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34 The Armenian Church

culture, and through long reflection and
research, he invented the Armenian alphabet
in 405. The invention of the alphabet was
such an extraordinary achievement that
historians have tried to account for it in
various ways, such as suggesting that he
must have received "divine guidance" or that
the creation of the alphabet was a "heavenly
miracle," that he wrote it "not in sleep nor
awake," and even that it was written by "a
heavenly right hand writing." The alphabet
was composed of 36 letters, representing
all the sounds in the Armenian spoken
language, six vowels and 30 consonants; two
letters, 'o' and 'f' were added in the 12th
Century (see Appendix B for the Armenian
alphabet).
In the years following the creation of the
alphabet, St. Mesrob travelled throughout
the country to teach it to the people. In a
flurry of activity, the Bible was translated
into Armenian. Then, under the leadership
of St. Mesrob and St. Sahak, a group of dis-
ciples, called the holy translators, produced
a rich religious literature by translating the
works and liturgical materials of eminent
church fathers. This first stage of cultural
and spiritual transformation was followed
by an outpouring of liturgical texts, hymns,
hagiographic writings, theological treatises,
and apologetics, written by Armenian church
divines. In this way, the invention of the