Armenian Studies Program
5245 N. Backer Ave. PB4
Fresno CA 93740-8001
Dear Editor,
Thank you for sending me the Vol. 32, No.4 of Hye Sharzhoom in which there are two reports that prompt me to write this brief comment.
Armen Arikian’s report entitled “Mouraviev Reveals Secrets of the Armenian Alphabet” is rather exaggerated and uncritical. What secrets? I wonder if anyone in the audience mentioned to Mr. Mouraviev that his findings could in no way be defined as “secrets”. There are few nations in the world that have an eyewitness account of the origins of their alphabet and literary heritage. The definitive bedrock source for the origin of the Armenian alphabet is Koriwn Vardapet’s Vark Mashtots (The Life of Mashtots), which is also the source of information for Movses Khorenatsi and Ghazar Parpetsi.
The first stage of finding an alphabet entailed trying to adopt an already existing alphabet. The so-called Danielian letters of Syriac origin found “unexpectedly” (zyankardsagiwt) were “taught to a group of young children... yet when they became aware of the fact that these letters were insufficient to form all the syllables of the Armenian language, especially since the letters proved to have been buried and then resurrected from other languages, they found themselves once again in the same anxieties and for some time were engaged in search of a solution” (Koriwn VI). The Danielian letters were an obsolete Aramaic alphabet consisting of 22 letters, totally inadequate for Armenian.
Mesrop invented “new and wonderful letters of the Armenian language (norog ev skancheli...)”. Mesrop Mashtots “designed, named, determined their order and devised the syllabication” (Koriwn VIII). Mouraviev’s theory that “Mashtots modified the now extinct Danielian alphabet to form the Armenian alphabet” is total nonsense. The significance of Mesrop’s work is not in the shaping of the external forms of the letters, this was done by the “Hellenic scribe named Rafinus (Hropanos)”, but in determining the number of sounds needed for the Armenian language. [Dr. Vrej Nersessian, ”Armenian” in Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe, ed. by Glanville Price, Oxford University Press,1998, pp.13-18].
The other piece that caught my attention was “How do you feel the genocide affects Armenians?” Three views were expressed. Two of the views “I am here and I exist” or “we are here to stay, and grow” reminds me of Parouyr Sevak’s sentiments. The most objectionable view is that the Genocide “is a major part of the Armenian identity”. The characteristics of Armenian identity were forged 1915 years before and if the Turks tomorrow accept their responsibility for the Genocide does this mean we Armenians will be deprived of our identity? The characteristics of our identity are our Christian Faith (301 AD), the invention of the Armenian alphabet (406 AD), the translation of the Armenian Bible (413 AD), the moral victory won at the Battle of Avarayr (451 AD), the creation of the Bagratid (885 AD) and Cilician (1080 AD) kingdoms, the 20,000 illuminated manuscripts, the vast architectural heritage, the 2,000 sharakans, adoption of printing in 1512 AD, the publication of the first Armenian Bible in Amsterdam in 1666 AD, the military victory over the Turks at the Battle of Sardarabad on 28th May 1918, the Stalingrad of Armenian history, and the succession of the creation of three independent Armenian Republics.
The greatest achievement of the Armenian people in the 20th century is the defeat of the Turkish army of 75,000 at the battle of Sardarabad by the refugees, orphans, and displaced Armenians who in an act of defensive bravery in which the whole Armenian population participated saved Armenia from total annihilation and saved the world from the creation of a Pan-Turkish Empire to replace the decapitated Ottoman Empire.
The moral victory won at the Battle of Avarayr in 451 AD and the military victory won at Sardarabad in 1918 AD define Armenian identity and not the Genocide.
Rev. Dr. Vrej Nerses Nersessian
Vicar of St. Eghiche Armenian Church, London
Feast Day of the Appearance of the Cross