Georgia

GEORGIA. - Since 1936 one of the 16 federated Republics constituting the U.S.S.R. Having become independent in 1918, after 1921 it was part, as an autonomous republic, of the Transcaucasian Federation, which was later abolished.

I. GEOGRAPHY

The country, which lies entirely on the southwestern slope of the Caucasus, from the Black Sea to the Middle

Kura, is for the most part mountainous and not easy to cross; on the whole it has a temperate and healthy climate, abundant rainfall, good agricultural possibilities (cereals, tobacco, cotton, tea, vines, fruit trees), considerable forest resources (one third of the territory is covered with woods), and varied and notable mineral wealth (copper, iron, coal, and above all manganese). A place apart must be given to the coastal region of lower Mingrelia (in the west), with a humid subtropical climate, unhealthy, where large land-reclamation works have recently been carried out. In the population the Georgians predominate (more than two thirds of the total), of Japhetic stock, who always occupied a pre-eminent place among the contiguous Caucasian peoples, developing their own national civilization, characterized also by a flourishing literature. The most notable ethnic minorities are those of the Armenians (12%), the Tatars (6%) and the Ossetians (4.5%); the Russians barely exceed 100,000. The inhabited centers are numerous (the urban population represents 29% of the total); the capital Tiflis (Tbilisi) rose from 294 to 519 thousand inhabitants between 1926 and 1939; Kutais (Kutaisi), from 48 to 81; Batum (Batumi), the main oil port of the U.S.S.R. (the pipeline from Baku terminates there), from 48 to 71.

In 1936 Georgia had 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 inhabitants (48 per sq km) through the cession, by the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, of part of the autonomous region of Karachay and of the autonomous republic of Kabardino-Balkaria (now called simply Kabardia). Within the borders of Georgia are found: the two autonomous republics of Abkhazia (8,696 sq km, 303,147 inhabitants; capital Sukhum) and of Adjaristan (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 Stalinin), in the heart of the Caucasus.

II. HISTORY

Georgia (native name Sacartvelo), bounded on the north by the Caucasus, on the west by the Black Sea, on the south by Armenia, approaches the Caspian Sea on 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, Subari, and to the population of Urartu. This kinship 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 Sassanid Persia.

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

In western Georgia or Colchis the penetration of the new faith goes back to the first centuries of Christianity. According to a very 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: Damnus of Trebizond and Stratophilus of Bicvinta (Pityus of the Greeks). Toward the end of the 5th century all western Georgia had been won to the Christian faith, except Abkhazia at the eastern extremity of the Black Sea and the Cianeti in the province of Trebizond, both converted through the work of 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 4 suffragans and an autonomous archbishopric of Sebastopolis in Abkhazia (Bioscuria-Sochumi). With the liberation of Colchis-Abkhazia from the political dependence of Byzantium under Leo II (746-91), king of Abkhazia, its Church too united with the autonomous Church of Georgia in the 9th-10th centuries.

At the end of the 4th century eastern Georgia fell under the domination of the Sassanids, who vainly sought to propagate there the cult of fire. Christianity had had such a development that at the beginning of the 6th century eastern Georgia alone counted about thirty ordinary bishops.

The Christological struggles could not fail to have repercussions in Georgia. The greatest diffusion was attained by the Monophysite heresy, stimulated by the Henotikon (v.) of Zeno. Under Syro-Armenian influence the Georgian Church accepted the formula of the Henotikon, 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 Fathers of Syria, who arrived in Iberia around the middle of the 6th century. The most famous among them are John Sedasneli, Scio Mgvimeli, David Garegeli, Abibos Nekresseli, Iesse Tzikneli, Anton Martmqofeli, 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 is the epoch of the diffusion of the monastic state throughout Georgia. From eastern Georgia or Iberia with capital Mzcheta and then Tiflis (Tbilisi) from the 6th century, monasticism penetrated into western Georgia, especially into Tao-Klargeti in the basin of the Ciorokhi, where, under the direction of the archimandrite Gregor Khanzteli, many monasteries arose in the 8th and 9th centuries, centers of culture and of Christian piety. Even more ancient are the Georgian monasteries created abroad.

In Palestine there existed Georgian monks or monasteries already from the 5th century, as in Mar Saba, in the convents created by Peter the Iberian (d. 488). In the 6th century the emperor Justinian I renewed a monastery of the Iberians in Jerusalem and another of the Lazi in the desert of that city. Later in the hands of the Georgians there were about 20 convents built in Jerusalem and its surroundings, such as that of the Holy Cross, of St. Saviour of the Franciscans, and St. James of the Armenians. On Mount Sinai Georgian monks are encountered already from the 6th-7th century. There they possessed three convents: Maqlovani, St. John the Evangelist and St. George. To the Georgians belonged a monastery in Cyprus: Jalia. In the province of Antioch in Syria there were about 10 Iberian convents: St. Simeon in Columna, St. Romanus, St. Procopius, Della Fonte, St. Barlam, Vale di Canna, St. Esdra, Calliopius, Castana and 3 on Mount Olympus in Bithynia: Crania, Caverna, Sts. Cosmas and Damian; two great convents on Mount Athos: St. John the Baptist (built in 978) and Iviron (980) with about ten Metochia; one finally in Constantinople. In this city there are still today two Georgian monasteries founded in 1861 and 1871. In the Balkan peninsula, near Philippopolis, the Grand Domestic of the Byzantine Empire, Gregor Bacurianos, founded the famous monastery Petrizonissa (11th century), today Backovo. Recently a house was also created in Rome for the Georgian Fathers of Istanbul.

Under Queen Thamar (1184-1213) Georgia reached its political and cultural apogee, and the 12th century is to be considered 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 as far as Trebizond.

In the 13th century Georgia succumbed to the assault of the Mongols, who divided the country into two kingdoms: eastern Georgia and western Georgia. In the 1300s came the terrible Timur, who devastated the entire region. The general decline caused by the Mongol invasions was for a moment held back by King George V the Splendid (1318-46), who unified the country. The churches destroyed by Timur were rebuilt by King Alexander I (1412-42), who continued the work of George V. But the occupation of Constantinople (1453) and of Trebizond by the Ottomans brought about the rupture of all relations between Georgia and the West. From this time the country, dismembered into 3 kingdoms and several feudal principalities, all autonomous, became a battlefield between the Turks and the Persians. The 16th and 17th centuries must be considered the saddest in the history of Georgia. The king had lost all authority. The feudal lords, masters of the country, exploited the population without pity. In this era appeared the didi mourav (grand administrator) George Saakadse, who attempted to overthrow feudalism, putting an end to internal division and concentrating all political-military power in the hands of the king. King Luarsab II did not understand him and abandoned him to the vengeance of his enemies. The cunning Šab-Abas, king of Persia, taking advantage of this internal division, invaded the country, massacred nearly 100,000 Georgians there and deported another 100,000 to Persia. The shah then had King Luarsab II himself killed (d. 1622) and the queen of Kakheti, Ketevan (d. 1624). Under King Vakhtang VI (1703-24) and above all with the accession to the throne of Teimuraz II (1733-62) and of his son Irakli II (1762-98), Georgia saw better days. The feudal lords were weakened, the king's prerogatives increased, and Irakli II was recognized as supreme head of all the political chiefs remaining autonomous in the country (concession of 1790). Internal and external difficulties induced Irakli II, after having vainly sought help in the West, to stipulate in 1783 a treaty of friendship and protection with the empress of Russia, Catherine II. By virtue of this treaty Russia assumed the protectorate over Georgia, left the internal administration of the kingdom free, and recognized the full independence of the Georgian Church. But after the death of the Georgian king George XII (d. 1800), Tsar Alexander I cynically violated the said treaty and proclaimed the annexation of Georgia to Russia (1801). The Church of Georgia was deprived of its autocephaly, subjected to the Russian Synod, and its head, the katholikos Anthony II, was deported to Russia in 1811. The Georgian people had much to suffer under Russian domination: confiscation of the Church's goods, occupation of churches and monasteries, suppression of the teaching of the Georgian language in schools and abolition of the liturgy in the Georgian language in churches, destruction or spoliation of national works of art. When the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917, Georgia restored its first independence on 26 May 1918. Unfortunately power passed into the hands of the socialist-Menshevik party which, heedless and ignorant of national interests, sought only to implement Marxist ideology to the detriment of the people and of the Christian religion. In 1921 Georgia was again attacked by Bolshevik Russia with the help 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 Church of Georgia too freed itself from the yoke of the Russian Synod and declared itself independent (1917) under the supreme direction of the katholikos "patriarch of all Georgia."

Georgia's relations with the Roman Church are very ancient. Already the katholikos Kyrion I (beginning of the 7th century) addressed himself to St. Gregory the Great and asked him for advice on how to deal with heretics. In his polemic against the Armenian Monophysites Kyrion relied on the "Romans," whose faith was for him suprema lex. In the 9th century another Georgian, St. Hilarion, visited Rome, where he stayed 2 years to honor the Confession of St. Peter and the "holy Pontiffs" buried there. Georgia, which did not take part in the iconoclastic conflict, also kept away from the discussions of the times 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 Doukas and his clergy. It seems that in the years 1205-10 the Georgian monks of Athos conformed to the Latins also in celebrating the liturgy "in azymis." From the 13th century relations become more frequent. Honorius III (1216-27) invites King George (1212-23) to take part in the liberation of the Holy Places. Gregory IX (1227-41) sends to Queen Rusudan (1223-47) some Friars Minor and begs her to receive them well "in remissionem peccatorum." Meanwhile the Mongols arrive and put everything to fire and sword. Rusudan invokes the help of the Pope, promising him in return the union with the Roman Church. In his letter of 1240 the Pontiff praises the Queen's good disposition and exhorts her to recognize the Roman Church as "princeps et magistra" of all the Churches. This letter of Gregory IX is the first document that presupposes the separation of the Georgian Church from the Roman one. Here begins the work of the missionaries in Georgia. First come the Friars Minor, followed by the Dominicans (13th century). The Catholic mission made such progress there that in 1328 John XXII (1316-34) transferred the episcopal see of Smyrna to Tiflis, capital of Georgia, and by decree of 1329 appointed as bishop of Tiflis the Dominican John of Florence. In 1349 Bertrando Colleti succeeded him, and Bertrando Pagessi succeeded the latter in 1356.

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

Two Georgians, a metropolitan and a layman, also took part in the Council of Florence. They, however, did not sign 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 the Persians. Meeting the desire of the Georgians, Urban VIII entrusted in 1628 the mission in Georgia to the Theatines, who remained there until 1700. The merit of these fathers toward Georgia is immense. Under their influence Georgia flourished again in its religious and cultural life. The foundation of the Urban College in Rome is due in part to the prosperity of the mission in Georgia. After the Theatines the Propaganda Fide sent the Capuchins there. Their mission, which was most fruitful, lasted from 1661 to 1845. In that year the Capuchins were expelled by the Russians, by then masters of the Caucasus. The care of the Georgian Catholics was placed in the hands of the native clergy, the majority of whom belonged to the Georgian Congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Conception of Istanbul.

The number of Georgian Catholics amounted, before the First World War, to 40,000, while the entire population of Soviet Georgia numbers ca. 3,000,000. Under the tsarist regime Catholic Georgia depended on a Catholic bishop residing in Russia. After the First World War the Holy See sent an apostolic delegate there, but he remained only a short time in Tiflis and went to settle in 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. On the basis of the graphic, stylistic and linguistic properties of these inscriptions, one must admit that the use of the Georgian alphabet was introduced some centuries before Christ. Its theological content too attests a notable development of the literary language and of ecclesiastical speech.

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

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

According to chronological order, ecclesiastical literature offers the following picture. From the 5th to the 7th century several epigraphic inscriptions are dated, of the church of Bolnisi, of the Cross of Mtskheta, of Zkissisa, etc. To the same age belong many khan-meti texts of biblical, patristic, liturgical and apocryphal content. To the 5th century goes back the martyrdom of St. Susanik, written by the "Priest John". The life of the same Saint handed down in an Armenian recension is nothing but a tendentious reworking of the Georgian text.

To the 6th century belongs the martyrdom of St. Eustathius of Mtskheta, a converted Arab (edited in: Sitzungsberichte der preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1901, p. 875). The sermons attributed to John of Bolnisi are also from the 6th-7th centuries (ed. by M. Gianavili, Tiflis 1911; M. Tarchnišvili, Zwei Lektionarfragmente, in Kyrios, 6 [1942], pp. 16-19). Of the katholikos Kyrios I some writings have come down to us, preserved in the Armenian book of letters (Epistolary).

By way of information we recall Evagrius Ponticus of Georgian origin, according to the opinion of Sozomen, and the life of Peter the Iberian preserved likewise in an Iberian version (Ed. by N. Marr, in Pravosl. Palestin. Sbornik, 16 [1896, II], pp. 1-119).

To the 8th century go back furthermore the martyrdom of the "Children of Kola" (ed. N. Marr, in Texti i rasiskasija po armeno-gruz. filologii, 5 [1903], p. 55), that of St. Abo of Tiflis ([ed. Texte und Unters., new series, 13, IV], Leipzig 1905) and very probably also the historical work of Leonti Mroveli, which contains a Life of the Kings and the Conversion of Karthli (Georgia). The core of the Conversion must be attributed to the deacon Grigol, who lived before the 7th century. The flourishing legend around St. Nino or Nina has come down to us in various recensions.

The 9th and 12th centuries constitute the golden age of Georgian literature, which embraces all branches of ecclesiastical science both in translation from Syriac, Armenian, Greek and Arabic, and in the manifestation of its own thought. In original literature the first place is occupied by ecclesiastical Hymnography preserved in a manuscript of the year 978-88 whose author is Michel Modrekili, a monk of the monastery of Oski in south-western Georgia. In this collection the following are cited as Georgian hymnographers: John of Tibethi, Esra, another John Khurdania, Philip, Stephen Sananaidse, David of Tibethi and others. In the 10th century there also flourished the hymnographers John Minckhi, a certain Philip and John Zosima on Mount Sinai. From the following century, on the other hand, are the life of St. Gregory of Khanztha by the monk George Marciul (ed. by N. Marr, in Textii rasiskan. po armenio-gruzinish. filolog. 6 [1911]), the martyrdom of St. Gobroni by Bishop Stefan of Tibethi and perhaps also the life of the 13 Syrian Fathers, attributed to the katholikós Arsenius II or Arsenius I, while the martyrdom of Abibos Nekresseli would date from the 6th and 7th centuries. The martyrdom of King Arcil (688-718) seems to go back to the 9th century.

The greatest representatives of the golden age, which coincides with the Byzantine influence in G., are the following authors: 1. Euthymius Agiorita, abbot of Iviron on Mount Athos (1006-28), son of the prince-monk John who, with the help of the prince-monk Thornike Eristhavi, victor over Bardas Skleros, founded that monastery, called Portaitissa, that is, "Madonna of the Gate." St. Euthymius translated from Greek, composed and reworked himself some 80 writings 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 perhaps the most celebrated and most appreciated author of the Georgian Middle Ages. 2. St. George Agiorita, also abbot of Iviron (d. 1065), who wrote the life of St. Euthymius and of his father John, and translated from Greek or subjected to a new revision many books of the New Testament, of canon law, of liturgy, of dogmatics, of hagiography. 3. Ephrem Mzire, b. 1027, d. before 1103, monk of Georgian monasteries on Mount Mirabile and on the Black Mountain near Antioch. His literary activity is of a prodigious variety and universality; it is distinguished by the scientific technique of philosophical translation, by the use of scholia and lexica. He translated into Georgian, among other things, the κεφάλαια φιλοσοφικά and the ἐκθεσις πίστεως of St. John Damascene, Dionysius the Areopagite with scholia, and the "Lausiac History" of Palladius.

If these three monks worked abroad, in the Byzantine Empire, new centers of culture were also being created in G.: higher schools of philosophy and theology, so-called universities or academies, such as those of Iqaltho in Kakheti (eastern G.) and of Ghelati near Kutaisi (western G.). The latter was founded by King David the Renewer, who summoned there the learned men of the country. Among these were Arsen Iqaltolli and John Petritzi with Theophilus the hieromonk, John Tariscidse, John Katholikós of Carthli, etc.

1. Arsen Iqaltolli, "the light of all the Churches," was a native of Iqaltho and flourished in the 11th-12th centuries. Arsen seems to have followed the university courses of Michael Psellus at Constantinople. From there he went to Syria, where he became a disciple of Ephrem Mzire. At the invitation of King David the Renewer, Arsen went to G. and devoted himself to scholarly work first at Ghelati, then in the celebrated monastery of Scio-Mgvime and finally at Iqaltho. Arsen is known above all for his Dogmaticon, a great work of compilation. This collection contains in its present form a) 32 writings of a polemical character: 6 against the Nestorians, 6 against the Monophysites, 3 against the Armenians, 6 against the Jews, 9 against the Muslims, 2 against the Origenists; b) 16 dogmatico-philosophical treatises; c) 5 works of moral content.

2. John 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 at Constantinople under the direction of Michael Psellus and, on returning to G., settled at Ghelati, where he developed a most fruitful scholarly and literary activity, embracing with his universal genius the vast domain of all the sciences of the age: philosophy, theology, liturgy, hagiography, poetry, grammar, rhetoric, music, astronomy. But what made Petritzi most celebrated was his philosophical activity, which also brought him persecutions on the part of the Greeks and the Georgians. He translated and commented on the Στοικεῖωσις θεολογικῆς, Elementa or Liber de causis of Proclus, the Τὰ τοπικὰ, Περὶ ἑρμηνείας of Aristotle (both lost) and the Περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου of Nemesius of Emesa in Phoenicia. On the basis of these translations it must be admitted that Petritzi had a vast 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 with which the first minds of humanity of their times occupied themselves both in the East and in the West, but with this difference from the others (e.g., from the Westerners), that the Georgians of that epoch issued their opinion on the current questions of contemporary philosophy before the others, possessed, in a manner exemplary for those times, the sense of textual criticism, and worked directly on the Greek texts" (N. Marr, Iovann Petrizhij, gruzenshij neoplatonik XI-XII bicha, in Zapiski vasto otdel. archeol. Obeset, 19 [1909], p. 113). Petritzi considers Greek philosophy as ancilla Theologiae and seeks by means of 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. Joannis Petritzii opera, I, Proclis Diadochi Στοικεῖωσις θεολογικῆς versio iberica, Tiflis 1940. Ed. by S. Kauchtschischvili. Vol. II contains the commentary on Proclus already edited by the same author (see also E. R. Dodda, Proclus the Elements of Theology, Oxford 1933). The great protector of Petritzi, David the Renewer, also made himself celebrated 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: Chronicle of Giuanscer perhaps already from the 9th century, History of the Bagratids of Sumbat (11th century), History of Abchasethi (10th-11th centuries), historical works of the glorious reigns of George II, of David, of George III (d. 1184), of Queen Thamar. In the Georgian translations many apocryphal, hagiographic, liturgical and patristic works have been preserved, which no longer exist in the original. For example, G. N. Bonwetsch published (in Texte und Unters., 23 II, Leipzig 1902), writings of Hippolytus of Rome preserved in Georgian. Hagiographic works are being edited by P. Peeters in Analecta Bollandiana from 1911 onward (see also K. Kekelidse, Monumenta hagiographica georgiana, I, Tiflis 1938; II, Tiflis 1946).

John Petritzi had no continuators. After 3 centuries of Mongol occupation, the country recovered from its decadence only little by little under the initial influence of Persian culture and of the Latin missionaries.

In this period of national renaissance which runs from the 16th to the 19th century, mention must be made of: Stefano Paolino, who with the help of a Georgian monk, Nicotero Erbachi, had the first Georgian book printed: Georgian-Italian Dictionary (Rome 1629), the Theatine M. Maggio with his book: Syntagmata linguarum orientalium quae in G. religionibus audiuntur (Rome 1670) and P. Castelli (d. 1695), also a Theatine, a painter of high worth. Among the best-known historiographers is to be noted King Vakhtang VI (d. 1737). He had a collection of the Georgian annals drawn up, known under the name of Carthlis-Zchovreba (life of G.); the chronicle of Vakhtang was continued by his son Vakhust from 1469 to 1744. Vakhtang VI also promulgated a code of Georgian laws.

Of the ecclesiastical law of the earliest times only a small remnant has come down to us: the canons of the Council of Ruiss-Urbnissi of 1103, a canonical statute of 1263, the decisions of the katholikói Malachia of Carthli and Evdemos of Abkhasethi (16th century) incorporated in the code of Vakhtang, a provision of Grigol Samthavneli for his eparchy (1549).

Prince Sulkhan Orbeliani, made a monk and called Saba (d. 1725), 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 highly valuable lexicon, and wrote his Journey in Europe.

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

Among his very numerous writings, which relate to almost all branches of ecclesiastical and secular sciences, the following are to be noted: a Georgian adaptation of the philosophy of Fr. Baumeister, several other philosophical writings, a manual of rhetoric, a treatise on theology in 4 vols., a martyrology, the great metrical work Taqqabil-Sitqaoba in 4000 iambic verses, and a collection of biographies of national heroes. The katholikos also left a mystical work on royal authority and another polemical-dogmatic one: Mazametqueleba.

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

According to the reports that have come down, G. today has almost 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 4000 students, an academy of Sciences and other institutes, an archive with about 10,000 manuscripts and several journals such as the Maambe (bulletin) of the University, of the Georgian Museum and of History, Historical Research, etc.

IV. LITURGY

In Georgia the liturgy was at first celebrated in the language of the missionaries who came from Greece, but very 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 tongue. The whole divine service was in Georgian, at least toward the end of the 6th century; then in the 8th-9th centuries this practice passed from eastern Georgia (the Iberia of the ancients) to the western part, where until then Greek had predominated.

The most ancient Georgian versions of the liturgical texts show clearly that from the beginning the liturgical use of the Church of Jerusalem was followed. In fact two fragments of lectionaries of the 5th and 8th centuries, published by Tarchniavili, and the Canonary of Jerusalem of the 7th-8th centuries, edited by Kekelidze, both contain the office of the Church of Jerusalem, from which the most ancient Georgian Mass also comes. The liturgy of St. James is preserved in many manuscripts, of which the earliest goes back to the 10th century: two are at Mount Sinai, one at 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 St. Sophia of Constantinople, which little by little eliminated that of Jerusalem. In the 12th century the " Typikon " of St. Sabas was translated, which the monks of St. Simeon Stylites near Antioch used. This Typikon, already known and used in the Georgian monasteries of Tao-Klargeti in the 9th century, merged with that of Mount Athos, remained in use until the 17th century, when the katholikos Bessarion and Anthony I (18th century) revised it on the basis of the Slavonic text. The scriptural readings, the order of the pericopes and that of the Psalms followed the historical development of the Synaxarion and of the Typikon.

The Georgian Euchologion is divided into the Kondaki, which contains the liturgical texts properly so called (the Mass formulary), and the Kurtchevani (Benedictional).

1. The Kondaki contains the Zamis-Zirva (Mass) of St. James, of St. Basil, of St. John Chrysostom, of St. Peter and the Missa praesancificatorum. The first version of the extant text of the liturgy of St. James goes back to the 7th-8th centuries, that of the Mass of St. Basil and of St. John Chrysostom to the 8th century. Very probably the first translation of the Liturgy of St. Peter goes back to the 9th century; this, because of its archaic style, seems as ancient as that of St. James. The Missa praesancificatorum has been preserved in many manuscripts in Georgia and abroad (Vatican Library, Graz, Mount Sinai). The most ancient is probably that of Graz, without indication of the author, while the text of Mount Sinai is attributed to St. Basil. In the 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 this time the Mass of St. Basil and of St. John Chrysostom was introduced, translated anew by St. George the Hagiorite. The revision of the patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople (14th century) penetrated into Georgia in the 17th century. The rubrics of the Georgian text were revised on the basis of the Slavonic text by the katholikos Anthony I in the 18th century.

2. The Kurtchevani comes from Palestine. In the 10th-11th centuries St. Euthymius and St. George of Iviron translated that of St. Sophia, which was accepted in G. In the 18th century Cyprian Samtavneli made a new version of it from the Greek. Other liturgical books are: the Chmani (ἦχος), which contains the first four tones of Sunday and of weekdays, and the Gverdni (lati), which comprises the other four tones (ἦχος πλάγιος). The Octoechos and the Paracliticon were translated into Georgian by St. Euthymius and St. George. The Marchvani (Triodion) and the Zatikni (Pentecostarion), translated by St. Euthymius and St. George, were called in ancient times Chvedrni, and their text has been preserved in a manuscript of the 9th century, although the text is earlier than that century. Tveni (Menaion), a term introduced in the 11th century on Mount Athos. In ancient times it was called Zatiki and comprised the entire festal office of the year. Another name of the Tveni is Iadgari (Memorial), already known in the 8th-9th centuries. Zanni (Horologion) and the Typikon, which contains the liturgical rules. Purely Georgian is the Gulani, which contained all the texts used in the divine service during 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 cent.), Sozima, Ezra, G. Petritzi, Catholicos Nicholas, G. Sciavteli, John Anceli (10th-12th cent.), Catholicos Arsenius, Saba, Nicholas (12th-16th cent.) and others together with Catholicos 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 the liturgical manuscripts of the Middle Ages do not know it.

The first printed edition of the Kondaki was made in 1716, and that of the Euchologion, not revised according to the Slavonic text, in 1713.

V. VERSION OF THE BIBLE

Georgia, that is Iberia in the Caucasus, was won to the Christian faith by St. Nino or Nina in the times of Constantine the Great. The first missionaries came from "Greece." At the beginning the divine service was celebrated in Greek; but very soon people began to replace Greek with Georgian, which required the translation of the sacred texts into the Iberian language.

The first translation of Holy Scripture must be dated from the 5th century: the Gospel was translated for the mother of King Vakhtang (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: Chanmeti (the superfluous prefix meti "ch"), Sabacminduri (of the monastery of St. Sabas), and Athonite (of Mount Athos). The oldest are the chanmeti texts.

According to some scholars the first version of the Gospels derived from the Syriac by way of the Armenian. Considerable fragments of this translation have come down to us, dating from the 6th century, and a Tetrasvangelion preserved in a manuscript of Adishi from 897. This first version was followed in the course of the 6th-7th century by a new revision of the Gospels based on the Greek text, which eliminated the ancient version from use. The texts of this version, also called pre-Athonite, have been preserved in many manuscripts, e.g., of Opiza (913), of Gruči (936), of Parchali (973), of Ibeti (995). To the same version belong also the writings of the Apostles (manuscript of 977) and the Acts of the Apostles (manuscript of 974) preserved at Mount Sinai.

In the course of the 10th-11th centuries the New Testament was subjected to a further revision by St. Euthymius (d. 1028) and by St. George (d. 1065) of the Georgian monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos. This Athonite version, which is based on the Greek text, later became the textus receptus of the Georgian Church. Nothing is known of the Sabacminduri version.

The version of the Old Testament goes back, at least in part, to the 5th-6th centuries and comes quite close to the Armenian version. Three versions of the Psalms are known, all earlier than the 10th century. The other books have likewise been preserved in several versions. The most famous is cod. no. 1 of Iviron of 978.

The ancient version is very important for the textual criticism of the New Testament. According to Blake this version is an excellent representative of the Caesarean recension. Baumstark, on the contrary, considers it as closely related to the Diatessaron of Tatian, and holds that for the Old Testament it approaches the Greek recension of Lucian, but also the Hexaplaric one.

As for the canon, the books of Maccabees are not found in the Georgian version; they 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 976-78.

Printed editions: Vl. Benešević published Mark and Matthew at St. Petersburg 1909-11 (ms. Ibeti-Opiza), Blake Mark and Matthew in PO, 20 (1928), and 24 (1933; ms. Adishi). The first edition of the Psalms was prepared by King Archil at Moscow (1705) and that of the Gospels by King Vakhtang at Tiflis (1709). The entire Old Testament was printed for the first time by Prince Vakhushti at Moscow (1742-43).

This edition was reproduced at Tiflis (1884) and Kekelidze published the text of Ecclesiasticus according to four versions (Commentaria in Ecclesiasticum Metrophanis metropolitae Smyrnensis, Tiflis 1920).

VI. ART

The most recent research on the sacred art of G. has brought into ever clearer relief its importance for the history of Christian art in the ancient and medieval East. Such research has in fact demonstrated how the origins of art, and in the first place of Georgian architecture, go back to very remote times and to the works of the peoples of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, of whom the Georgians too are heirs.

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

The first period is characterized by the development of particular architectural forms that are reflected in the plan, in the manner of building and in the distribution of the interior spaces of the building and of the masses on its exterior. In the second period the ancient forms are developed and harmonized, in order to increase the sense of monumentality of the building, while its decoration is also enriched, which little by little becomes free and independent of the monument. In many respects Georgian architecture recalls the Romanesque architecture of the medieval West.

G. offers various types of sacred buildings: with a basilical plan, round, square, octagonal, and others in which a combination of the basilical form with the central dome plan appears. Thus one encounters churches that have a single apse and a single nave, and others that have as many as six apses and four naves; one also encounters buildings that contain two or three churches superimposed. The plan of the domed churches is generally a Greek cross, but often the arm facing east exceeds the other in length. The dome rises on four pillars or directly on the walls. Generally in the medieval Georgian churches one encounters a conical dome set on a polygonal drum, with narrow windows and small columns. Often the facade is adorned with a cross in relief with interlace decorations.

There now follow some churches that go back to the various periods of Christian life in G.:

4th century: Necressi, basilica in Cartli.

5th century: Segani, domed church; Alt-Sciua-Mta, basilica in Cacheti; Urta, basilica with three naves in Tao-Klargeti, according to E. Takaisvili with the oldest Georgian inscription not yet deciphered: Bolnissi, basilica in Cartli, of 493.

5th-6th century: Zkarostavi, basilica with three naves in Tao-Klargeti.

6th century: Scio-Mgvime, Mzchetis-Guari, domed church in Cartli; Nino-Zmida, domed church in Cacheti; Biciunta, domed church in Abchaseti.

6th-7th century: Guari of Mzcheta; Gavasi, domed church in Cacheti.

7th century: Samzverissi; Zromi, domed church in Cartli; Kissis-Chevi and Davitiani, domed church; St. George and Necressi, basilicas with three churches in Cacheti; Is and Suchbeci in Tao-Klargeti; Ancis-Chati in Tiflis; Martvili in Mingrelia (western G.).

8th-9th century: Ateni, domed church in Cartli; Gurgiani, church with two domes; Necressi and Vačnazianti, domed church in Cacheti; Bana, round church, with a dome built in the years 888-923, in Tao-Klargeti, according to the German traveler Koch the most beautiful church of the East after St. Sophia of Constantinople; Opisa, domed church in Klargeti (9th century).

10th-15th century: Mzcheta (10th-11th century), Manglissi (11th century), Sion of Tiflis, Samtavro of Mzcheta, Zilcani north of Mzcheta (12th century), Samtavissi (1050), Metechi of Tiflis (13th century), Ikorta (1172) Pitoreti and Tzugrugasceni (14th century), Urbnissi, Ruissi (15th century), Achtala (11th-12th century), Ertazmida (12th-13th century), Samšvilde (893-960), Asciuriani (11th century), in Cartli. In Cacheti are found: Alaverdi and Kveteri (10th century), Bociormo (11th century), Bodbe, Sameba near Kazbeg in the Caucasus. In western G. have been preserved: Seda-Sakari (10th century), Ghelati (11th century), Kutaissi (1003), Ilori with its treasure of sacred objects, Kazchi, Nicorzmida and Savane (11th century), Drandi (9th-10th century). Mocvi and Bedia (10th century). Samzche and Tao-Klargeti offer: Zarzma (11th century), Kumurdo (969), Varzia (12th century), Tbeti (918), Dadasceni (9th-10th century), Otchta-Eklesia (9th-10th century), basilica; Parchali (9th-10th century) basilica; Oški (10th century), Chachuli (10th century), Išchani (9th and 11th century), Ekeki (1009), Safara (13th-14th century). All these churches are centrally domed. The ancient architectural tradition was interrupted with the annexation of the country to Russia (beginning of the 19th century). At this time the influence of Western art began to prevail.

Great value is attributed to the Georgian frescoes. Very beautiful are those of Ubissi (13th century), which reveal among their authors notable artistic individualities, among them those of the painter Damiano. The oldest frescoes date back to the 10th century: Bedia, Oshki, Ateni, Chakhuli, Shio-Mgime, Saorbissi, Pavnissi, Ikvi in Kartli; from the 12th century we have Kinzivi, Akhtala, Varzia, Betania near Tiflis, Timotes-Ubani in Kartli, Savane; while the wall paintings of the monasteries in Ossetia, Zalingikha in Mingrelia, Likhne in Abkhazeti, Zarzma, Safara, Chiuli in Giavakheti, Nabakheti in Kartli are dated to the 13th and 14th centuries. The frescoes of later periods are more numerous.

Perhaps even more important are the mosaics, for example, those of Zromi (7th-8th century). In the apse of this church the Traditio legis is represented: Christ appears between the apostles Peter and Paul, has his right hand raised and holds in his left an open scroll, with a Gospel text in the Georgian language. The mosaics of Ghelati, 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 back to the 9th century. Their representations are of great refinement and variety and testify to an excellent knowledge of technique on the part of the artists.

The sacred goldsmithing also presents notable interest, counting numerous works in gold and silver. Famous are the great wooden crosses covered with gilded silver plates with figured motifs, with entire cycles representing biblical scenes and Christian feasts. Such crosses, often four meters high, rose before the sanctuary and served the faithful as a true liturgical catechism.

Among these works in gold and silver, many icons must be mentioned: thus that of Christ the Savior in Svaneti (12th century); of Simeon Stylites in Mestia (Svaneti) earlier than the 12th century; of the Madonna of Chakhuli, 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 of Georgia; the icons of Martvili, of Chofi in Mingrelia. The most famous painted icon, however, is that of Gvtis-Piri (face of God), which was venerated in the episcopal church of Anchia in Klargeti already in the 8th-9th century, now in Tiflis in the church of Ancis-Chati. According to tradition, this was in Edessa in the 6th century. Brought later to Constantinople, it was transported, during the iconoclast struggle, to Georgia. Also remembered are the Madonna of Portaitissa (10th century) of the Georgian convent of Mount Athos, whose copy was venerated in Russia under the name of "Iverskaja."

Georgia is also very rich in wood carvings, sometimes of the finest workmanship; thus the doors of the churches in Svaneti, of Mgyime, of Rkoni, of Monasteri, of Savane, of Ikvi. Also worthy of mention is the particular type of iconostasis (Georgian kankeli) that is seen in Georgian churches and that has no equal in all the East. The iconostasis was sometimes a monolith adorned with sculpted figures of great beauty. The iconostases of Ateni (8th-9th century), of Agara in Imereti, of Safara, of Bobisgheri in Tao, of Ofara in Svaneti (11th century) have been preserved, at least in part.

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

Notable is the influence that Georgian art has exercised on the peoples who came into contact with it. The radiation of Caucasian art has in fact extended over Armenia and also into Russia.

Michele Tarchnikvili