Unknown Materials on the Gareja Monastery of St. John the Baptist and its Antiquities in the Personal Archive of Polievktos Karbelashvili

Abstract

Materials on the Gareja Desert monastic association and its antiquities collected during the years by archpriest Polievktos Karbelashvili (1855-1936), were often published in Georgian periodicals at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In addition, unpublished materials of the learned ecclesiastic can be found in his personal archive which is kept in the National Archives of Georgia (Fund N1461). These materials are preserved in two files. These are:

File N48 includes excerpts from inscriptions (including epitaphs), descriptions and sketches of wall paintings, as well as excerpts from old documents concerning the monastic life in the Gareja desert. Most of this materials are not dated, although the grouping of materials of the same period is still possible.

File N59 is dedicated entirely to the Gareja monastic association. The author describes in details his journey with the pilgrims from Martq’op’i to the Gareja desert, namely the monastery of St. John the Baptist. During this journey he has described the churches and the murals of the monastery, recorded part of lapidary and fresco inscriptions, antiquities currently preserved there by that time and the inscriptions on them. A list of Abbots of the monastery of St. John the Baptist from 1639 to 1840 is attached to the records.

In the file N48 the date of the journey – 23-24 June, 1914 – is indicated.
While studying archival materials, it becomes evident that during the trip to the Gareja desert Archpriest Polievktos had a small personal notebook with him, which is presereved in the file N48. Later, while the materials were being prepared for publication, the field-records were edited and rewritten on separate sheets of paper, which are included in file N59. In this regard it is worth mentioning that in addition, the edited text is entitled: “In the Gareja Desert”.

Description of the journey from Martq’op’i to the Gareja desert, to the monastery of St. John the Baptist is not inferior in importance to the essay, which describes a trip to the Gareja in 1895 and a service performed there, as well as a feast dedicated to the Saint (Published in the newspaper “Iveria” in 1895, NN 116, 117, 122, 179). In addition to previous essay, the one describing the monastery of St. John the Baptist is more complete due to fact that it contains records on the local antiquities: churches and cells, paintings, church objects and their inscriptions.

The essay vividly and emotionally conveys the march of the group to one of the oldest and largest spiritual centre of the Gareja monastic association; Local toponyms (some of which are now lost) are included in the description of the trip, along with the artistic and emotionally charged descriptions of nature. Polievktos Karbelashvili discusses the past events related to certain places. Records of the local antiquities include inscription on the doors of the monastic gate, references to the chamber of the abbot and its builders – Ioane the Metropolitan of Bodbe and Archimandrite Ioane, the abbot of the Lavra of St. David. The attention of the author was attracted by the defense tower, the stone pillar at the entrance of the main church with the relief image of the miracle of St. Eustathios Placidas. Particularly noteworthy are the brief references to the main church of the monastery and the fragments left from its wall paintings – in the wide donor row of the images of royal representatives of Georgian kingdom which are presented on the north and west walls of the church David IV the Builder (1089-1125), Demetre I (1125-1156), George III (1156-1184), and Queen Tamar (1184-1210) are named.

In the present publication the text is published from the file N59, which was prepared by Archpriest Polievktos Karbelashvili for the publication. In the end it is followed by short records on the trip to the Gareja desert from the file N48, which also remained unpublished until today and was not included in the text prepared for publication.