St Mesrop the Teacher

Bishop. Born in 345, this saint was one of the founders of the Armenian church. He worked with St Isaac the Great as a missionary among his people.

St Mesrop developed an alphabet for the Armenian language and set up schools around the country. He then accomplished the massive task of organising a translation of the Bible - with students travelling as far as Rome to collect manuscripts. He contributed the Armenian version of the New Testament and the Book of Proverbs himself. St Mesrop also worked as a missionary in Georgia, where he also had a literary influence.

It was Mesrop and Isaac who began the formation of the Armenian liturgy of worship based on that of the mother church of Caesarea in Cappadocia. The Armenian translation of the Bible has a special value for scholars as it is so ancient. St Mesrop died in 439.