წმინდა ასურელ მამათა ღვაწლისადმი მიძღვნილი ჰაგიოგრაფიული ციკლის ისტორიის ძირითადი ფაქტები

Abstract

A group of thirteen Assyrian Fathers came to Georgia in the middle the 6th century. It was lead by famous ascetic named John, later St. John of Zedazeni. The Assyrian missionaries played pivotal role in Georgian history: as a result of their activities the remnants of paganism were eradicated and positions of Christianity were strengthened. During many centuries the monasteries founded by Assyrian Holy Fathers functioned as centers of Georgian spirituality and culture. Thus, it is not astonishing at all that the scholars have animate interest to this very topic and this interest has not faded for decades. Accordingly, there are many studies about this group of missionaries carried out by historians, philologists, cultural anthropologists, art historians and philosophers. However, many unsolved problems still remain, among which some are of fundamental importance: dating of the arrival of the Holy Fathers, identification of the denomination of Christianity that they adhered to; even the list of disciples of St. John of Zedazeni is not complied with due accuracy.

The reason for the less study of the problem should be sought in sources. In this case, we do not mean the absence of sources; quite the opposite.Texts that might be ascribed to this hagiographic cycle are available in sufficient quantities. The problem is that identifying an authentic text becomes very difficult.

The article proposes a source-critical investigation. The author reveals informative value of available redactions by presenting the full history of the cycle.

For accomplishing this aim, the author conducts comparative analysis of the texts and represents basic facts of the development of the cycle. As it turns out, the original texts were written by immediate disciple of Saint John of Zedazeni. His name was Martviri, later called John. In the 10th century the original texts were revised and renewed by Arsenius the Catholicos of Georgians.

The present paper describes the main characteristics of texts written by Martviri and Arsenius: Martviri composed texts with many factual details, while Arsenius omitted many of these details and expanded the narrative through including didactic discourses.

The research outcomes might be used by historians, since they will give them clear vision of informative value of various texts of hagiographic cycle in question. A philologist can also benefit from the present paper because it provides unique opportunity to observe very interesting literary processes in pre-modern Georgia.