople (modern Istanbul),
Alexandria, and Rome in search of biblical and literary manuscripts. A collection of biblical commentaries, translations of patristic works, and liturgical prayers and hymns constructed on an eight-tone scale is credited to him,
corroborating his reputation for having laid the foundation of a national
Armenian liturgy.
Saint Mesrop Mashtots | Armenian theologian and linguist
