Mesrob, St

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Mesrob, St (361–439). Armenian Christian father. He succeeded Sahak as patriarch in 440 but died in less than six months. He invented the Armenian alphabet c.406. Thereafter, gathering around him a band of scholars, he directed a programme of theological translations into Armenian, starting with the Bible (c.410–44). This activity succeeded in starting a national literature, and helped free the Armenian Church from dependence on Greek and Syriac institutions.

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