Mesrop and Martin

“And this Gospel of The Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” -Matthew 24:14

The heart of being an Evangelical is to take the unchanging truths from the Holy Bible and apply them to the changing times. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever but the way we communicate with each other is constantly in flux. Therefore we need to take the unchanging truth of Jesus Christ and communicate it in both a language and in a manner for all to understand.

Mesrop Mashtots and Catholicos Shahag (Issac the Great to the Western world), are our role models for what it means to be an Evangelical Armenian. Shahag commissioned Mesrop Mashtots and a group of translators to invent an Armenian Alphabet with the main objective of having a Bible in a format that the Armenian people can understand. The translation of the Bible in the vernacular led to a revival among the first Christian Nation and solidified our Christian Armenian culture.

Throughout church history there has been a strong correlation between the spreading of Christianity and accessibility to a vernacular version of the Bible. The Protestant Reformation is another example that shows the relationship between access to the Holy Scriptures and a spiritual revival. Martin Luther translated the Bible into a vernacular German, and with the utilization of the printing press the Bible was mass produced. The Protestant Reformation would have likely been impossible were it not for Gutenberg's invention. Because of the printing press, Martin Luther became the first mass media personality and was successful in leading the Reformation because Luther spoke the language of the people and used the technology available to him to teach and preach the message of Jesus Christ in a manner that was understood to as many people as possible.

Every October, we remember the feast of the Holy Translators at the beginning of the month and Reformation Sunday at the end of the month. In many ways, these holidays are a celebration of embracing new technologies that have helped spread the Gospel. The Feast of the Holy Translators was made possible because of the invention of the Armenian alphabet. The Protestant Reformation was possible with the invention of the printing press. Today, a new movement with the evangelical spirit can emerge through the utilization of the internet, social media, and even the metaverse to spread the gospel to all the nations. For the Christian movement to continue, we must not water down or change the unchanging Gospel, but be comfortable with letting go of outdated technologies and utilize new technologies to help others apply Biblical truths.

Let us not just celebrate the feast of the Holy Translations and Reformation Sunday this month. But honor the evangelical spirit of these two important moments of history by sharing the unchanging truths of the Gospel of the Kingdom, to as many people as possible, utilizing whatever technological means we have available to us.