Those familiar with Armenian Churches might have come across a mysterious sign on top of the main altar on numerous occasions. This curious sign “Է” as seen in the picture is the 7th letter of the Armenian alphabet and has a very interesting history.
The earliest attestation of the sign has been found on petroglyphs in Metsamor, Armenia (see pictures below) and has been dated to 3.000 BCE. The sign itself was known for it’s use by Mithraic priests in pre-Christian Armenia. Later, during the creation of the Armenian Alphabet (405 A.D.), Mesrob Mashtots incorporated it into the Armenian alphabet and gave it a sacred place as the 7th letter of the alphabet. As such it was adopted by the Armenian Church and to date can be admired on top of the altars of Armenian Churches. Its significance to the Church is well explained by the following article.
If you walk into any given Armenian Orthodox Church, you may notice something over the altar, or at least most of them. You may either see the single letter ‘Eh’ (Է) directly at the top, such as the picture to the left demonstrates, or you may see the words ‘Asdvadz Ser Eh’ (in Armenian letters) with the English translation ‘God Is Love’ following it. In the case of the latter, the letter ‘Eh’ (Է) is still directly above the altar.
What is so special about the letter ‘Eh’ (Է) that it deserves such a prominent place over the church altar? First, let’s look at its meaning. In the phrase ‘God is Love’, the word for is is ‘eh’, thus, ‘Asdvadz Ser Eh’ (transliteration: ‘God Love Is’). So, the letter/word ‘Eh’ (Է) literally means ‘is’ or ‘he is’, which , to those familiar with the Old Testament, may sound like a reference to God Himself.
In Exodus chapter 3, the prophet Moses encountered God in the burning bush. As God was instructing Moses to deliver His people from Egypt, Moses asked, “If I come to the
Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’
God told Moses that His name is ‘I am’, or technically ‘Is’, or ‘He Who Is’. Thus, God is a being who just IS, and it is only the eternal God who can call Himself by this name. In Armenian, it is the letter/word ‘Eh’ (Է) that serves as the name for ‘I am’ or ‘he is’, and just as Moses realized the ‘Eh’ (Է) to be dwelling in the burning bush, so too does the Armenian Church realize that God (Eh) dwells at the church altar.
Furthermore, ‘Eh’ (Է), when pronounced, makes the sound of a breath, and so the idea of God being the breath of life is attached to this letter. Also, the letter ‘Eh’ (Է) happens to be the 7th letter of the Armenian alphabet. Symbolically, 7 is known as the number of perfection, or completion. Throughout the Bible, the number 7 is attributed to several acts of God, and to God Himself, so the letter ‘Eh’ (Է) takes on even further significance.Thus, for the Armenian Church, the letter ‘Eh’ (Է) and its meaning is considered to be Holy. It is not only symbolic, but ‘Eh’ (Է) is the name of God.
Another interesting fact; in the Armenian alphabet, only the letter Է (Ē) can be added as a prefix or a suffix and form a new word. There is no other letter that can be applied in such manner according to the rules of Armenian grammar. Therefore, Է (Ē), is not only a simple letter or a character, but is also a Word in and of itself.
Etymology according to Wikipedia: Old Armenian է (ē), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”).
I’d like to thank you for the beautiful videos and interesting articles. Regarding the article ” The Armenian name of the Lord” – letter ” E” in armenian means eutyun or essentia in latin. Therefore Ararich’ Eutyunn e amenkis ev kyanki. Unfortunately our knowledge is lost, history is distorted, our language has been modified too many times… Our divine language ( with multitude of dialects) carries all the secrets and unwritten history.. Master Mesrob Mashtots didn’t invent Armenian alphabet – he had recovered it, reinvented it…
Aram jan: Mesrop did not invent the alphabet, he reintroduced it after its destruction.
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I remember asking this to my father, it was in a small Armenian Apostolic Church in Turkey where we live, he taught the word/letter (Է) “E” represents “Enki” And/or “Ea”. But I was too young to understand. After years I collected some information from various sources. According to historical sources Enki is a creator god, god of wisdom, and god of fresh water. Additionally he was the god of artists and craftsmen. Enki is perceived as filling the Tigris and Euphrates with sacred sweet water. According to Wikipedia The name Ea is allegedly Hurrian in origin while others claim that… Read more »
Very interesting. Did you also know that in the Babylonian mythology there is a person called Van, who is equated with Enki. They say he brought the tree of life (the biblical tree of Eden) to Ararat. Many theologians still believe Armenia was the place of Eden. it coincides with the Babylonian story.
Probably Eh=Enki= Ea indeed. And he was one of the annunakis,one of the two brothers,Enki and Enlil,sons of Anu.
‘God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’
GOD spoke to Moses in Hebrew. That is the reason for Hebrews to say that Hebrew is the language of GOD.
Can anybody tell me to whom of Armenians GOD spoke in Armenian and told HIS name ?
There are different theories as to who Moses was, early Greek writings testify Moses was originally Osarseph a renegade Egyptian priest, who led a band of lepers out of Egypt creating own cult. Strabo two considered Moses to be an Egyptian who deplored the situation in his homeland, and thereby attracted many followers. We don’t really know in what language God spoke to Moses.
According to legend the Armenian alphabet was given to Mashtots by divine vision. And so was the letter “Է” which got a prominent 7th position in the alphabet.
God spoke to the world in Armenian.” “Armenian is the language to speak with God.” Lord Byron. I agree with Lord Byron: ‘Partes’ / Paradise was in Armenia. Adam and Eve were in Armenia. Enoch lived in heaven with GOD and was father of Naamah the wife of Noah. Enoch named his son in low Enoch – Noah /NAHAPET who landed in Armenia after the Flood. After Noah and Naamah died they both became Armenian Gods. Noah is god Ara. Mountain ‘ARA – RAT’ is the Place of Ara – Enoch -Noah – Nahapet. Naamah is goddess MA. Mountain ‘… Read more »
Not at all Rubik, Mashtots was a true illuminator. In fact he was the driving force behind uncovering the Armenian alphabet. He was sadned by the fact the Armenians had lost their alphabet, and initiated the search, by first approaching the Patriarch Sahak, and with Sahak they approached the King to as for permission. The king send servants to retrieve the alphabet from the Syrian man named Daniel and to bring it back to Armenia. Mashtots and Sahak then both re-vitalized and re-aranged the alphabet, because it was lost for a long time and buried. They brought it back to… Read more »
I totally agree with you about our Mesrop Mashtots. I painted a large painting ( 40″ x 68″ ) of Mashtots that I finished recently. While working on the composition I did research about him, our history of Armenian letters, and came to many discoveries that I may share with you , because they seemed to me to be quite interesting and deep in nature.
Awesome 😀 Am very excited, looking forward seeing it !
Thank you!
Gallery #1 is getting new image once in every 8 weeks. I cannot post it next because I have posted “Feet Washing at the Shrine of Goddess Anahit” this time. It was last week (with no response from Armenians).
OMG, I can’t believe it, I loved that image. Your art is splended, one of the best out there without a doubt. I’ll spread it around 😀
Thank you for your kind words. On my page there is Message board. Any long comment or any discussion can be done there. I’ll be happy to respond in the Message section. I am not responding to anyone for their comments under the images. I see every comment under the paintings but I don’t write there. I write only where it says ” Messages”. If you want me to paint Nune or anything else – please write on my Message section. I’ll be happy to replay or ask any questions I have for that matter. I cannot do that under… Read more »
Rubik jan, I only now understand what you meant, but I am not Ani, I am a different person 🙂 I’m not even the same gender, I’m am a guy. But I know Ani from youtube and facebook.
Hi ARAM TORGOM jan! Glad to know you. Thank you for the great work that you are doing for Armenians and Armenian artists. Ani is great too and I am following and reading her page. I cannot live messages there or on any Face Book page because I don’t have my personal page on Face Book. The page “Paintings By Rubik Kocharian” is business page managed by other people. I can talk only on Message board there. If Ani or Garnik Guyumjian might live just “Hi Rubik” on my message board then I can write to them anytime through my… Read more »
Yes I understand, I will tell her. 🙂 But I should really thank you and the artists like you who inspire all of us with your work and make us proud being Armenians. True art touches the soul and that’s exactly what your work does. Thank you!
Few thoughts on letters: While doing research on history and origin of Armenian alphabet I came to understanding that all alphabets that starting with the letter “A” are descending or influenced in one or another way from ancient Armenians. Letter “A” is known for being originated from the shape of a bull that symbolizes “Moving power of heavens or The Bull of universe.” It seems to be reason for having Letter “A” as the first letter of alphabets. The name RA for a GOD has Armenian origin and it was the letter “A” that was indicating divinity. Like A –… Read more »
Speaking about ARA-MA-EA-K, I believe that this is true name of ARARAT (shortly ARA-MAT). But origin of this name is different than described. On the prehistoric time, the most important product was food, so Hittites preferred to call themselves fertile (the ones who knows how to create plants, vegetables and fruits). We know that Sanskrit’s word ārāla means plough, and ārā supposed to be the ploughman. Since the ploughman have power given by the God to make ground fertile, he is the Creator on the Earth – the Arian. MAT means mother. Looking word MA-EA-K, we can say that even… Read more »
And in Sumerian epics Enki/Ea is also called Haya which is self designation name of Armenians.
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How did the Aryan-Brahmin “Mitra” move in to Christianity? (The Mitre (Head dress of Christian Prelates) derives its name from Mitra. Mitra also stayed on in the revisionist religion of Zoroastrianism that came much earlier than Christianity and much later than Brahmanism):
Well the oldest mention of Mithra comes from the kingdom of Mitanni which was located on the Armenian Highlands and Levant. Most religions especially in Mesopotamia have a lot of borrowings and mixtures of older religions. Mithra was also venerated in Armenia and in fact it was the Armenian king Tiridates I who brought Mithraism to the Romans. He was a Mithraic priest and was instrumental in the development of Mithraism among the Romans. First it was adopted by the military class later it spread to the entire empire. Perhaps after the adoption of Christianity the headdress still retained its… Read more »
Well, well. It is so interesting to delve into all this information. You get transported back in time to your heritage. Thank you!
I would like to mention that the jews have the
word khy (with the letters khet and yud) which means alive or life and those two letters numerically equal 18, this number represents and symbolizes good luck and it is used often as such. Our seventh letter of the alphabet is the same. It means life too and thus 7 symbolizes “good luck”. Nothing scientific but I thought to mention il.