The Life of Mashtots

When Emperor Constantius II first set foot in Rome in 357 and saw the magnificent structures and statues of the eternal City, he was amazed and astonished. Upon seeing the triumphal arch of Trajan and that statue representing Emperor Trajan on a galloping horse, he marveled and expressed a desire to have one like it himself. A Persian prince, who was in the Emperor's retinue, shaking his head, made an observation: "To have such a horse, it is necessary to also have a corresponding stable" 2. That is to say, culture. Even if the Emperor did not have the courage to transport that horse to his capital, Mashtots had the courage to host the great minds of Christian Greeks and Syrians with all splendor in the academy of Armenian literature. The Armenian language was capable of representing their words with all subtlety, and the Armenian people were capable of hearing and understanding.

In the shortest time, the Armenian translators created a rich library on Armenian soil with very diverse content.

Mashtots worked this miracle. It was not a fleeting phenomenon. Armenian literature has flourished for 1500 years, even if not always at an equal height and with proportional fruitfulness.

Thus, Mashtots made four illiterate, barbarian peoples happy and raised them to the rank of literate peoples, brought them to intellectual independence, and made them masters of their own culture.

The life of this genius, inventive, creative in mind, holy in behavior, illuminating with his results, and a rare birth of the centuries, a great Man of international stature, has been written by Koriwn, his student and admirer.

1 · The name "Koriwn": We know Koriwn only through the work, "Life of Mashtots." This Life has reached us in only one manuscript, namely, Yerevan Matenadaran No. 2639, written in 1672, which bears the title: "Memory of the holy Mesrop, made by the blessed one," without the author's name. In the transcribed copies of this manuscript (such as No. 131, in the year 1781), this title has been transformed: "History of the life and death of the blessed holy vardapet Mesrop... made by Koriwn vardapet, his student..." (see Koriwn, A. 1 note). Without doubt, it was fabricated by a more recent hand. The shorter version of the Life is of more ancient origin, preserved in the Paris National Library manuscript No. 178, from the 12th century, where it is said: "In memory of the history of the life of the blessed holy vardapet Mesrop, which was spoken by his student Koriwn." Although the reading "Mesrop" here also raises some doubt about the authenticity of the title, we have no reason to subject to doubt the name Koriwn, genitive "Koryan," and "which was spoken (read: 'made') by his student." The name "Koriwn" has its comparison in the name "Eznik"; it is used here only as a proper name. That the author of the Life is Koriwn is testified to by the ancients.

2 Ammianus Marcellinus, XVI, 10, 15.