GEORGIA

GEORGIA. — Since 1936 one of the 16 federated republics constituting the U.S.S.R. Having become independent in 1918, it was part of the Transcaucasian Federation as an autonomous republic after 1921, which was then suppressed.

OUTLINE: I. — Geography. —

II. History

III. Literature

IV. Liturgy

V. Bible Translation

VI. Art.

I. GEOGRAPHY

The country, which stretches along the entire southwestern slope of the Caucasus, from the Black Sea to the middle Kura, is mostly mountainous and difficult to traverse; overall it has a temperate and healthy climate, abundant rainfall, good agricultural potential (cereals, tobacco, cotton, tea, vines, fruit trees), considerable forest resources (one-third of the territory is covered by forests), and various and notable mineral wealth (copper, iron, coal, and especially manganese). A special place is given to the coastal region of Lower Mingrelia (to the west), with its humid subtropical climate, unhealthy conditions, where large reclamation works have recently been carried out. In the population Georgians predominate (over two-thirds of the total), of Japhetic stock, who have always occupied a prominent place among the contiguous Caucasian peoples, developing their own national civilization, also characterized by a flourishing literature. The most notable ethnic minorities are the Armenians (12%), the Tatars (6%), and the Ossetes (4.5%); Russians number just over 100,000. There are many inhabited centers (the urban population represents 29% of the total); the capital Tiflis (Tbilisi), grew from 294,000 to 519,000 inhabitants between 1926 and 1939; Kutais (Kutaisi), from 48,000 to 81,000; Batum (Batumi), the principal oil port of the U.S.S.R. (where the pipeline from Baku terminates), from 48,000 to 71,000.

In 1936 Georgia covered 69,300 sq. km., with 3.2 million inhabitants; after the war its territory expanded to 74,300 sq. km. and its population rose to 3.6 million (48 per sq. km.) due to the cession, by the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, of part of the autonomous region of Karachay and the autonomous republic of Kabardia-Balkaria (now called simply Kabardia). Within Georgia’s borders lie the two autonomous republics of Abkhazia (8,696 sq. km., 303,147 inhabitants; capital Sukhum) and Adzharistan (2,797 sq. km., 179,946 inhabitants; capital Batum), both along the Black Sea, and the autonomous region (Oblast) of South Ossetia (3,698 sq. km., 111,501 inhabitants; capital Staliniri), in the heart of the Caucasus.

II. HISTORY

Georgia (native name Sacartvelo), bounded to the north by the Caucasus, to the west by the Black Sea, to the south by Armenia, and approaching the Caspian Sea to the east.

In history the country is known under various names: Saspiria, Iberia, Gurzan, Gurgistan, Grusia. According to recent research the Georgians are related to the so-called Caucasian or Asianic peoples: Sumerians, Proto-Hittites, Hurrians, Mitanni, Subarians, and the population of Urartu. This relationship is based primarily on linguistic grounds.

In 65 B.C., following the victories of Pompey the Great, all of Georgia accepted the protectorate of Rome and thus became an outpost of the Empire in the struggle against Sassanian Persia.

Under Roman influence Christianity soon began to penetrate the country. The official conversion from paganism, which consisted in the worship of the stars, fire, and trees, to the faith of Christ took place around 337 under Constantine the Great and under King Mirian of eastern Georgia. This event is attributed to a woman prisoner called by the Georgians St. Nino. The first missionaries were sent by the Byzantine Emperor. After some hesitation between the Armenian Church and the Syro-Persian Church, the Georgian Church received a new hierarchical organization under King Vachtang at the end of the 5th century. At its head was placed a katholikos who was to receive his ordination in Antioch, a practice that, however, completely disappeared in the 8th century. Already by the 5th century the Georgian Church can be considered autocephalous.

In western Georgia, or Colchis, the penetration of the new faith dates back to the early centuries of Christianity. According to an ancient tradition, St. Andrew the Apostle is said to have preached there. At the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325) two representatives of Colchis were present: Damno of Trebizond and Stratofilo of Bicvinta (Pityus of the Greeks). By the end of the 5th century all of western Georgia had been won over to the Christian faith, except for Abkhazia at the eastern end of the Black Sea and the Cianeti in the province of Trebizond, both converted by Justinian (6th century). In the 7th century there were already two ecclesiastical centers dependent on the Byzantine patriarchate: the eparchy of Fothi (ancient Phasis) with four suffragan sees and an autonomous archbishopric of Sebastopoli in Abkhazia (Dioscuria-Sochumi). With the liberation of Colchis-Abkhazia from political dependence on Byzantium under Leo II (746-91), king of Abkhazia, its Church also united with the autonomous Church of Georgia in the 9th-10th centuries.

At the end of the 4th century eastern Georgia fell under Sassanian domination, which vainly attempted to propagate the fire cult. Christianity had developed to such an extent that by the beginning of the 6th century eastern Georgia alone counted about thirty ordinary bishops.

The Christological controversies could not fail to have repercussions in Georgia. The greatest diffusion was achieved by the Monophysite heresy, stimulated by the Henoticon (v.) of Zeno. Under the influence of the Syro-Armenian Church the Georgian Church accepted the formula of the Henoticon, but freed itself from it completely at the beginning of the 7th century thanks to the energetic katholikos Kyrion.

The first known representatives of monasticism in Georgia were the so-called thirteen Syrian Fathers, who arrived in Iberia around the middle of the 6th century. The most famous among them are John of Zedazeni, Seio of Mgvini, David of Gareji, Abibos of Nekressi, Jesse of Tsilkani, Anton of Martqophi, all founders of great monasteries or illustrious bishops, missionaries, and martyrs. Around 650 eastern Georgia was occupied by the Arabs, who remained there until the 9th century. This was the period of the spread of the monastic state throughout Georgia. From eastern Georgia, or Iberia, with its capital at Mtskheta and then Tiflis (Tbilisi) from the 6th century, monasticism penetrated into western Georgia, especially in Tao-Klarjeti in the basin of the Chorokhi River, where, under the direction of the archimandrite Gregory of Khandzta, many monasteries, centers of culture and Christian piety, arose in the 8th and 12th centuries. Even older are the Georgian monasteries founded abroad.

In Palestine Georgian monks or monasteries existed already from the 5th century, as in Mar Saba, in the convents founded by Peter the Iberian (d. 488). In the 6th century Emperor Justinian renewed a monastery of the Iberians in Jerusalem and another of the Laz in the desert of that city. Later the Georgians came into possession of about twenty convents built in Jerusalem and its vicinity, such as that of the Holy Cross, the Holy Savior of the Franciscans, and St. James of the Armenians. On Mount Sinai Georgian monks are found from the 6th-7th centuries. There they possessed three convents: Makvoldvani, John the Evangelist, and St. George. A monastery at Jalia belonged to the Georgians in Cyprus. In the province of Antioch in Syria there were about ten Iberian convents: St.

At the same time, a house was also established in Rome for the Georgian Fathers of Istanbul.

Under Queen Thamar (1184–1213), Georgia reached its political and cultural zenith, and the 12th century is regarded as the golden age in the history of the Georgian kingdom, whose borders extended from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea and from the Caucasus to Trebizond.

In the 13th century, Georgia succumbed to the Mongol onslaught, which divided the country into two kingdoms: Eastern Georgia and Western Georgia. In the 14th century, the terrible Tamerlane devastated the entire region. The general decline caused by the Mongol invasions was temporarily halted by King George V the Brilliant (1318–46), who reunified the country. The churches destroyed by Tamerlane were rebuilt by King Alexander I (1412–42), who continued George V’s work. However, the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453) and Trebizond severed all ties between Georgia and the West. From this time onward, the country, fragmented into three kingdoms and several autonomous feudal principalities, became a battleground between the Turks and the Persians. The 16th and 17th centuries must be considered the darkest in Georgian history. The king had lost all authority. The feudal lords, who dominated the country, mercilessly exploited the population. It was in this era that the *didi mourav* (great administrator) George Saakadze appeared, seeking to abolish feudalism by ending internal divisions and concentrating all political and military power in the hands of the king. King Luarsab II failed to understand him and abandoned him to the vengeance of his enemies. The cunning Shah Abbas, King of Persia, exploited this internal division, invaded the country, massacred nearly 100,000 Georgians, and deported another 100,000 to Persia. The shah later had King Luarsab II (d. 1622) and Queen Kacheti-Kethvana (d. 1624) put to death.

Under King Vakhtang VI (1703–24) and especially with the accession of Teimuraz II (1733–62) and his son Heraclius II (1762–98), Georgia saw better days. The feudal lords were weakened, the king’s prerogatives were strengthened, and Heraclius II was recognized as the supreme leader of all remaining autonomous political chiefs in the country (concession of 1790). Facing both internal and external difficulties, Heraclius II, after vainly seeking help in the West, concluded in 1783 a treaty of friendship and protection with Empress Catherine II of Russia. By this treaty, Russia assumed the protectorate over Georgia, left internal administration free, and recognized the full independence of the Georgian Church. However, after the death of the Georgian king George XII (d. 1800), Tsar Alexander I cynically violated this treaty and proclaimed the annexation of Georgia to Russia (1801). The Georgian Church was stripped of its autocephaly, subjected to the Russian Synod, and its head, Catholicos Anthony II, was deported to Russia in 1811.

The Georgian people suffered greatly under Russian rule: confiscation of Church property, occupation of churches and monasteries, suppression of the teaching of the Georgian language in schools, and abolition of the Georgian liturgy in churches, as well as the destruction and plundering of national works of art. With the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, Georgia restored its first independence on May 26, 1918. Unfortunately, power fell into the hands of the Menshevik socialist party, which, indifferent and ignorant of national interests, sought only to implement Marxist ideology to the detriment of the people and the Christian religion. In 1921, Georgia was again attacked by Bolshevik Russia with the aid of the Georgian Bolshevik party. The country, occupied by the Bolsheviks, was incorporated into the Soviet Union as an autonomous republic of Transcaucasia. The autonomous Georgian Church also freed itself from the yoke of the Russian Synod and declared itself independent (1917) under the supreme leadership of the Catholicos-Patriarch of all Georgia.

Georgia’s relations with the Roman Church are of the utmost antiquity. As early as the beginning of the 7th century, Catholicos Kyrion I addressed St. Gregory the Great, seeking his advice on how to deal with heretics. In his polemic against the Armenian Monophysites, Kyrion relied on the “Romans,” whose faith he considered the supreme law. In the 9th century, another Georgian, St. Hilarion, visited Rome, where he spent two years honoring the Confession of St. Peter and the “holy Pontiffs” buried there.

Georgia, which did not participate in the Iconoclastic Controversy, also remained aloof from the disputes of the time of Photius and Michael Cerularius. Indeed, in 1065, St. George, abbot of the Georgian monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos, solemnly defended the Roman Church and its unaltered faith in the presence of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Ducas and his clergy. It seems that between 1205 and 1210, the Georgian monks of Athos conformed to the Latins even in celebrating the liturgy “in azymis.” From the 13th century onward, relations became more frequent. Honorius III (1216–27) invited King George (1212–23) to take part in the liberation of the Holy Places. Gregory IX (1227–41) sent Minorite friars to Queen Rusudan (1223–47) and asked her to receive them well “in remissionem peccatorum.” Meanwhile, the Mongols arrived and set everything ablaze. Rusudan sought the Pope’s help, promising in return union with the Roman Church. In his letter of 1240, the Pope praised the queen’s good disposition and urged her to recognize the Roman Church as the “princeps et magistra” of all Churches. This letter of Gregory IX is the first document to imply the separation of the Georgian Church from the Roman. Here begins the work of missionaries in Georgia. First came the Franciscans, followed by the Dominicans (13th century). The Catholic mission made such progress that in 1328, John XXII (1316–34) transferred the episcopal see from Smyrna to Tiflis, the capital of Georgia, and by a decree of 1329 appointed the Dominican John of Florence as bishop of Tiflis. In 1349, he was succeeded by Bertrand Colletti, and in 1356 by Bertrand Pagès.

Other known Latin bishops include: Henry Ratz, O.F.M., Leonardo di Villac, O.P. (1391), John of St. Michael, O.P. (1425), Alexander, O.P. (1450), Henry Woust, O.F.M. (1462), John Ymink, O.S.A. (1469), Albert Engel under Alexander VI, and John Schneider (1507).

Two Georgians, a metropolitan and a layman, also took part in the Council of Florence. However, they did not subscribe to the decree of Union. The arrival of missionaries did not cease even in the 16th century. Augustinians, Carmelites, Jesuits, and other Orders sought to bring spiritual and moral aid to the poor country devastated by the Turks and Persians. In response to the Georgians’ desire, Urban VIII entrusted the mission in Georgia to the Theatines in 1628, and they remained there until 1700. The merit of these fathers toward Georgia is immense. Under their influence, Georgia flourished in its religious and cultural life. The foundation of the Urban College in Rome is partly due to the prosperity of the mission in Georgia. After the Theatines, the Propaganda Fide sent the Capuchins. Their mission, which was highly fruitful, lasted from 1661 to 1845. In that year, the Capuchins were expelled by the Russians, who had by then become masters of the Caucasus. The care of Georgian Catholics was then entrusted to the indigenous clergy, most of whom belonged to the Georgian Congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Conception of Istanbul.

Before World War I, the number of Georgian Catholics amounted to about 40,000, while the entire population of Soviet Georgia numbered about 3,000,000. Under the Tsarist regime, Georgian Catholics were under the jurisdiction of a Catholic bishop residing in Russia. After World War I, the Holy See sent an apostolic delegate, but he remained only briefly in Tiflis and then moved to Persia.

III. LITERATURE

Georgian literature begins with the introduction of Christianity. Its oldest document is an inscription on the church of Bolnisi from the end of the 5th century. Based on the graphic, stylistic, and linguistic properties of these inscriptions, it must be admitted that the use of the Georgian alphabet was introduced several centuries B.C. Its theological content also attests to a considerable development of the literary language and ecclesiastical speech.

As for the morphological classification of Georgian texts, three forms are distinguished: khan-meti (with a superfluous phonetic prefix kh meti), hae-meti (with a superfluous phonetic prefix h), and the normal form, in which the first two are no longer found. The oldest texts belong to the khan-meti form, which extends from its beginning until the 7th century. The hae-meti texts are assigned to the 8th century. From the 9th century onward, the third form is used.

Regarding content, Iberian literature up to the 11th century is exclusively ecclesiastical. In the 11th century, secular literature also begins to develop. It is noteworthy that among all the Christian peoples of the medieval East, only the Georgians have a secular literature.

According to chronological order, ecclesiastical literature presents the following picture. From the 5th to the 7th century, several epigraphic inscriptions from the church of Bolnisi, the Holy Cross of Mtskheta, Zkissia, etc., are dated. To the same period belong many khan-meti texts of biblical, patristic, liturgical, and apocryphal content. The martyrdom of St. Susanik, written by "Priest John," dates to the 5th century. The life of the same saint, transmitted in an Armenian recension, is merely a tendentious reworking of the Georgian text.

The martyrdom of St. Eustathius of Mtskheta, an Arab convert, belongs to the 6th century (published in: Sitzungsberichte der preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1901, p. 875). Also from the 6th–7th centuries are the homilies attributed to John of Bolnisi (ed. M. Gianasvili, Tiflis 1911; M. Tarchisvili, Zwei Lektionar-fragmente, in Kyrios, 6 [1942], pp. 16-19). Some writings of Katholikos Kyriom I have been preserved in the Armenian book of letters (Epistolary).

For information, we may mention Evagrius Ponticus, of Georgian origin according to Sozomen, and the life of Peter the Iberian, also preserved in a Georgian version (ed. N. Marr, in Pracosl. Palestin. Sbornik, 16 [1896, 11], pp. 1-119).

The martyrdom of the "Children of Kola" (ed. N. Marr, in Texti i raskianija o armeno-gruz. filologi, 5 [1903], p. 55), that of St. Abo of Tiflis (ed. Texte und Unters., neue serie, 13, IV, Leipzig 1905), and very likely the historical work of Leonti Mroveli, which contains a Life of the Kings and the Conversion of Kartli, also date to the 8th century. The kernel of the Conversion must be attributed to the deacon Grigol, who lived before the 7th century. The flourishing legend of St. Nino has come down to us in various recensions.

The 9th to 12th centuries constitute the golden age of Georgian literature, embracing all branches of ecclesiastical science both in translations from Syriac, Armenian, Greek, and Arabic, and in original compositions. In original literature, the first place is occupied by ecclesiastical hymnography, preserved in a manuscript from 978–88 whose author is Michael Modrekili, a monk of the monastery of Oski in southwestern Georgia. This collection cites as Georgian hymnographers John of Tbethebi, Ezra, another John Khurdania, Philip, Stephen Sananadse, David of Tbethebi, and others. In the 10th century, the hymnographers John Minchki, a certain Philip, and John Zosima flourished on Mount Sinai. From the following century are the life of St. Gregory of Khanztha by the monk George Marciul (ed. N. Marr, in Textii rasiskan. po armeno-gruzinsk. filolog. 6 [1911]), the martyrdom of St. Gobroni by Bishop Stephen of Tbethebi, and perhaps also the life of the 13 Syrian Fathers, attributed to Katholikos Arsenius II or Arsenius I, while the martyrdom of Abibos Nekresseli would date to the 6th–7th centuries. The martyrdom of King Archil (688–718) seems to belong to the 9th century.

The greatest representatives of the golden age, which coincides with Byzantine influence in Georgia, are the following authors:

1. Euthymius the Athonite, abbot of Iviron on Mount Athos (1006–28), son of the prince-monk John, who, with the help of the prince-monk Thornike Eristavi, victor over Bardas Skleros, founded that monastery, called Portaitissa, i.e., "Our Lady of the Gate." St. Euthymius translated from Greek, understood, and reworked 80 works of the most varied content, while he translated from Georgian into Greek the well-known "Wisdom of Balavar." For his brilliant and classical style, St. Euthymius is the most celebrated and most appreciated author of medieval Georgia.

2. St. George the Athonite, also abbot of Iviron (d. 1065), who wrote the life of St. Euthymius and that of his father John, and translated from Greek or revised many books of the New Testament, canon law, liturgy, dogmatics, and hagiography.

3. Ephrem Mtsire, in 1027, d. before 1103, a monk of Georgian monasteries on Mount Mirabile and Mount Negro near Antioch. His literary activity is of a prodigious variety and universality; he is distinguished by the scientific technique of philosophical translation, the use of scholia and lexica. Among other works, he translated into Georgian the *kephalaia philosophika* and *endoxis pisteos* of John of Damascus, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite with scholia, and the *Historia Lausiaca* of Palladius.

While these three monks worked abroad, in the Byzantine Empire, new centers of culture were also arising in Georgia: higher schools of philosophy and theology, so-called universities or academies, such as those of Ikalto in Kakheti (eastern Georgia) and Gelati near Kutaisi (western Georgia). The latter was founded by King David the Builder, who gathered learned men of the country there. Among them were Arsen Ikaltoeli, John Petritsi with Theophilus the hieromonk, John Tarichisidze, John Katolikos of Kartli, etc.

1. Arsen Ikaltoeli, "the light of all the Churches," was a native of Ikalto and flourished in the 11th–12th centuries. Arsen seems to have attended the university courses of Michael Psellos in Constantinople. From there he went to Syria, where he became a disciple of Ephrem Mtsire. At the invitation of King David the Builder, Arsen returned to Georgia and devoted himself to scholarly work first at Gelati, then in the famous monastery of Shiomgvime, and finally at Ikalto. Arsen is best known for his *Dogmaticon*, a major compilation. This collection, in its present form, contains: a) 32 polemical writings: 6 against the Nestorians, 6 against the Monophysites, 3 against the Armenians, 6 against the Jews, 9 against the Muslims, 2 against the Paulicians; b) 16 dogmatic-philosophical treatises; c) 5 works of moral content.

2. Giovanni Petritzi, probably also a disciple of Ephrem Mzire. Petritzi was a monk of the Georgian monastery of Petrizonissa in Bulgaria (whence the name). He studied in Constantinople under the direction of Michael Psellos and, on his return to Georgia, settled in Gelati, where he developed an extremely fruitful scientific and literary activity, embracing with his universal genius the vast domain of all the sciences of the time: philosophy, theology, liturgy, hagiography, poetry, grammar, rhetoric, music, astronomy. But what made Petritzi most famous was his philosophical activity, which also provoked persecutions from the Greeks and Georgians. He translated and commented on Proclus’s Στοιχεῖα τῆς θεολογικῆς, *Elementa* or *Liber de causis* (both now lost), Aristotle’s *Politics* and *On Interpretation* (both lost), and Nemesius of Emesa’s *Περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου* (in Phoenicia). From these translations it must be admitted that Petritzi had a wide knowledge of Greek writers and philosophers. This is why N. Marr could write: “In the 10th and 11th centuries the Georgians were interested, in the philosophical field, in the same questions that preoccupied the leading minds of humanity of their time both in the East and in the West, but with the difference from the others (e.g., the Westerners) that the Georgians of that period were the first to express their opinions on current philosophical questions, possessed, in an exemplary manner for those times, a sense of textual criticism and worked directly on Greek texts” (N. Marr, *Iovann Petritzi, gruzinski neoplatonik XI-XII veka*, in *Zapiski vostočn. otdel. archeol. Obščestv*, 19 [1909], p. 113).

Petritzi regarded Greek philosophy as the *ancilla Theologiae* and sought through it (intuitive philosophy, theory) to prove the existence of the “One” (God) and of the Trinity; to overcome the Manichaean dualism and the Epicureanism of his age (cf. *Iovann Petritzi opera*, I. Procli Diadochi Στοιχεῖα τῆς θεολογικῆς verso iberica, Tiflis 1940, ed. S. Kauchsischvili. The II. contains the commentary on Proclus already published by the same author (see also E. R. Dodds, *Proclus: The Elements of Theology*, Oxford 1933). The great patron of Petritzi, David the Restorer, also became famous as a poet and theologian with his “Penitential Psalms,” which recalled those of King David.

Creations of the golden age are also many historical writings: the *Chronicle of Giunac’ir*, perhaps already from the 9th century, the *History of the Bagratids* by Sumbat (11th century), the *History of Abkhazia* (10th–11th century), historical works on the glorious reigns of George II, David, George III (d. 1184), and Queen Tamar. In Georgian translations many apocryphal, hagiographical, liturgical, and patristic works have been preserved that no longer exist in the original. For example, G. N. Bonwetsch published (in *Texte und Untersuchungen*, 23 II, Leipzig 1902) writings of Hippolytus of Rome preserved in Georgian. Hagiographical works are edited by P. Peeters in *Analecta Bollandiana* from 1911 onwards (see also K. Kekelidze, *Monumenta hagiographica georgiana*, I, Tiflis 1938; II, Tiflis 1946).

Giovanni Petritzi had no successors. After three centuries of Mongol occupation, the country gradually recovered from its decline only under the initial influence of Persian culture and Latin missionaries.

In this period of national renaissance, which spans the 16th to the 19th centuries, the following deserve mention: Stefano Paolini, who, with the help of a Georgian monk, Nicephorus Erbachi, had the first Georgian book printed: *Georgian-Italian Dictionary* (Rome 1629); the Theatine M. Maggio with his book: *Svitagmata linguarum orientalium quae in G. religionibus audiuntur* (Rome 1670); and P. Castelli (d. 1695), also a Theatine, a painter of high merit. Among the best-known historians to be noted is King Vakhtang VI (d. 1737). He had a collection of Georgian annals compiled, known under the name of *Kartlis Tskhovreba* (“Life of Kartli”); Vakhtang’s chronicle was continued by his son Vakhusht from 1469 to 1744. Vakhtang VI also promulgated a code of Georgian laws.

Of the ecclesiastical law of early times only a small remnant has survived: the canons of the Council of Ruisi-Urbnisi of 1103, a canonical statute of 1263, the decisions of the katholikoi Malachia of Kartli and Evdemoz of Abkhazia (16th century) incorporated in the code of Vakhtang, and a disposition by Grigol Samt’avneli for his eparchy (1549).

Prince Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani (d. 1725), who became a monk, was a great collaborator of King Vakhtang. Saba later became a Catholic and undertook a diplomatic journey to the court of the Pope and of Louis XIV of France. He composed a catechism for Georgian Catholics and a biblical concordance, compiled a lexicon of high merit, and wrote his *Travels in Europe*.

The greatest genius of this period, however, is the katholikos Anthony I (1720–88), son of King Jesse. He too became a Catholic: deposed as a result and exiled to Russia, where he was acquitted of the charge of heresy, he recovered his see through the intervention of King Irakly II and displayed extraordinary activity in Church and State. Under the influence of Catholic missionaries he organized the schools and all public instruction of the country and taught with such success that the 18th century has been called the century of Anthony.

Among his numerous writings, which touch on almost every branch of ecclesiastical and secular sciences, the following are noteworthy: a Georgian adaptation of the philosophy of Fr. Baumeister, several other philosophical works, a manual of rhetoric, a four-volume treatise of theology, a martyrology, the great metrical work *Tzogbol-Sitgaoba* in 400 iambic verses, and a collection of biographies of national heroes. The katholikos also left a mystical work on royal authority and another polemical-dogmatic work: *Mzamet’uleba*.

After the loss of independence in 1801, the most distinguished writers of Georgia, now open to Western influence, sought to keep alive the national sentiment.

According to available information, Georgia today has nearly 400 elementary schools with 510,000 pupils, 22 secondary schools, and about 100 museums and institutes for scientific research. The cultural center is Tiflis, with a state university (founded in 1918) that has 10 faculties and 4,000 students, an Academy of Sciences and other institutes, an archive with about 10,000 manuscripts, and several journals such as *Moambe* (Bulletin) of the University, the Georgian Museum, and *Historical Researches*, etc.

IV. LITURGY

In Georgia the liturgy was initially celebrated in the language of the missionaries who came from Greece, but soon the use of the vernacular began to replace Greek. Already in the 5th century St. Sabas (d. 532) permitted his monks in Georgia to recite the office in their own language; the Mass, however, had to be celebrated in the common language. By the end of the 6th century the entire divine service was in Georgian; then in the 8th–9th centuries this usage spread from eastern Georgia (ancient Iberia) to the west, where Greek had hitherto predominated.

The oldest Georgian versions of liturgical texts clearly demonstrate that from the outset the liturgical usage of the Church of Jerusalem was followed. Indeed, two fragments of lectionaries from the 5th and 8th centuries, published by Tarchnivili, and the Jerusalem Canonary from the 7th–8th centuries, edited by Kekelidze—contemporaries of the 8th–9th centuries—formed the figure of the Church of Jerusalem, where the earliest Georgian Mass also originated. The Liturgy of St. James is preserved in many manuscripts, the most remote of which dates to the 10th century: two are at Mount Sinai, one in Graz, one in the Vatican Library, and others in Georgia.

The divine office of Jerusalem remained in use in Georgia until the 10th century. During the 10th–11th centuries, St. Euthymius and St. George of Mount Athos translated into Georgian the Synaxarion of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, which gradually replaced that of Jerusalem. In the 12th century, the *Typikon* of St. Sabas was translated; it was used by the monks of St. Simeon Stylites near Antioch. This *Typikon*, already known and used in the Georgian monasteries of Tao-Klarjeti in the 9th century, along with that of Mount Athos, remained in use until the 17th century, when the katholikoi Bessarion and Anthony I (18th century) revised it based on the Slavic text. The scriptural readings, the order of the pericopes, and that of the Psalms followed the historical development of the Synaxarion and the *Typika*.

The Georgian Euchologion is divided into the *Kondaki*, which contains the proper liturgical texts (the formulary of the Mass), and the *Kurtheevani* (Benedictional).

1. The *Kondaki* includes the *Zamis-Zirva* (Mass) of James, of St. Basil, of St. John Chrysostom, of St. Peter, and the *Missa praesanctificatorum*. The earliest existing text of the Liturgy of St. James dates to the 7th–8th centuries, that of the Mass of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom to the 8th century. Most likely, the first translation of the Liturgy of St. Peter dates to the 9th century, which, due to its archaic style, seems as old as that of St. James. The *Missa praesanctificatorum* is preserved in many manuscripts in Georgia and abroad (Vatican Library, Graz, Mount Sinai). The oldest is probably that of Graz, without an author’s indication, while the text from Mount Sinai is attributed to St. Basil. In more recent texts, the name of St. Gregory also appears.

The Liturgy of St. James was in use in Georgia until the 10th–11th centuries. At that time, the Mass of Basil and St. John Chrysostom was introduced, newly translated by St. George the Hagiorite. The revision of the patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople (14th century) reached Georgia in the 17th century. The rubrics of the Georgian text were revised based on the Slavic text by the katholikos Anthony I in the 18th century.

2. The *Kurchevani* comes from Palestine. In the 10th–11th centuries, St. Euthymius and St. George of Iviron translated that of Hagia Sophia, which was accepted in Georgia. In the 18th century, Cipriano Samtavneli made a new version from the Greek. Other liturgical books are: *Chmani* (Ἡγιον), which contains the first four tones for Sunday and weekdays, and *Gervdhi* (lati), which comprises the other four tones (Ἡγος πλαγιος). The *Octoechos* and the *Paraclition* were translated into Georgian by St. Euthymius and St. George. *Marchvani* (Tricolon) and *Zatikni* (Pentecostarion), translated by St. Euthymius and St. George, were formerly called *Chvedrni*, and their text has been preserved in a 9th-century manuscript, though the text predates this century. *Tveni* (Mineon), introduced on the mainland in the 11th century at Mount Athos, was formerly called *Zatiki* and included the entire festal office of the year. Another name for *Tveni* is *Ladgari* (Memoriale), already known in the 8th–9th centuries. *Zanni* (Horologion) and the *Typikon*, which contains liturgical rules. Truly Georgian is the *Gulani*, which contained all the texts used in the divine service throughout the liturgical year.

To the calendar of the universal Church are added national feasts with chants and hymns composed by the Fathers of the Georgian Church, such as Michael Modrekili (10th century), Sozima, Ezra, G. Petrizzi, the katholikos Nicholas, G. Sciavelli, John Anceli (10th–12th centuries), the katholikos Arsenius, Sabo, Nicholas (12th–16th centuries), and others, including the katholikos Anthony I.

Georgian chant, at least from the 12th century, was in three voices and differed from Greek chant. According to Balsamon, the Georgians did not use the *Zeon* in the Eucharistic Mass. Its use must not have been introduced until later, since medieval liturgical manuscripts do not mention II.
The first printed edition of the *Kondaki* was made in 1716, and that of the *Euchologion*, not revised according to the Slavic text, in 1713.

V. Versione della Bibbia

Georgia, or Iberia in the Caucasus, was converted to the faith and evangelized by St. Nino at the time of Constantine the Great. The first missionaries came from “Greece”; initially, the divine service was celebrated in Greek, but soon Greek was replaced by Georgian, which required the translation of sacred texts into the Iberian language.

The first translation of Holy Scripture dates to the 5th century: the Gospel was translated for the mother of King Vachtang (5th century). At the beginning of the 6th century, in the monastery of St. Sabas in Palestine, the Georgians sang the office in Georgian.

Three recensions of the Georgian version are distinguished: *Channeti* (with a superfluous prefix *meti* “ch”), *Sabac-minduri* (of the convent of St. Sabas), and *Antonio* (of Mount Athos). The oldest are the *Channeti* texts.

According to some scholars, the first version of the Gospels derives from Syriac via Armenian. Considerable fragments of this translation survive from the 6th century, as well as a Tetraevangelion preserved in a manuscript from Adishi dated 897. This first version was followed in the 6th–7th centuries by a new revision of the Gospels based on the Greek text, which superseded the ancient version. The texts of this version, also called pre-Athonite, have been preserved in many manuscripts, e.g., of Opisa (913), Gruči (936), Parchali (973), Ibeti (995). To the same version also belong the writings of the Apostles (manuscript of 977) and the Acts of the Apostles (manuscript of 974) preserved at Mount Sinai.

During the 10th–11th centuries, the New Testament underwent a further revision by St. Euthymius (d. 1028) and St. George (d. 1065) of the Georgian monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos. This Athonite version, based on the Greek text, later became the *textus receptus* of the Georgian Church. Nothing is known of the *Sabac-minduri* version.

The version of the Old Testament dates, at least in part, to the 5th–6th centuries and closely resembles the Armenian version. Three versions of the Psalms are known, all prior to the 10th century. The other books have also been preserved in several versions. The most famous is codex no. 1 of Iviron, dated 978.

The ancient version is very important for textual criticism of the New Testament. According to Blake, this version is an excellent representative of the Caesarean recension. Baumstark, on the other hand, considers it closely related to Tatian’s Diatessaron and believes that, for the Old Testament, it approaches the Greek recension of Lucian, but also the *Esplare*.

As for the canon, the Georgian version does not include the books of the Maccabees, which were translated from Slavonic in the 18th century. The first translation of the Apocalypse of St. John was prepared by St. Euthymius of Mount Athos in the years 976–978.

Printed editions: Vl. Beneševič published Mark and Matthew in St. Petersburg in 1909–11 (ms. Ibeti-Opisa); Blake published Mark and Matthew in PO, 20 (1928), and 24 (1933); ms. Adisci. The first edition of the Psalms was prepared by King Archil in Moscow (1705), and that of the Gospels by King Vakhtang in Tiflis (1709). The entire Old Testament was printed for the first time by Prince Vakhusht in Moscow (1742–43). This edition was reproduced in Tiflis (1884), and Kekelidze published the text of Ecclesiastes according to four versions (Commentaria in Ecclesiaste Metrophanis metropolitae Smyrnenis, Tiflis 1920).

VI. Art

Recent research on Georgian sacred art has increasingly highlighted its importance for the history of ancient and medieval Christian art in the East. These studies have shown that the origins of art—and first of all of Georgian architecture—date back to very remote times and to the works of the peoples of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, of whom the Georgians are also heirs.

In Georgian art two periods are generally distinguished: the first spans from the 4th to the 9th century, the second from the 9th to the 18th century.

The first period is characterized by the development of particular architectural forms that are reflected in the plan, the method of construction, and the distribution of internal spaces and external masses of the building. In the second period, ancient forms are developed and harmonized to enhance the sense of monumentality of the building, while its decoration also becomes richer and gradually frees itself from dependence on the monument. In many respects, Georgian architecture recalls Western medieval Romanesque architecture.

Georgia presents various types of sacred buildings: basilican, round, square, octagonal plans, and others where a combination of the basilican form with a central-domed plan appears. Thus one encounters churches with a single apse and a single nave, and others with up to six apses and four naves; there are also buildings containing two or three superimposed churches. The plan of domed churches is generally a Greek cross, but often the arm facing east exceeds the others in length. The dome rises on four piers or directly on the walls. Generally, in medieval Georgian churches one finds a conical dome set on a polygonal drum, with narrow windows and small columns. Often the façade is adorned with a relief cross with interlace decorations.

Some churches dating to the various periods of Christian life in Georgia are listed below:

4th century: Nekresi, basilica in Kartli.
5th century: Segani, domed church; Old Shua-Mta, basilica in Kakheti; Urta, three-naved basilica in Tao-Klarjeti, according to E. Takaishvili with the oldest Georgian inscription still undeciphered; Bolnisi, basilica in Kartli, from 493.

5th–6th century: Zkarostavi, three-naved basilica in Tao-Klarjeti.
6th century: Shio-Mgvime, Mtskheta-Gvari, domed church in Kartli; Nino-Zmida, domed church in Kakheti; Bichvinta, domed church in Abkhazia.
6th–7th century: Mtskheta-Gvari; Gavasi, domed church in Kakheti.
7th century: Samtavisi; Zromi, domed church in Kartli; Kissis-Khevi and Davidiani, domed church; St. George and Nekresi, three-church basilicas in Kakheti; Is and Suchbeti in Tao-Klarjeti; Anchis-Khati in Tbilisi; Martvili in Mingrelia (western Georgia).
8th–9th century: Ateni, domed church in Kartli; Gurgiani, two-domed church; Nekresi and Vach’na-Ziani, domed church in Kakheti; Bana, round domed church built in 888–923 in Tao-Klarjeti, according to the German traveler Koch the most beautiful church in the East after Hagia Sophia in Constantinople; Opiza, domed church in Klarjeti (9th century).
10th–15th century: Mtskheta (10th–11th c.), Manglis (11th c.), Sion of Tbilisi, Samtavro of Mtskheta, Zilcani north of Mtskheta (12th c.), Samtavisi (1050), Metekhi of Tbilisi (13th c.), Ikorta (1172), Pitareti and Tzugrugascheni (14th c.), Urbnisi, Ruisi (15th c.), Akhtala (11th–12th c.), Ertatsminda (12th–13th c.), Samshvilde (893–960), Ashuriani (11th c.) in Kartli. In Kakheti: Alaverdi and Kveteri (10th c.), Bochorno (11th c.), Bodbe, Sameba near Kazbegi in the Caucasus. In western Georgia: Seda-Sakara (10th c.), Gelati (11th c.), Kutaisi (1003), Ilori with its treasury of sacred objects, Kazchi, Nighormida and Savane (11th c.), Drandi (9th–10th c.), Mokvi and Bedia (10th c.). Samtskhe and Tao-Klarjeti offer: Zarzma (11th c.), Kumurdo (969), Vardzia (12th c.), Tbeti (918), Dadescheni (9th–10th c.), Ochta-Eklesia (9th–10th c.), basilica; Parkhali (9th–10th c.), basilica; Oski (10th c.), Chachkari (10th c.), Ishkhani (9th and 11th c.), Ekeki (1009), Safara (13th–14th c.). All these churches have a central dome. The ancient architectural tradition was interrupted with the annexation of the country to Russia (early 19th century). At that time, Western artistic influence began to prevail.

Great value is attributed to Georgian frescoes. Those of Ubisi (13th c.) are particularly beautiful; among their authors they reveal notable artistic personalities, including the painter Damiane. The oldest frescoes date to the 10th century: Bedia, Oski, Ateni, Chachkari, Shio-Mgvime, Saorbisi, Pavnisi, Ikvi in Kartli; from the 12th century we have Kinzvisi, Akhtala, Vardzia, Betania near Tbilisi, Timotes-Ubani in Kartli, Savane; while the 13th and 14th centuries are represented by the mural paintings of the monasteries in Ossetia, Zalingikha in Mingrelia, Lichni in Abkhazia, Zarzma, Safara, Chule in Javakheti, Nabakheti in Kartli. Later periods have produced even more numerous frescoes.

Perhaps even more important are the museums, for example, that of Zromi (7th–13th c.). In the apse of this church the *Traditio legis* is depicted: Christ appears between the apostles Peter and Paul, his right hand raised and his left holding an open scroll with a Georgian-language gospel text. The museums of Gelati, on the other hand, are attributed to a Greek master. Also worthy of note are the Georgian miniatures, which have not yet been well studied. They are contained in many biblical and patristic manuscripts, the oldest of which date to the 9th century. Their representations are of great refinement and variety and testify to an excellent command of technique on the part of the artists.

Notable interest also attaches to the sacred goldsmith work, which includes numerous pieces in gold and silver. Famous are the large wooden crosses covered with gilded silver plaques adorned with figured motifs, representing entire cycles of biblical scenes and Christian feasts. Such crosses, often reaching a height of 4 meters, were erected before the sanctuary and served the faithful as a veritable liturgical catechism.

Among these works in gold and silver, many icons must be mentioned: such as that of Christ the Saviour in Svaneti (12th century); of Simeon Stylites in Mestia (Svaneti), dating from before the 12th century; of the Madonna of Chachuli, much venerated in the 12th century; of St. George in Alaverdi, adorned by King Constantine III in the 10th century; of the Transfiguration in Zarzma, adorned in the year 886, which is the oldest dated icon in Georgia; the icons of Martvili and of Chofi in Mingrelia. The most celebrated painted icon, however, is that of Gvti-Spri (Face of God), which was venerated in the episcopal church of Ancia in Klarjeti as early as the 8th–9th century, now in Tiflis in the church of Anci-Chati. According to tradition, this icon was in Edessa in the 6th century. Later brought to Constantinople, it was transferred to Georgia during the Iconoclastic Controversy. Also worthy of mention is the Madonna of Portaittissa (10th century) from the Georgian monastery on Mount Athos, whose copy was venerated in Russia under the name of “Iverskaja.”

Georgia is also rich in wood carvings, sometimes of exquisite workmanship; such are the church doors in Svaneti, Mgvime, Rconi, Monasteri, Savane, and Ikvi. Also noteworthy is the distinctive type of iconostasis (the Georgian hankeli) found in Georgian churches and without parallel in all the East. The iconostasis was sometimes a monolith adorned with sculpted figures of great beauty. Surviving, at least in part, are the iconostases of Ateni (8th–9th century), of Agara in Imereti, of Safara, of Bobisgheri in Tao, and of Ofara in Svaneti (11th century).

In the ancient Georgian churches, the sanctuary was situated at a higher level than the nave, and the altar, generally a quadrangular monolith, was set against the wall of the main apse.

Noteworthy is the influence that Georgian art exerted on the peoples with which it came into contact. The irradiation of Caucasian art indeed extended into Armenia and even into Russia.