Until the emergence and evolution of Armenian printing in the 16th cen­tury, the Armenian nation was undergoing a process of collective decline.
 

Thanks to the book printing, cultural, and educational mission carried out by the Mekhitarist fathers with relentless devotion until our days, Armenians be­came a universal nation, united by a common culture and language, spread as they were and are throughout the world. In a sense, the Mekhitarist Congre­gation became the agent whereby the “Armenian country” or «Հայոց Աշխարհ» (“Hayots Ashkharh”) in classical Armenian indeed became the “Armenian World,” which is what “ashkharh” means in modern Armenian. The massive edi­torial work undertaken by Fr. Abbot Mekhitar of Sebastea may very well have contributed to the continuity of the Armenian nation by revitalizing its cul­ture with infusions of new ideas from Europe which, in turn, were to lead to the Zartonk or Renaissance of the 19th century, the reawakening of the Armenian people cut short by the 1915 Genocide. Yet by the very nature of the uni­ver­sality injected into the Armenian nation by the Mekhitarist Congregation, was not beheaded, as Armenia is present in its ever living culture, that indestructible body of knowledge cultivated by the fathers in St. Lazarus, which they irra­dia­ted throughout the world.