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Cultural Activity 143

challenging work was led by Catholicos
Sahak and St. Mesrob Mashdots, with the
assistance of their disciples. Among the
disciples, historians mention Gorun, Yeghi-
she, Yeznik, Khorenatsi, Pavestos Puzant,
Mampre Verzanogh, Mantaguni, and Gha-
zar Parbetsi. Because of the crucial impor-
tance of the translation of the Bible, the
Church has collectively canonized the trans-
lators. The first translation was made from
the Syriac version (411), which proved to
be unsatisfactory. A group of St. Mesrob's
students were sent to Byzantium to perfect
their Greek language. The second translation
was made from a Greek-Septuagint text (434).
This translation, because of the accuracy and
clarity of its language, is considered by
western biblical scholars and armenologists
as 'the queen of translations.' The first sen-
tence translated into Armenian was: "to
know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the
words of understanding" (Prov. 1:1). The Ar-
menian Bible originally included 39 books in
the Old Testament and 27 books in the New
Testament. The Apocrypha books were trans-
lated in the 8th Century and were used in
the Armenian Church after the 12th Century.
Because of the unique importance of
liturgy for the Christian life, the translation
of the Bible was followed by the liturgies of
Ignatius of Antioch, Athanasius, Gregory of
Nazianzus, Basil the Great, John Chrysos-