Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/78

72 Khrimian, the honored and the beloved Archbishop. The Bible was translated into the Armenian language early in the fifth century by Mesrob, who also invented and introduced the present alphabet, composed of thirty-six letters. (Three more letters were introduced afterwards for foreign sounds.)

3. The Relation of the Armenian and Greek Churches. Though Christianity was introduced first among the Jews and the Greeks, the Armenian church has the honor of being "the First National Church in Christendom." Nothwithstanding her national independence, she acknowledged the church universal and conducted herself in unity with the sister churches in the East, the principal one of which was the Greek church. St. Gregore, the Illuminator, was trained and even ordained in the Greek school at Cæsaria, and was authorized to represent the Armenian branch of "the Church Universal" in the general councils. The early history of the Christian church shows that the Armenian delegates of these councils had their own share in the discussions of various theological and ecclesiastical subjects; so much that the Western delegates and the Bishop of Constantinople, and even the Emperor Constantine himself, could not help to admire and appreciate their superior intellect and zeal for the interest of the church. Especially at the celebrated discussions of Arius' doctrine against the divine nature of our Saviour, the Armenian bishops, as opponents to that heresy, expressed the greatest zeal for the preservation of the old orthodox doctrine. And the Necean