The Bible (Шаблон:Lang-hy, 'Breath of God') has been translated to Armenian since the beginning of the fifth century.
The invention of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots and Isaac of Armenia in 405 AD for lack of a sufficient alphabet to translate Scripture into.[1][2] The earliest translation was Mesrop's early 5th century translation. The first monument of Armenian literature is the version of the Holy Scriptures. According to Moses of Chorene, Isaac of Armenia made a translation of the Bible from the Syriac text about the year 411. This work was insufficient, and soon afterwards Mesrop's pupils were sent to Edessa to translate the Scriptures. They journeyed as far as Constantinople, and brought back with them authentic copies of the Greek text. With the help of other copies obtained from Alexandria the Bible was translated again from the Greek according to the text of the Septuagint and Origen's Hexapla. This version, now in use in the Armenian Church, was completed around the year 434. The decrees of the first three councils — Nicæa, Constantinople, and Ephesus — and the national liturgy (so far written in Syriac) were also translated into Armenian, the latter being revised on the liturgy of St. Basil, though retaining characteristics of its own.[3]
