Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus [1 ed.] 070070635X

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ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY IN THE CAUCASUS

CAUCASUS WORLD SERIES EDITOR NICHOLAS AWDE

Other books in the series include: Storm Over the Caucasus: In the Wake of Independence Charles van der Leeuw The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus J. F. Baddeley — with a new Preface by Moshe Gammer Small Nations & Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus Svante Cornell Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry Peter Nasmyth Azerbaijan: A Quest for Identity Charles van der Leeuw Daghestan: Tradition & Survival Robert Chenciner The Georgian-Abkhaz War ViacheslavA. Chirikba Oil and Gas in the Caucasus & Caspian: A History Charles van der Leeuw The Literature of Georgia: A History (2nd, revised edition) Donald Rayfield A Bibliography of Articles on Armenian Studies in Western Journals, 1869-1995 E N. Nersessian Armenian Perspectives edited by Nicholas Awde Armenian Sacred & Folk Music Komitas (Soghomon Soghomonian) The Armenian Neume System of Notation R A. Atayan Armenian Monodie Music Kh. S. Khushnaryan

Forthcoming:

The Languages of the Caucasus edited by Alice Harris &Rieks Smeets Madder Red Robert Chenciner PEOPLES OF THE CAUCASUS &.THE BLACKSEA i. The Armenians edited by Edmund Herzig 2. The Georgians edited by Nicholas Awde 3. The Azerbaijanis edited by Nicholas Awde 4. The Chechens Anna Zelkina 5. The Abkhazians edited by George Hewitt

Forthcoming volumes include: 6. The Circassians 7. The Peoples of Daghestan 8. The Ossetes 9. The Ingush 10. The Turkic Peoples of the Caucasus 11. The Iranian Peoples of the Caucasus 12. The Mountain Jews 15. The Georgian Jews 14. The Laz, Mingrelians & Svans 15. The Ubykh 16. The Displaced Peoples of the Caucasus in Soviet Times 17. The Caucasus in Diaspora 18. The Hemshin 19. The Kalmyks 20. The Cossacks 21. The Ancient Peoples of the Caucasus 22. The Crimean Tatars 23. The Gagauz 24. The Karaim CAUCASUS LANGUAGES i. Chechen Dictionary & Phrasebook 2. Georgian Dictionary & Phrasebook 3. Armenian Dictionary & Phrasebook 4. Azerbaijani Dictionary & Phrasebook

Previous page : Icon ofSt George ofBedia (detail)

ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY IN THE CAUCASUS IBERICA CAUCASICA Volume One Edited by

TAMILA MGALOBLISHVILI

CURZON CAUCASUS WORLD

First published in 1998

by Curzon Press 15 The Quadrant, Richmond

Surrey TW9 ibp England © 1998 Tamila Mgaloblishvili & the Contributors

Typeset and designed by Nicholas Awde/DesertVHearts

Map by Kieran Meeke Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bookcraft, Midsomer Norton, Avon

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or

retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0 7007 0635 X

In honour ofElene Metreveli

Produced under the auspices of the Georgian History & Culture Research Centre ofthe Giorgi Chubinashvili Fund and the K Kekelidze Institute ofManuscripts

With special thanks to Dimitri Tumanishvili for his editorial labours

IBERICA CAUCASICA Editorial Board Grigol Beradze Michel van Esbroeck Bernard Outtier Michael E. Stone Robert W. Thomson

Edisher Chelidze Tamila Mgaloblishvili Brigitta Schräde Gia Tarkhan-Mouravi Dimitri Tumanishvili

Editorial Assistants Ani Chantladze

Maia Machavariani

Leia Khoperia

Tsisana Bibileishvili

CONTEÑTS

i.

2.

3.

Foreword

i

Introduction Tamila Mgaloblishvili

3

Die Ausbreitung des Christentums in Georgien Ernst Bammel

i$

St Andrew in Samtskhe — archaeological proof ? Vakhtang Licheli

25

The Jewish Diaspora and Early Christianity in Georgia Tamila Mgaloblishvili & Iulon Gagoshidze

4. La place de Jérusalem dans la ‘Conversion de la Géorgie’ Michel van Esbroeck

39

59

5.

A new manuscript of Rufinus’ account of the Conversion of Georgia and the legacy of Rufinus in East and West Caroline P. Bammel 75

6.

Early medieval stelae in Georgia in the context of East Christian art Kitty Machabeli

83

7.

Jewish elements in the origin of North African Christianity Johannes van Oort 97

8.

Das Tempelneubauprojekt Julians — eine dramatische Episode in der Geschichte der Beziehungen zwischen Christen und Juden Rudolf Brändle

107

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus 9.

10.

li.

Les débuts de monachisme en Palestine P. Nicolas Egender, osb

i 25

John Chrysostom and the Jews — a reconsideration Adolf M. Ritter

141

Armazianspript Konstantin Tsereteli

i55

CLASSIC PAPERS

12.

L’évangile d’Epiphanie, Catholicos de Géorgie Ekvthimé Takaïshvili

165

ij. La réproduction de la légende du Bœuf d’Ilori sur l’icône de St Georges de l’église de Zugdidi Ekvthimé Takaïshvili

14. On the initial forms of Christian churches Giorgi N. Chubinashvili

175

i 85

Notes

197

Select Bibliography Art History History Language dr Literature

241 246 250

Index

263

VIII

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus

Church ofJvari at Mstkheta — sixth-seventh centuries AD

IX

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus

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Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus

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F¿Jua wall. Their size as well as the character of their finish are notably

31

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus distinct from the granite stones with which the walls of the earlier Middle Ages and later periods were built. It is absolutely clear that during the erection of the walls of the citadel in the fourth-fifth centuries sandstone blocks of the earlier period, i.e. of the beginning of the New Era, were used. Moreover, sandstone blocks were preserved in situ and the wall of the earlier Middle Ages was in fact built over them. Thus, this masonry could have corresponded fully to the period of St Andrew’s arrival in Samtskhe and it could be considered as the preserved remainder of some pagan acropolis. Could all of the above be considered as a small sign of material proof of the existence of town settlements at the beginning of the New Era ? Could the written source thus be considered attested ? For, if the sandstone blocks originally belonged to defences (typically such blocks are also found in the defences of Vani and Bagineti of the second-first centuries bc),1* this could be considered as direct evidence of the economic strength of the town of Atskuri-Sosangeti. Building such constructions with other materials on an acropolis is hardly possible : our calculations for a similar defence wall carried out in Vani show that the erection of its adobe masonry portion (according to Sumero-Babylonian and Greek standards) demanded 8,330 workdays, cutting of the clay and baking bricks 4,166 workdays, expense of provisions : corn — 24,345 tons, meat — 6 tons, wages for workers — in excess of 228,000 drams.16

The town in the Pagan Period The archaeological investigations that were begun in 1988 aimed at excavating and studying of the settlement of the pre-Christian period. Excavations have been carried out on the left bank of the River Mtkvari. Five trenches were dug at different strips of the assumed settlement. In each of these trenches cultural strata and burials of the seventh-first centuries bc were exposed. In trench 4, traces were revealed of a settlement of the first century ad, as well as burials of the earlier periods. Stratigraphy of the monument is clearly presented in trench 3 (6m X 3 m) which was dug in the north from the river bank at a distance of 300 metres, not far from the Borjomi-Akhaltsikhe 32

ST ANDREW IN SAMTSKHE

highroad. After removing a Humus layer (at a thickness of 15-20 cm), the two following layers — yellowish loose (80 cm thick) and loam (4m thick) — containing no .traces of material culture were revealed, i.e. as a result of accumulation of the upper rocks of the southern slopes of the Meskheti Ridge, a five metre­ thick sterile layer of cobbles, was fixed only at the depth of 5.2m. Upon clearing the cobbles, a considerably deformed bronze bracelet and a fragment of a bronze finger-ring were discovered. These were roughly dated to the antique period. After removing a cobble obstruction, in the western corner of the trench, the two rows of parallel cobble masonry were cleared that represent a part of a round ground-plan building. Judging from the preserved fragment of the masonry (1 m wide by 60cm high by 3 m long) which presents a foundation for wooden walls coated with clay, the diameter of the building is 7-9111 (fifth century bc). To the north of this building, another cobble obstruction was cleared. After its removal a foundation presents one row of masonry of larger cobbles, the masonry having a south-north orientation, its mean width is 0.5 m, excavated length — 4.5 m. It should be mentioned that this building also has a round ground plan, but it is much larger than the first. To the north of this larger building an altar of unusual structure is revealed : over the circle constructed of cobble (with a diameter of 1.25 m) a cobble oval wall had been built, 1.15m high and 1.8-0.2m wide. Considering the fact that the stones bordering this small wall were specially picked out and preserved in situ, the altar, as we think, is presented in its original appearance. In the process of clearing the inner ground of the altar, traces of the ritual were exposed : burned bones, fragments of different types of ceramics, ashes. On the basis of studying ceramic material, the altar is dated to the fifth-fourth centuries bc. Of particular interest is burial 3, excavated under the foundation of round building No. 1. The burial was supposedly enacted here after the building had been destroyed. The grave for the burial of a wealthy woman of 30-40 years old was bordered with cobbles. Items discovered in the grave included a black jug, golden temple rings, golden buttons, a silver torque, bronze and silver signet rings, glass and paste beads, bronze ear cleaners with sculptured portrayals of rams, bronze springs, schematic portrayals of a ram’s head.

33

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus

The grave site attributed to the beginning of the third century BC belongs to a ruling elite of the district of Samtskhe — as evidenced not only by articles of gold, but by the various signet rings which, as a rule, represent insignia. Thus, taking into consideration these burials — the only wealthy burials of the time in Samtskhe — it could be assumed that since that period Atskuri-Sosangeti had been the administrative centre of Samtskhe. This assumption is supported also by analogous material from Colchis. Vani and Sairkhe, where notably wealthy burials have been excavated, were the administrative centres of sceptuchia in ancient times. That Sosangeti was not only an important administrative centre but also the trading centre of the region is shown by the ceramic material classified in two groups : local and imported. We will not analyse local ceramics here, but mention only that alongside the forms of East Georgian and Colchian types, imitations of Greek forms (louterion) are also present. Imported ceramics are represented by Greek ceramics of the sixth-second centuries bc (Ionian kylix, phials and kylices made in Athens and in the Greek towns of Asia Minor), as well as by Anatolian (fourth-second centuries bc) and Achemenidian (fifthfourth centuries bc) ceramics. Attention should be especially drawn to the presence of diverse amphorae of the Hellenistic period, more probably from South Pontic Greek towns. Such a concentration of imported Greek ceramics over such a long chroiiological stretch of time is unique for inner regions of Georgia and also for the whole of the Transcaucasus. This fact, no doubt, points to the special role held by this settlement. In the partly studied segment of trench 4, on the eastern outskirts of the pagan town, over the cultural layer of the fifthsecond centuries bc lie the exposed ruins of the building of the first century ad. These are supposedly medium-sized buildings with cobblestone foundations (0.25-0.35 cm wide). Unfortunately these buildings are not yet fully excavated and it is impossible to judge what kind of a ground plan they had or what was their function. However, the presented material makes it possible to rely on the written source which describes the existence of an important pagan temple on the place of the Christian town Atskuri.

34

ST ANDREW IN SAMTSKHE

The problem of 'Greek influence

The most important fact from the point of view, of the opposition of two different religions — Christianity and paganism — is the confirmation of the strong Greek influence in that precise period (the middle of the first century ad). If the information in the Kartlis Tskhovreba concerning the sanctuary of Apollo and Artemis is based on true facts then, in testifying the trustworthiness of the written sources, one should attest either the complete absence of any kind of important Greek influence or its existence — for the temple of Apollo and Artemis itself shows at least the residing of a strongly Hellenized population, if not of an ethnic Greek element in Sosangeti. Not only the fact of the discovey of a Greek temple but also the confirmation of such a possibility is therefore important for solving this problem. It is well known that religious beliefs are the strongest opposition to outside influences in the mentality of an ethos. It is the most conservative sphere of spiritual life. That is why any changes in this field could only result after continuous, strong influences. Such facts are well-established in the territory of Georgia, such as the discovery of the so-called Charon’s obols in burials of the local population. As we know, putting a coin into the mouth of a deceased is a particular Greek tradition, appearing in Georgia only after earlier visits by the Greeks. Moreover, this tradition is evident either in those places consistently inhabited by Greeks or in those points of contact with Greeks. Generally, these tend to be towns or larger settlements. The burial of a warrior (Dedatos) in Vani serves as one such example. Vani, being an administrative centre of sceptuchia and later on also a religious centre (third-first centuries bc) had constant contact with the Greek world, a fact which is reflected not only in the existence of imported ceramics but also in the deep instillation of the elements of the Greek way of life.1? A burial site which is dated to the third quarter of the fourth century bc contained, among other inventory, a golden stater of Philip II of Macedonia (359-536 bc).18 Further inland, such facts are revealed on the territory of Mtskheta, the ancient capital of Iberia (Eastern

35

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus

Georgia) : at the necropolis of Samtavro, in graves in pithoi from the first century bc, Arshakidian drams19 are found. These are also found in an ancient town on the site of modern Aghaiani.20 The existence of a Greek ethnic element in Mtskheta is witnessed not only by written sources (among the most widely spread languages, Greek is also mentioned in the Kartlis Tskhovreba, but also by epigraphic22 and archaeological material.2* We conclude that Charon’s obols are the direct indication of either strong Greek influence or, more than that, of the existence of Greek ethnic elements. Against this background, the discovery of Charon’s obol — a silver coin of a Pontic king, Polemone II (49-63 ad) — in Sosangeti-Atskuri burial 4-95 (trench 4) is of particular significance. To the above may be added the following : i. In the late Hellenistic period (the second-first centuries not far away from Atskuri (15 km to the north east), near Bornigele, such a tradition was already in evidence.

bc),

2. Charon’s obols were also already practised in the necropolis of Tsnisi, 10 km from Atskuri, in the fourththird centuries bc.2* Thus the above-mentioned facts in Atskuri are not coincidental : there is no doubt of Hellenized inhabitants living in this town. This, in its turn, is direct proof of the possibility of the existence of the temple of Apollo and Artemis — which implies that the written sources are reliable. On the other hand, the possibility of the existence of such a temple supported with rich archaeological material points to the fact that Sosangeti was indeed the administrative and religious centre of the region, and this explains the arrival of St Andrew in this very town. It should be especially emphasised that, according to the written sources, on his way to Atskuri, St Andrew stopped at the settlement of Benara where the statue of the pagan god Zaden was erected. As a result of excavations on Mount Zadena (Benara in the Adigeni region) on the top of a hill bordered with large monoliths,

h ST ANDREW IN SAMTSKHE

a pedestal with a special quadrangle groove for fixing a large object was cleared. *

♦

♦

We may conclude by saying that the analysis of the material components — the existence of the temple of the Virgin; the existence of the fortress at the beginning of our era, ,i.e. at the time of the arrival of the Apostle; the existence of a large setdement, a town of a pre-Christian period, including the first century ad which is the date of the baptizing of the population of Samtskhe by St Andrew; strong Greek influence which supports the theory of the importance of this town as a religious centre at the same time during the first century — which are mentioned in the story of St Andrew’s arrival in Samtskhe-Sosangeti, gives enough ground for assuming authenticity of the information given in the written source. Accordingly, the possibility of the arrival of the Apostle Andrew to Samtskhe is wholly supported archaeologically.

THE JEWISH DIASPORA AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN GEORGIA Tamila Mgaloblishvili & lulon Gagoshidze

omplex historic, linguistic, and archaeological studies of Judaic and Early Christian antiquities, such as manuscripts, epigraphic monuments, archaeological sites discovered, in the main, after the end of the Second World War irrefutably pro that since the first centuries of the Christian Era Jewish communities both in Palestine and in the Diaspora (in Asia Minor, Northern Africa) maintained ties with the most ancient Christians — the so-called Judaeo-Christians. Research has brought to light the fact that, contrary to the testimonials provided by the Evangelists, the first Christians lived peacefully with their Judaic brethren, observing Jewish rites and traditions, and were, as a rule, interred in their tribal burial grounds side by side with Jews.1 The role played by Judaeo-Christians in the establishment, promotion and spread of Christianity has been neither well documented nor studied. However, studies of Ancient Christian monuments in the Roman province of Africa have given researchers grounds to conjecture that, paradoxically as it may seem at first sight, the cradle of the African Christian Church stood in a synagogue.2 Studies of the cycle of stories and legends about Abgar also show a leading role played by the Jewish community in the history of the Christianization of Edessa. 3 An analogous picture is presented in the ancient Georgian written tradition as preserved in the History of the Conversion of Georgia (Moktsevai KarUsai), as well as in the Life of St Nino by Leonti Mroveli, an nth-century chronicler. These sources unequivocally connect the spread and establishment of Christianity

C

39

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus in Kartli (i.e. in what the Greeks and Romans referred to as Iberia) with Jews who, according to the same sources, had been living there since as early as the times of Nebuchadnezzar. Historic sources inform us that those Jews who settled in Georgia never severed contacts with their original motherland until the time when Jesus Christ was born, lived and died. One of these Georgian Jews — Elioz, a resident of Mtskheta — happened to be an eyewitness tb the crucifixion and, returning to Mtskheta, he brought with him the chiton of Jesus, which was then buried with Elioz’s sister. This site was eventually selected for the SvetiTskhoveli Cathedral which was built over the grave. It should be stressed here that according to the source referred to, there was no knowledge in Georgia during the early fourth century of where the chiton was buried, not even of the simple fact that the chiton, a relic held holy by all of Christendom, had found its way to Georgia — not even King Mirian of Kartli knew. It was the Mtskheta Jews alone who preserved the memory of the chiton, as well as of the ‘chalen’os mantle of St Elijah, which is reputed also to have its final resting place in Georgia, and of the miracle-working cedar transplanted from Lebanon to grow in Mtskheta. Moktsevai Kartlisai and Leonti Mroveli’s Lives ofthe Kings relate that St Nino, co-equal of the Apostles and the Illuminatrix of Georgia, had been sent on her mission to Kartli by her uncle lovenalius, Patriarch of Jerusalem. St Nino entered Iberia from Javakheti, one of the southern provinces of Georgia, and, following the course of the River Mtkvari (Kura), she arrived in the town of Urbnisi where she tarried a whole month staying with local Jews. Thence she proceeded to Mtskheta, the capital of the kingdom, and once there, she also established closer relations with local Jews to whom she eventually began to preach Christianity. Those who listened to her and accepted what she said were also Jews — the first followers of Christ in Georgia : Abiatar, the future chief priest of Mtskheta, his daughter Sidonia and her friends. These women recorded the life of St Nino and * the history of the Conversion of Kartli to Christianity. So we can clearly see that meticulous emphasis of special merits of the Jewish population of Georgia in the spread of Christianity in this country is a predominantly ostensible feature of old Georgian

40

THE JEWISH DIASPORA AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY

written sources and this, understandably, suggests that it was the Judaeo-Christians who were the first proponents and disseminators of Christianity in Kartli, and that the historic tradition of the Christianization of Kartli may have been created among the JudaeoChristians in Mtskheta and recorded by them. In this context it ought to be noted that a linguistic analysis by Tsiala Kurtsikidze of the text of Moktsevai Kartlisai, where it narrates the legend of St Nino, reveals syntactic Syriacisms, i.e. such constructions and turns of speech that could have penetrated into the Georgian language as a result of translation from Syriac J However, it was revealed that analogous constructions were typical of both Syriac and Aramaic. The latter is believed by many scholars to be the spoken, as well as one of the written, languages of JudaeoChristians in the first centuries of the New Era.6 But then, any educated Georgian could have been fluent in Aramaic and write it, as archaeological finds unearthed in the course of excavations on the territory of Georgia give us grounds to believe. A particular variant of North Mesopotamian Aramaic script — the so-called Armazi script (see the paper by Tsereteli in this volume) — was one of the officially recognised forms of writing (along with Greek) in preChristian Georgia. 7 The Syrio-Palestinian origin of the story of St Nino is corroborated by the text of her prayer included in Moktsevai Kartlisai (where she speaks about baptizing with water and earth) which the German theologist F. von Lillienfeld attributes to the early fourth-fifth century (prior to the Council of Ephesus, 451 AD) due to its doxology.8 In the Will of King Mirian, the first Christian sovereign of Georgia, the text of which has been preserved in Moktsevai Kartlisai, there is an unequivocal statement that all the activities of St Nino and her preachings were based on the teachings of her uncle lovenalius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and although we are inclined to regard the mention of Patriarch lovenalius as a later interpolation (after the fifth century ), the very presence of such an insert in this text ought to be considered indicative of the connections St Nino had with the Palestino-Jerusalem world.9 King Mirian’s Will also contains a number of other testimonies pointing to a considerable influence had by the Jerusalem church in

41

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus Early Christian Kartli. Thus, for instance, describing the construction of two churches in the city of Mtskheta, King Mirian writes that the door of one of these, namely the door of the “Lower Church” was open only on Sunday and no one had the right to enter there except priests or someone accompanied by priests. It is impossible to comprehend the essence of this tradition unless we take into account the Jerusalem practice of divine service adhered to at that period. The written sources reflecting this practice (the polycephala, the lectionary and particularly Egeria’s Pilgrimage} inform us that during the fourth century, the Jerusalem liturgy was chanted on specific days and in specific churches. For instance, on Sundays holy service was held during the whole year only in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Calvary, built by the Emperor Constantine the Great (the only exception to this rule was Pentecost Sunday when liturgy was offered in the Holy Zion Church).10 It should also be noted at this point that according to Egeria and Eusebius of Caesarea, the believers who came to attend the service or pilgrims to holy places used to gather outside the church and could enter it only if accompanied by a clergyman." We are inclined to believe that when the Georgian chronicler said that no one could enter the Lower Church except priests, he must have in mind again the Jerusalem tradition. It must have been precisely the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem that served as the model for determining the day of worship in the Lower Church in Mtskheta which, under King Mirian, was called the ‘Holy of the Holies’ with obvious reference to Jerusalem. As we know, the Holy of the Holies was a sacred place in Moses’s Tabernacle and later in the Temple of Solomon where the Shrine was preserved. This place was held the holiest not because the Shrine stood there, but because it was the place of God’s Revelation.12 And in Mtskheta, the Lower Church built at the grave where Christ’s chiton was interred and where Sveti-Tskhoveli — the ‘Life-giving Pillar’ — was miraculously raised, was also regarded and revered as such a place of revelation. So we maintain that the name ‘Holy of Holies’ was applied to the ‘Lower Church’ in Mtskheta by analogy with the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem and should consequently be regarded as an early reference to the legends brought to Georgia and spread all over her territory from the Holy City of Jerusalem most likely by

42

THE JEWISH DIASPORA AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY

Judaeo-Christians — members of the Mtskheta Jewish community, b Further history of the Lower Church testifies to the strength of the Jerusalem tradition. The Holy of Holies in Mtskheta built by King Mirian in the fourth century in the name of our Saviour was later, under King Vakhtang Gorgasali (fifth century), renamed the Holy Zion and reconsecrated in the name of the Holy Apostles. Since then it has been referred to as the ‘Mother of All Churches’, m It has come to light that this too is connected with Jerusalem, but in this case with Jerusalem of the fifth century. According to Epiphanius of Cyprus, a traveller from Bordeaux, Cyril of Jerusalem and Eusebius of Caesarea, this small church built on Mount Zion and dedicated to the Apostles was called the Holy Zion Church.15 Later, under Patriarch John II (387-417), a large church was built on this site, referred to as the ‘Mother of All Churches’ in an inscription made between the years 470-474 in St Martin’s Basilica in Tours. It appears that the great Holy Zion church became the Mother of All Churches after Patriarch John II of Jerusalem consecrated it on September 15 th, 3 94.16 When King Vakhtang Gorgasali replaced the small Lower Church with the larger SvetiTskhoveli basilica which became the Mother of All Churches for Georgia, he was surely following the Jerusalem precedent, and he dubbed the basilica “Holy Zion,” dedicating it to the Holy Apostles.1? In this context we should dwell at some length on the Feast of the Holy Cross mentioned both in historic chronicles and in the most ancient Georgian literary-homiletic collections polycephala, as well as in loane Zosime’s Calendar and in the Khanmeti Lectionary.1* According to the Life ofSt Nino — the authorship of which the Moktsevai Kartlisai ascribes to the priest, Jacob — the tree for the crosses was cut down on Friday, March 25 th. Thirty seven days later, on Sunday, the first of May, three crosses were made from this tree, one of which was erected next Saturday, May 7th, while the other two were put up a week later, on Sunday, May 15 th. In this section of the Moktsevai Kartlisai there is no mention of the Feast of the Holy Cross.

43

Ancient Christianity in theCaucasus The next chapter of Moktsevai Kartlisai, preserved only in the Shatberdi redaction and believed to have been written by Gregory the Dean, tells the reader, without mentioning dates, that after Georgia had been converted to Christianity, a tree was cut down, from which only one cross was made and erected on the top of a hill in the environs of Mtskheta, and a feast of the Holy Cross was instituted — Aghvsebis Zatikis Zatiki, which means the ‘third Sunday after Easter Sunday (as deciphered by Lili Khevsuriani). An analogous story is to be found in Leonti Mroveli’s work which says that a tree was cut down on Friday, March 25 th, and thirty seven days later, i.e. on the first of May, three crosses were made from that tree, one of which was put up on May 7th and the other two a week later, on Sunday, and a feast of the Holy Cross was instituted and named Aghvsebis Zatiki. ” We are of the opinion that this is a copyist’s mistake, a lapsus calami, and the true wording must have been Aghvsebis Zatikis Zatiki,” i.e. the third Sunday after Easter Sunday, as we read in Moktsevai Kartlisai which was used by Leonti Mroveli as a literary source. According to loane Zosime’s Calendar (tenth century), one of the feasts of the Cross is celebrated on the third Sunday after Easter Sunday.1? It has come to light that each date mentioned in Georgian written sources in connection with the erection of the holy crosses in Kartli has a significance of its own. The tree was cut down on March 25 th, the day of the spring equinox, but the crosses were made from it just thirty seven days later, on the first of May. It can hardly be coincidence that the making of the crosses must have been timed for the first of May, to be performed together with the celebration of one of the most ancient feasts of the Cross that was observed on the third Sunday after Easter Sunday. In this connection, it is noteworthy that according to the fixed calendar, the third Sunday after Easter Sunday fell on the first of May in 326 ad — the year traditionally held by the Georgian Church as the date when King Mirian was baptized. (Further coincidences of the third Sunday after Easter Sunday with the first of May were in the years 337 and 348). According to our sources, one of the crosses was put up on May 7th which is not coincidental either, for as is known, after 351 ad, the Jerusalem practice assigned this day for celebrating the Vision of the Holy Cross in the Heavens.

44

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Z'

THE JEWISH DIASPORA AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY

Collation of the data from ancient liturgical practice and the above dates gives us sufficient grounds to infer that the tradition of exaltation of the Cross on May 7th and the feast of the Holy Cross were presumably established by the fourth century, whereas the name of this feast — Aghvsebis Zatikis Zatiki — appeared in the fifth century.20 It is noteworthy that the feast in question is also indicated by material concerning the Holy Cross preserved in the Khanmeti Lectionary (seventh century), which reflects the Jerusalem liturgical practice as it was in the latter half of the fifth century. As for the third Sunday after Easter Sunday, the Khanmeti lectionary must have, in all probability, preserved the most ancient Jerusalem liturgical rite, whose echo was later reflected in the commemoration we find in loane Zosime’s Calendar.11 We believe that the date of this most ancient feast was also preserved in the Greek, Georgian and Armenian versions of the legend about the second Invention of the Cross in Jerusalem by the Empress Helena. The twentieth day of the month of Artemisia in the Greek version, the tenth day of the month of Vardoba in the Georgian version and the tenth day of the month of Mareri in the Armenian version — all these are the date of the most ancient Feast of the Cross, calculated in these versions according to the lunisolar calendar and which, liturgically speaking, implies the third Sunday after Easter Sunday.22 It is noteworthy that in his Chronicles, Alexander of Cyprus mentions the existence of the Feast of the Holy Cross, but this feast is characterized by some apocryphal connection with an ancient tradition of the Invention of the Cross in Jerusalem in the first centuries of the New Era.2* This conjecture is supported by indications found in certain Oriental liturgical monuments that the Feast of the Cross was celebrated at the beginning of May; scholarly literature connects this indication with an apocryphal work on the Invention of the Holy Cross.2* From these historic and liturgical sources, we can see that the existence of a most ancient tradition connected with the Invention of the Cross in the Judaeo-Christian community in Jerusalem is highly likely. According to what we have said before, as well as the presence of vestiges of this feast traceable in Georgian sources, we

45

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus have the grounds to believe that Christianity had been professed and preached in Kartli by judaeo-Christians long before it was officially recognized and proclaimed as the state religion. The first missionaries to arrive in Kartli were most probably adherents to the ancient Palestinian Christian tradition, and the archetype of the life of St Nino, the Illuminatrix of Georgia, ought to be regarded as having been evolved and recorded in the community of’ the Judaeo-Christian residents of Mtskheta. Therefore, the episodes connected with the Christianization of Kartli and preserved in the oldest Georgian written monuments may be regarded as evidence provided by contemporaries who were eyewitnesses to the events described. Understandably, these surviving sources reflect the Early Christian customs, legends and tales which were penetrating Georgia over the first centuries of the New Era, promoted by the influence of the Holy Church of Jerusalem and the Judaeo-Christians.2? We know that the Judaic oral tradition — the so-called aggada (‘haggadah’) occupied a place of conspicuous prominence in Early Christian divine service. These narratives described mythological or mundane stories with which the Hebrews amended or interpreted some unclear and apparently incomplete passages in biblical texts and which were later partially included into various recensions of the Talmud and Midrashim and which have also survived in Christian apocrypha, in the Qur’an and in the folklore of various nations.26 Regrettably, Georgian apocrypha have been clearly little studied from this angle, and the vast reserves of Georgian folklore still lie untapped, yet this material appears to be a promising treasure trove of important discoveries in this direction, because, to say the least, quite conspicuous in Georgian folk tales is the Prophet Elijah, whose numerous shrines are to be found all over Georgia and who was one of the favourite characters in Judaic haggadahs.2? However, there is yet another aspect of the problem under discussion, namely the archaeologic aspect, and unless we highlight it, none of our theses and theories based on an analysis of oral and written traditions can be sufficiently convincing. Only archaeological evidence is able to lend these credibility and impart substance to them. In our particular case, archaeology will, in the first place, confirm or refute the very fact of the existence of a

46

THE JEWISH DIASPORA AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY

Jewish diaspora in Kartli and, particularly, in the city of Mtskheta during the first centuries of Christianity; secondly, it can provide a date as to when a Jewish community setded here; and, thirdly, it can clarify whether among the Jews residing in Georgia there were any adherents to the teachings of Jesus Christ. The penetration of a sufficiendy numerous ethnic group into an alien milieu would have a found reflecdon of spme sort in the local material culture by way of such innovations that chronologically follow the presumed date when the newcomers had proliferated into the original milieu — innovations that cannot be accounted for by any other reason, such as a spontaneous upsurge in the development of culture, its diffusion and the like. We deem inexpedient a detailed consideration of the entire corpus of archaeological material from Ancient Iberia over a millennium between the sixth century bc, i.e. the date to which tradition assigns the arrival of Hebrews in Kardi, and the fourth century of the New Era, when Christianity became the official state religion of Georgia. We should rather confine ourselves to admitting that we have so far failed to find in Georgian archaeology any traces whatsoever which would direcdy or obliquely indicate any traces of the presence of Jews in Kardi prior to the beginning of the New Era. However, in the first centuries of Christianity the situation changes dramatically : now we already have both direct and indirect evidence attesting the existence of a Hebrew population in a number of places in Georgia, particularly in the cities of Mtskheta and Urbnisi. Back in 1872, excavations at the ancient necropolis of Mtskheta in Samtavro yielded a tomb stele with a Hebrew epitaph commemorating “Father Jehudah, nicknamed Gurk.” Later, in 1938, the same site yielded another Hebrew epitaph mentioning “Joseph bar Khazan and his brother Shallom.” Both tombstones date from the second to fifth centuries ad.28 So does a gold strip bearing a funerary inscription in Hebrew, recently unearthed in Mtskheta. 29 Although the above tombstones were found utilized as slabs to form walls of a cist grave, they had beyond any doubt stood in the Samtavro necropolis in their original function, and this clearly suggests that at least a few of the thousands of interments in

47

Ancient Christianity in thé Caucasus Samtavro are definitely Jewish. This leads us to turn to Samtavro in search of other evidence forjdentification of Jewish burials. Samtavro began to be used as a burial ground as far back as the middle of the second millennium bc and continued as such until the eighth-ninth centuries ad. Almost at the end of the first millennium bc, the predominant type of burial was in earth pits where the deceased was inhumed on the side, with the limbs flexed and brought close to the chest and stomach. A similar rite was universally practised all over Georgia in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages and later, and is, therefore, rightfully considered as a local ancient Georgian funerary ritual. In the first century bc, the Samtavro cemetery saw burials in large ceramic wine jars (pithoi) continuing into the beginning of the New Era, when burial cists appear, made of tiles and ceramic slabs; but this alone will not enable us to speak about a change of the ethnos, because the posture of the skeletons found both in earthenware jars and in tile cists continues to be the same : the deceased were laid crouching on their sides. And only beginning from the second century, when stone boxes first appeared in the Samtavro cemetery, made of large stone slabs, do they begin to bury their dead laying them on their backs with their legs fully stretched and their arms lying straight along the body or folded on the chest or abdomen — a posture that was already predominant in Mtskheta from the third century, and upon the Conversion to Christianity (fourth century) this ritual spread all over Georgia.?0 Since we are confident that in the first centuries of the New Era Jews were also buried in Samtavro, which is attested beyond any doubt by the above-quoted Hebrew inscriptions, there is a great temptation to connect the Samtavro burials (where the skeletons were found lying stretched full-length on their backs) exclusively with Jews, although this posture of inhumation is typical also of a number of other peoples, some of whose representatives could have well lived in Mtskheta (Sarmatians, for instance).?1 Besides, the posture of the skeleton in pre-Christian burials lying full-length on the back has also been registered in Georgian interments, particularly in graves of Georgian nobles beginning from the fifth century bc (Vani, Itkhvisi, Armaziskhevi, Zghuderi, Akhali Zhinvali, Magraneti and so on).?2 48

THE JEWISH DIASPORA ANÔ EARLY CHRISTIANITY

However, there is evidence that may also be considered as an additional argument in support, of the surmise that some of the interments in Samtavro from the late antique and early medieval periods are of Judaic provenance. This is the orientation of the bodies of the deceased according to Giorgi Manjgaladze’s findings, 50 per cent of the skeletons found in late antiquity (second-third centuries) and 99 per cent of those found in early medieval (fourth­ ninth centuries) interments in Samtavro have their heads pointing to the east (i.e. with the face looking west), whereas in other Christian cemeteries in Georgia the orientation of the bodies is the more usual ‘Christian’ one, i.e. they are placed head to the west, the face looking east. Looted burials where it was impossible to determine the orientation of the skeletons were omitted in this analysis. Concerning the orientation of the deceased in the burials at Samtavro necropolis dating from the first millennium of the New Era, we could speak about the persistant custom of placing the deceased’s head to the east, because it is precisely this orientation that is observable in the majority of burials on the territory of Georgia in pre-historic periods. According to Mikhail M. Ivashchenko, in pre-Christian burials at Samtavro orientation of the body’s head to the west is rare (no more than five per cent of all the interments); in the last centuries before the onset of the New Era such burials were in minority (about 25 per cent), but in the first to third centuries ad the number of skeletons found in their graves with heads facing west considerably increased, attaining 51 per cent. 3 3 This tendency persisted all over Georgia, and with the establishment of Christianity the orientation of the deceased head to the west becomes the general rule. 34 The only exception is the Samtavro necropolis where in the second to eighth centuries the orientation was reversed. This exceptional circumstance attracted our attention in Samtavro and gave us grounds to use this peculiarity to support our arguments. In the whole of Georgia we know of only one necropolis dating from the beginning of our era (besides Samtavro) where the deceased are found predominantly on their back and oriented to the east. It is in the Urbnisi cemetery where, according to written

49

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus sources, there also was a large Jewish community. In Urbnisi, burying the dead stretched full-length on the back with the arms along the bódy came into practice earlier than in Mtskheta, i.e. from the first century, and in more than 250 firstthird-century interments that have been studied the overwhelming majority of the skeletons were found in this posture. However, Urbnisi has no stone cists from that period. In the majority of pit graves remnants of wooden structures have been found. *5 Thus, two Such elements of funerary rituals as the posture and the orientation of the body of the deceased (inhumed on the back, head to the east) may possibly be regarded as evidence attesting a Judaic provenance of the interment. To these two elements we can also add a third : a cist burial such as those discovered in the Samtavro necropolis (or interment in a stone box) where the deceased were also found in the above posture and orientation. It should be added in this context that in Georgia, especially in her south-western part, stone boxes were used as chamber tombs as early back as in the Late Bronze period and continued until the Late Antique (Roman) period set in, * 6 but they first appeared in Mtskheta only in the second century ad together with the new funerary rites described above (i.e. the deceased lying full-length on the back). It is also noteworthy that this grave was called Akldama — a colloquial Georgian word of Hebrew-Aramaic origin, which actually derives from the name of a cemetery for foreigners near Jerusalem called ‘Akeldam’, meaning ‘field of blood’.*7 Manana Chirakadze is certainly correct maintaining that this name was originally borrowed into the Georgian language as a toponym to designate the Jewish cemetery in Mtskheta and only later came to mean a funerary chamber or chamber tomb which eventually came into being in the Samtavro necropolis. * 8 With the establishment of Christianity as the official state religion in Georgia, the custom of burying the dead in stone boxes on the back but head to the west (so that the face of the deceased looks east) gained ever greater currency in Georgia. As mentioned earlier, the eastward orientation of the position the deceased laid to rest continued as a universal practice in the Christian epoch only in Samtavro, and this is, possibly, the weightiest argument in support

50

THE JEWISH DIASPORA AND

EARÍy CHRISTIANITY

of the Samtavro necropolis, particularly its northern part, being a Jewish burial ground in the secofid-eighth centuries ad. Speaking about the Samtavro necropolis of early medieval times, we cannot help mentioning yet another peculiarity : there are an uncommonly large number of glass unguentaria among the grave artefacts. According to Nino Ugrelidze, in 400 out of 1,600 fourth­ eighth century interments that were opened by the year 1967 at Samtavro, more than 1,100 glass unguentaria were found and 59 graves contained only these objects, whereas other early medieval graves on the territory of Georgia including those in the city of Mtskheta contained either no glass vessels at all, or they occurred rarely (a single piece per grave).39 It is noteworthy that antique burials at Samtavro are distinguished for their relative abundance of glass vessels — about 100 of these .were found there, and the only equivalent in Georgia in this respect is again the Urbnisi necropolis where 65 burials (out of 140 that were found to contain some goods) turned out over 200 glass vessels. * 0 All of Georgia’s other necropoli from the first centuries of the New Era, including interments of Iberian nobles, are far inferior to Samtavro and Urbnisi as far as the number and variety of form of glass vessels are concerned. A connection between funerary rituals and aromatic balms and, consequently, their glass containers or unguentaria that served for transportation of aromatic oils and ointments has long since been discussed in special literature. * 1 However, no researcher has so far offered a plausible explanation of the fact that this ritual was practically attested in Georgia only in the early medieval necropolis at Samtavro (and burials of the Roman period in Samtavro and Urbnisi), although the evidence the Evangelists offer us gives us grounds to believe that the application of aromatic oils and ointments in burial rituals was typical predominantly of Jews. * 2 The southern section of the necropolis was used to bury members of the Iberian royal family who, in principle, could not possibly have been Jews. And in the middle of the fourth century, one of Georgia’s first Christian churches, Samtavro, was built on this site and its name eventually extended to the whole locality, including the necropolis.43 Thus it turns out that the burial ground for foreign immigrants

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Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus in Mtskheta was adjacent to the royal necropolis. We believe that although this circumstance may appear strange at first sight, it is, in fact, quite natural, because the ruler of the country which hosted immigrants (Jews, in our case) allowed them to establish a cemetery only on a plot of land that belonged to him, since in a country with a well developed statehood (and Iberia was such a country in the first centuries of the New Era) there would not have been any ‘no man’s land’. Let us remember in this context that land “for burying strangers in Jerusalem was bought” (Math. 27:8). It ought to be observed that in the second-fourth centuries, members of the Iberian royal family and of the ruling aristocracy of Iberia were interred both in Samtavro and elsewhere in Mtskheta, namely in Armazistsikhe (Bagineti) and Armaziskhevi, where their bodies were laid to rest in stone boxes or in sarcophagi hewn out of an entire monolith,44 so it is clear that we have no right to consider a stone box as an innovation introduced by Jewish immigrants, although it is just such a stone box or a sarcophagus hewn in rock with the deceased laid full length on the back that were quite common forms of interment in Palestine at the beginning of the New Era.45 So the Jews arriving in Mtskheta could easily accept this burial rite, since it was something they were used to back at home, all the more that such a grave offered easy access to the remains of the deceased contained within such a box (it could be opened any time), and this circumstance was held important in a community living in an alien milieu and dreaming of being buried in their native land — Jewish customs are known to permit moving the bones of relatives in their graves exclusively with the purpose of transporting and reinterring them in Holy Land. * 6 As for the orientation of the deceased head to the east, here we are dealing with a somewhat different situation. Overviewing of the published studies of Judaic graves in the environs of Jerusalem shows that the orientation of the body of the deceased when it was laid to rest was of no particular importance.47 But it was quite a different matter in a diaspora community, and especially in that residing here in Georgia, where the east could well be interpreted by the Jews as a symbolic direction pointing to the Promised Land and so become established as the necessary orientation for deceased

52

• /' THE JEWISH DIASPORA ANÖ EARLY CHRISTIANITY

Jews who were laid like this in their graves both in Urbnisi and in Samtavro as early back as the Roihan period. * 8 The Samtavro necropolis which was a Jewish burial place in early medieval times, continued in this tradition in later centuries. In the light of the above, we deem it quite probable that in the fourth-ninth centuries, the Samtavro cemetery would have been the only place available to bury not only Jews residing in Mtskheta, but all other Judaeans living elsewhere in Kartli. Such an exclusive peculiarity of this cemetery can be accounted for by the fact that the city of Mtskheta was revered as ‘another Jerusalem’ not only by the Christians, but also by the Jewish population of Georgia, because represented here were analogies of all the holy places of Palestine and its neighbouring areas — Zion, Golgotha, Tabor, Bethania, Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Antioch and so on. *9 Analyzing the orientation of burials of Georgian Jews, one cannot help noting that in the Urbnisi necropolis some interments are oriented along the north-south axis, and excavation of one such grave (No. 167) in i960 yielded a signet ring bearing the Hebrew inscription Pfi — meaning ‘testimony’.50 The deceased was found on his back, legs slighdy flexed at the knees, the pit being a little too short for him. * 1 Geographically, Jerusalem was located to the south of Georgia, therefore the southern orientation of the body could be of symbolic reference, which, however, never gained sufficiently wide currency in Georgia. The presence of objects bearing Christian symbols in a number of early medieval graves at Samtavro (a glass cup with a peacock and a Greek inscription conveying an expression of good wishes engraved on it, a signet ring with a chrismon carved into it and other things) 52 cannot be regarded as sufficient evidence to enable us to deny a Jewish provenance of the necropolis, because, in the first place, separate isolated objects do not always permit one to judge and identify the confession to which the deceased belonged and secondly, some Judaeans could always embrace Christianity, and baptized Jews retained the right to be buried next to their ancestors. And, finally, it could have been Judaeo-Christians who could have survived (and obviously did survive) in Georgia in the fourth-fifth centuries (the above glass cup with a peacock and words of good wishes engraved on it was used in the Eucharist and dates

53

Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus

from this period) B —Judaeo-Christians are known to have survived until the Islamic conquest at least in Palestine. 54 The tombstone of Aurelius Acholis and his wife Bevrazuria, with a Greek epitaph, discovered in Samtavro in 1958 raises still more questions. Aurelius Acholis, a man bearing a Graeco-Roman name, was a high-ranking official appointed to supervise painters and builders (àpxtÇœypà etc.). However, there are characters, whose identification is still difficult. But on the whole, the general character of the script is beyond any doubt, this is Armazian script. Dating of the inscriptions on paleographical basis will be possible only after its complete deciphering, but still it seems that the inscription could have been made not later than the third century ad. An inscription scrabbled on the fragment of a pitcher in Armazian bilingual script, was discovered during the archaeological excavations near the village of Urbnisi (East Georgia). The inscription from Urbnisi like the Armazian bilingual inscription is written in the second century ad (perhaps, by one and the same person).1? Among the latest discoveries of Aramaic graphical inscriptions the above-mentioned inscriptions on the temple capital in Dzalisi and the ‘playing plates’ with hunting scenes and animals found in Dedoplis Mindori (‘Queen’s Field’) in Kardi (East Georgia) should be noted. On seven plates in the top left angle and sometimes in the bottom, above and under the mentioned pictures there are inscriptions, whose script is similar to the Armazian script (cf. b, m> s> r, etc.).

The Armazian script experienced a rather lengthy process of development. Like all North-Mesopotamian scripts it originates from the Aramaic script of the Achaemenid epoch (so-called Official or Imperial Aramaic). Later on, after the fall of the Persian Empire local scripts were created which developed into different types of script during the Hellenic-Rome period. One of these could have been formed in the Georgian-Armenian region on the

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Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus local basis, which was most clearly reflected in the Armazian inscriptions, and together with the scripts of the inscriptions from Hatra, Assur, Hassan-Kef and some others, formed a NorthMesopotamian type of script, which is the most similar to characters of the so-called Parthian and Sassanian epoch (third century BC-fifth century ad) for Middle-Iranian languages. On the basis of peculiarities of the Armazian script, scholars have concluded that it is a script which experienced a long and specific process of development.20 From the viewpoint of the history of the Aramaic script, most attention should be paid to the inscription from Sisian, which is dated by A. Perikhanyan around the first century bc.21 The inscription contains 16 letters, half of which are similar to the Armazian script ( b, 4 m, n> s, q, t), and a part of the remainder similar to other types of North-Mesopotamian script; some (k, p, r, h) are of an older, more archaic type.22 The inscription from Sisian represents mainly the signs peculiar for the Armazian script. Its genetical relation with other scripts of North-Mesopotamian type and their common ‘ancestor * — the Old Aramaic script, represented in the script monuments of the Achaemenid period (the fifth-fourth century bc) is also evident. Here we think that the script of the Sisian inscription as well as the script of the inscription on a pitcher from Dedoplis Mindori (first century ad) may be regarded as a previous stage in the development of the Armazian script in the Georgian-Armenian region, namely ‘early Armazian script.’ Therefore the time of formation of the Armazian script in this region, which according to Oelsner is the first century ad, should be shifted backwards. Hence the Armazian script would be a variety of North-Mesopotamian type of Aramaic script, whose formation started in the first century bc (and perhaps earlier) and was completed by the first century ad (the Armazian monolingual inscription). In Georgia as well as in Armenia, the Armazian script was used before their own scripts were introduced in the fourth century ad as a result of the official approval of Christianity in these states. There is also the possibility that this script may have originated in Mtskheta, the capital of Iberia, from which it spread to other regions, including perhaps West Georgia and parts of Armenia —

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ARMAZIAN SCRIPT

The Aramaic script ofthe Armazian bilingual inscription (second century AD)

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Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus

according to R. Stiehl,2 5 “the Armazian alphabet might have been created in Old Iberia.” This explains perhaps the reason why the greatest number of inscriptions in Armazian script are found in Georgia compared to those found in Armenia, compounding the fact that the Armazian (and not ‘Early Armazian’) inscriptions in Iberia were discovered a whole century earlier than in Armenia. Only new discoveries of Armazian inscriptions in Georgia and Armenia can either argue against this statement or introduce any corrections.

CLASSIC PAPERS

L’EVANGILE D’EPIPHANE, CATHOLICOS DE GEORGIE * Ekvthimé Takaïshvili

’académicien Nicolas Marr a indiqué avec juste raison dans l’article ci-dessus : “L’inscription d’Epiphane, Catholicos de Géorgie”, qu’avant la découverte de l’inscription d’Ani de l’an 1218, le catholicos Epiphane n’était connu que de nom. Mais, présent, il s’avère que nous avions un magnifique évangile, fait sur la commande d’Epiphane et richement paré par lui. C’est l’évangile, dit d’Enachi, c’est-à-dire, appartenant à l’église de l’Enachi de la commune de Latali, en Svanéthie Libre. Il est connu depuis longtemps dans la littérature. Il a été vu et décrit, pour la première fois, par le célèbre archéologue, D. Bakradzé, en I860;1 plus tard, en 1895, la comtesse Ouvarova a donné une description plus détaillée de cet évangile,2 et enfin, A. Khakhanov s’est occupé à vérifier les inscriptions de l’évangile. 5 Eux tous attribuaient l’évangile d’Enachi à un catholicos inconnu de Géorgie, du nom de Stéphané. Cependant ce n’était qu’un malentendu dû à un déchiffrage erroné de l’inscription sur la reliure de l’évangile. Ce dernier appartient au catholicos Epiphane, j’en ai acquis la certitude au cours de mon expédition archéologique en Svanéthie, en été 1910. J’ai retrouvé l’évangile non plus dans l’église d’Enachi, où il se trouvait avant, mais à Mestia, dans la maison du doyen des églises de Svaneti, Bessarion Nijaradzé. Les quatre évangiles, 27 x 21 cent., ont été écrits sur parchemin, en deux colonnes de 23 lignes, en bon nuskhuri (en lettres minuscules sacerdotales), par le scribe lonaï. Encre noire; cahiers de 8 feuilles, signés de lettres asomtavruli (lettres capitales sacerdotales) au milieu de la marge supérieure sur fol. Ir. et l’inférieure sur fol. 8v. Il est conservé au total 226 feuilles, dont quatre contiennent les miniatures des évangélistes. L’évangile débute par la lettre d’Eusèbe à Cyprien (feuilles 1 et 2), les 12 pages

L

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Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus

suivantes contiennent les canons sous les arcs richement colorés. Au commencement de chaque évangile est placé un bon frontispice paré, ainsi que les arcs d’arabesques multicolores. Toutes les miniatures, arcs et frontispices ont beaucoup souffert de l’humidité. Sont mieux conservées les nombreuses initiales richement colorées. Elles sont nombreuses comme dans aucun autre manuscrit du mçme genre. L’artiste emploie en abondance pour les parures l’or, les couleurs rouges, vertes et noires. Les arabesques et l’abondance des couleurs font ressortir une forte influence de l’Orient, tandis que les autres évangiles plus anciens gravitent autour de Byzance.4 Bakradzé compare cet évangile avec le fameux évangile de Guelathi du xi siècle pour trouver, sans aucune raison d’ailleurs, qu’ils sont de la même époque et du même artiste J La comtesse Ouvarov a justement établi l’époque, l’ayant attribué au xm siècle. Je ne puis affirmer à quelle version en appartient le texte, est-ce à celle du Georges l’Athonite, ou à une plus ancienne, car je n’ai pas comparé, faute de temps, son texte à ceux des autres évangiles. Selon A. Khakhanov, il est de la version du Georges l’Athonite. Il se peut que ce soit ainsi, cependant l’évangile n’a pas conservé le testament de Georges et un endroit, au moins, n’en est pas en accord avec sa version : le verset 24 du chapitre 19 de Mathieu est conçu ainsi dans notre évangile :

■JôçogocnQb ôtnb Bôbjôbobô bôdgc^o ^bbc^gôco b'jrôgcnbô 6g8bobôbô 3^3 8ç»oQ»rtobô 83b ££>30 fi»

Uadviles ars mankanisa saheli g" nslvad khourelsa nemsisasa v"e mdidrisa sheslvad sasoupevelsa.

“Il est plus aisé qu’une corde d’un levier passe par le trou d’une aiguille qu’il ne l’est» à un riche d’entrer dans le royaume des deux.” Dans la version de Georges à la place des mots 806 Jôbobô bôè^c^o mankanisa sabeli la corde d’un levier ou d’une machine’, je trouve 0^380 aklemi ‘le chameau’. Le copiste lui-même le sait bien, car il

166

l’evangile d’epiphanie

écrit sur la marge : akltmi ‘chameau’, et ajoute que ce n’est pas par erreur qu’il a écrit 8ô6(jô6obô böÓQc^o mankanisa sabeli ‘la corde d’un levier’, mais qu’il en était ainsi dans l’original où il copiait : gbg 3cnßo)cn8ocnoö. Q>go>ôbô (jbfnQßQ E* e ar motstomilia. Dedasa esreve etsera.

A la fin de l’évangile, se trouve un index des lectures journalières. Les marges en sont, ainsi que celles des autres manuscrits de Svanéthie, bariolées de nombreuses apostilles postérieures, en lettres civiles. Ces apostilles contiennent d’habitude des traités entre des membres de la même commune ôù entre deux communes voisines affirmant la volonté de vivre en paix et d’agir en commun contre les infracteurs à l’ordre, contre les ennemis, contre les envahisseurs et insulteurs etc.6 Il faut croire que à l’époque de Bakradzé la reliure de l’évangile était intacte, car il écrit : “la reliure est ferrée d’argent, les medaillons des saints sont en émail cloisonné”.7 La présence d’émail a été remarquée aussi par la comtesse Ouvarova. Elle écrit :

“Le chassis de l’évangile se distinguait jadis par sa somptuosité dont il ne reste aujourd’hui que les vestiges les plus lamentables. Cette reliure est en cuir et munie à présent d’une feuille d’argent dorée qui contient une image du crucifix avec les assistants au-delà desquels on aperçoit des restes insignifiants d’images byzantines d’anges d’émail cloisonné; les anges ont des cheveux noirs, des couronnes bleues sur la tête et, autant qu’on peut en juger, ils sont sur un fond vert transparant.”8 Tout cela est maintenant disparu, on n’aperçoit plus aucune trace d’émail. Le pillage des émaux a commencé, il faut le croire, après Bakradzé et s’est terminé après l’expédition de la comtesse Ouvarov. A présent, on n’a plus que la reliure de cuir sur planchettes auxquelles sont fixés des débris des plaques en argent doré (voir tabl. i et 2). Sur le revers de la reliure (tabl. 1), où se trouvait le crucifiement avec les assistants, il. ne s’est plus conservé que la figure

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Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus de Jean Baptiste sur le côté droit. Le crucifiement, lui-même, est disparu. Au coin gauche supérieur se trouve le buste de l’apôtre Mathieu avec l’inscription en assomthavrouli : 8ôcng Sbrôgèc^o mate mkhrebli — l’évangéliste Mathieu. En bas, au coin droit, les vestiges de la tête d’un autre évangéliste. Les autres parties conservées des plaques sont recouvertes d’arabesques géorgiennes. On aperçoit aussi les chevilles des courroies. Sur la face de la reliure se trouvait l’image du catholicos en vêtements de prélat, les mains tendues dans l’attitude de la prière devant une colonne sur une base de trois marches. Au-delà de la colonne il y avait vraisemblablement la figure du Criste; on aperçoit encore ses jambes et une partie de vêtements. La tête du catholicos ne s’est pas conservée, mais on entrevoit une partie de l’auréole qui entourait la tête. Les jambes ne sont pas conservées non plus, mais on voit bien le corps avec le vêtement (tabl. 2). Le fond est orné d’arabesques géorgiennes. Des deux côtés de l’image de catholicos, à la hauteur du cou, s’est conservée l’inscription de son nom en capitales sacerdotales (tabl. 2 & 3) :

[o]9 [g] 063 — Ep * [i] [p] ane Derrière le catholicos s’étend de haut en bas une inscription bien conservée, en capitales aussi, de onze lignes;10 elle se lit comme suit (tabl. 3) : J : ô8ob : 6$ ôrtobô : gÔ : d ‘ 3 80b6 : 8"$ : ô8o[b] 0'633 : 33 o8jcd

:

33 : 33^360 bmb : bbô ôo : gbg : 3mo 66363 : «j-3 :

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