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Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 67(3-4), 347-373. doi: 10.2143/JECS.67.3.3149539 © 2015 by Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. All rights reserved. THE RELATIONS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WITH GEORGIAN CHRISTIANITY IN MODERN HISTORY JOHN FLANNERY THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY IN GEORGIA The historical origins of Christianity in Georgia are ancient. Tradition has St. Andrew and St. Matthias the Canaanite both preaching the Gospel in Western Georgia, while other sources posit the presence in Eastern Georgia of Bartholomew and Thaddeus, also claimed as the evangelisers of neigh- bouring Armenia. The prevalence of Christianity in eastern Georgia is dif- ficult to quantify before the fourth century, with the conversion of Mirian III (r. 284-361) and his family, following which Christianity came under state protection. His conversion by Saint Nino is generally dated to around 337,1 and the event is recorded in the Latin text of Rufinus’ Ecclesiastical History (c. 402), while the oldest existing record in Georgian dates from the 7th c. Conversion of Kartli, and a much more elaborate version appears in the 9th or 10th c. Life of Nino. The conversion of the west Georgian kingdom was more gradual, with Christianity being officially embraced in 523.2 Early Christianity in the cosmopolitan pre-modern Caucasus, situated at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, was characterised by tremendous diversity, inclusiveness and a degree of syncretism. Under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Apostolic See of Antioch from the second decade of the 1 The conversion of the West Georgian kingdom was more gradual, with Christianity being officially embraced in 523. 2 For the basic hagiography of Saint Nino, see M. Wardrop, Life of Saint Nino, Analecta Georgiana, 3 (Piscataway NJ, Gorgias, 2006); a facsimile edition of the original published in Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica (Oxford, Clarendon Press, s.d. [1903]), vol. 5, pp. 15-88; D. M. Lang (ed. and tr.), Lives and Legends of the Georgian Saints (London, George Allen & Unwin, 1956; London, Mowbrays, 1976²). For somewhat alternative perspectives: E. M. Synek, ‘The Life of St Nino: Georgia’s Conversion to its Female Apostle’, in Chris- tianizing Peoples and converting Individuals, eds. G. Armstrong and I. N. Wood, Interna- tional Medieval Research, 7, (Turnhout, Brepols, 2000), pp. 3-13; F. Thelamon, ‘Histoire et structure mythique: la conversion des Ibères’, Revue Historique, 247 (1972), pp. 5-28. 98830.indb 347 12/05/16 10:06 348 JOHN FLANNERY 4th century, although the Caucasus region was often beyond the reach of Antioch, the constant tradition of the Georgian Church is that it achieved autocephaly in 466 when the Patriarch of Antioch elevated the Archbishop of Mtskheta3 to the rank of Catholicos of Kartli.4 In fact, while this change may indicate increased autonomy, it is probably more accurate to date full autocephaly to the beginning of the Arab invasions in the seventh century, and perhaps even to the eighth century.5 A Catholicosate was also established in Western Georgia by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1010, during the creation of a united monarchy in Georgia, the Catholicos of Kartli was elevated to the rank of Patriarch, and from this time the leader of the Georgian Church has borne the title of Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia. Georgian Christianity, which adopted a Byzantine Orthodox liturgy in Georgian, flourished during the 6th – 9th centuries, with the development of a strong monastic tradition. Churches and monasteries were constructed not only within Georgia but also in Palestine,6 Syria, Cyprus, Greece, and Bul- garia. Most significant among these were the Monastery of the Holy Cross and the Monastery of St. James in Jerusalem, the Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos7 and the Petritsoni Monastery in Bulgaria. A number of Georgian 3 Tradition claims that both the tunic of Elias and the seamless robe of Christ were buried at Mtskheta, having been brought there by Jews. The seamless robe or chiton features on the Georgian royal coat of arms. See the detailed account of the presence of the chiton in Georgia in M. Tamarati, L’Église Géorgienne: des origines jusqu’à nos jours (Rome, Société typographique-Editrice Romana 3, 1910), pp. 95-119. 4 It must be admitted that the nature of the early relationship between Antioch and the Georgian Church are unclear. While the First (canon 6), and Second (canon 2) Ecumenical Councils had placed the entire East under the jurisdiction of Antioch, the extent to which such rights were actually exercised in Georgia remains questionable. See M. Tarchnisvili (tr. P. Viscuso), ‘The Origin and Development of the Ecclesiastical Autocephaly of Georgia’, Greek Orthodox Theological Review, 46/1-2 (2001), pp. 89-111; B. Dupuy ‘L’Autocéphalie de l’Église de Géorgie’, Istina, 35 (1990), pp. 277-287. It is clear that Antioch long retained an interest in Georgian affairs. For an account of the relationship in a later era between the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and the Georgian Church, see C. M. Walbiner ‘Die Bezie- hungen Zwischen dem Griechisch-Orthodoxen Patriarchat von Antiochia und der Kirche von Georgien von 14. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert’, Le Muséon, 114/3-4 (2001), 437-455. 5 The view of Dupuy, ‘L’Autocephalie’, p. 282. 6 G. Peradze, ‘An Account of the Georgian Monks and Monasteries in Palestine as Revealed in the Writings of Non-Georgian Pilgrims’, Georgica , 4-5 (1937), pp. 181-246. 7 See T. Grdzelidze (ed. and tr.), Georgian Monks on Mount Athos: Two Eleventh-Century Lives of the Hegoumenoi of Iviron (London, Bennett and Bloom, 2009). The hagiographical 98830.indb 348 12/05/16 10:06 THE RELATIONS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WITH GEORGIAN CHRISTIANITY 349 thinkers made significant contributions to Christian scholarship, and included Peter the Iberian (c. 411-491),8 Ephraim the Lesser (11th c.), Euthymius (c. 955-1024), and George of Athos (1009-1065). The period from the 11th – 13th centuries was a golden age for Georgian literature9 and culture, ending with the devastating invasions of Genghis Khan in the thirteenth century10 and that of Tamerlane in the fifteenth. RELATIONS WITH THE CHURCH OF ROME Georgia had a long history of contacts with the European states, and especially the papacy.11 Documents indicate relations with the Holy See from the seventh century, largely of a theological or liturgical character.12 By the thirteenth century, contacts with Rome also included a political element. Georgian soldiers joined Cilicians and Armenians to fight along- side Latin Crusaders for the freedom of the Holy Land, although the political situation in Georgia prevented Queen Rusudan from responding to the request in 1224 of Pope Honorius III, via his legate in Damietta, texts in question demonstrate the high theological culture of Georgian monasticism in the period. 8 Identified by some scholars with pseudo-Dionysus the Areopagite. See E. Honigmann, Pierre l’iberien et les écrits du Pseudo-Denys l’Areopagite (Brussels, 1952). 9 In this respect, see the study on the Georgian chronicle ‘The Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns’ (13th c.): A. Tvaradze, ‘Geschichte und Lobpreisungen der Kronenträger. Christliche Kriegsideologie, Toleranz und Weltherrschaftsgedanken in einer georgischen Chronik des 13. Jahrhunderts’, Le Muséon, 121/1-2 (2008), pp. 183-212. 10 It would seem that it was in this period that the Catholicosate of Abkhazeti in Western Georgia was established (or possibly re-established). 11 In addition to the extensive documentation provided in Tamarati, L’Église, see N. Gabasvili and L. Branca (editor and translator), La Georgia e Roma: duemila anni di dialogo (Vatican City, Libreria editrice vaticana, 2003): on pp. 119-122, the author devotes a short chapter to the life of Tamarati, while a useful chronological summary of the history of Georgia and its relations with the Holy See is given on pp. 173-181; I. M. Tabagua, I rapporti tra la Georgia cristiana e la Santa Sede (Tbilisi, Mezniereba, 1996); K. Bagrationi and I. M. Tabagua, ‘Une ambassade géorgienne en Europe (Nicéfore Irbakhi – XVIIe s.)’, Bedi Kartlisa, 39 (1981), pp. 139-152; B. Lomagistro and G. Shurgaia, ‘Una pagina della storia delle relazioni diplomatiche tra la Santa sede ed il regno di Georgia’, Orientalia Christiana Periodica, 64 (1998), pp. 359-381; J. M. Floristan Imízcoz, ‘Cartas del papa Clemente VIII al rey Simon I de Kartli y al ‘Católico’ Demetrio de Mtskheta’, Orientalia Christiana Periodica, 66 (2000), pp. 373-393. 12 M. Tarchnisvili, art. ‘Georgia’, in Enciclopedia cattolica, 6, 1951, pp. 68-69. 98830.indb 349 12/05/16 10:06 350 JOHN FLANNERY for further help in the Crusades.13 The same Queen in 1240 would ask his successor, Gregory IX for help against the Mongol invaders, in exchange for promoting unity between the Churches. It is difficult to assess when a definite division between the Roman Church and that of Georgia came about. In their letters, the popes Honorius III in 1224,14 Gregory IX in 1240, and even Paul II, as late as 1545,15 witnessed to the perseverance of the Georgian people in the true faith. The Georgian Church does not appear to have been greatly affected by the schism initiated by Photius in 858 and consummated in 1054 by Michael Caerularius.16 In Tamarati’s view, the separation between the two Churches, which depended not on doctrinal issues but on the impossibility of maintaining close links with the Roman Church, can be dated to the middle of the 13th century, and the refusal of Georgian delegates to the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-1445) to sign an act of union with Rome certainly underlined their separation. In the Middle Ages, Antioch and the surrounding area had become a popular meeting point for Georgians and in a letter of 1239 Gregory had strongly criticised those Georgians who, although in the area of jurisdiction of ‘Our venerable brother..

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