International Congress I Problems and Prospects Of

The Georgian National Academy of Sciences Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Georgian Patriarchate INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS I PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF KARTVELOLOGY Tbilisi, 2015 ABSTRACTS 49 Zaza Alexidze (Georgia, Tbilisi) The Issue of Language and Statehood in Georgian Literature and Politics of Old and Recent Period 1. At the turn of IV-III centuries B.C., when King Parnavaz was establishing the first unitary Georgian State, the peak of the process was the declaration of Geor- gian as a State language and creation of the Georgian writing system. 2. In the early fourth century, when Iberia was left without a descendent of the Parnavazids, local nobles invited a certain Persian prince Mihran, in Georgia known as Mirian, as king. Mirian married the last female descendant of the Parnavazid dynasty, “he loved the Georgians, forgot Persian, learned Georgian and adorned the tomb of Parnavaz”. Georgian remained as Iberia’s state language. 3. In the VI-VII centuries, when the Kingdom of Kartli started to become united, church service in the borderline provinces of Georgia was conducted in the Georgian language even for the non-Georgian-speaking parish. This process of unification of the Georgian lands was known by the introduction of the unifying term “Entire Kartli” and the construction of the Cross Monastery near Mtskheta, “The Protector of the Entire Kartli”. 4. Due to Arab invasion, Georgia lost independence and fell into parts. However, in the X century the process of unification started anew. The Georgia of David the Builder and King Tamar was gradually developing. Based on the 13-centuries’ experience, a genius Georgian scholar expressed a simple and clear idea: “Kartli is the land where the liturgy is performed in Georgian and all prayers are said in the Georgian language”. In other words, the boundaries of Georgia were defined according to the area of spreading of Georgian as a State and church language. 5. In the period of unified Georgia the name for the country was defined. It was clear that the term “Kartli” (even “The Entire Kartli”) did not cover the territory where church service was performed in Georgian. Then, at the council of Ruis- Urbnisi, the current name of the country – Saqartvelo (Georgia) was officially declared. Since this day, it was understood by everyone that Georgia and the Georgian language were univocal concepts; Formation of the State and creation of the language was a unified, inalienable process, and neither could exist separately. 6. When the entire Georgian kingdom was destroyed, its symbol – the Geor- gian language still remained and united the disintegrated country, as “all prayers” were still said in Georgian everywhere. That is why various parts of Georgia were mentioned as Saqartveloebi (“Georgias”), although they had their own names. Geor- gian was the State language everywhere. 7. After Georgia was annexed by Russia, it lost its statehood, but retained its past and preserved its memory. According to the proclamation of the plot in 1832, Georgia had lost three most important things: faith, State language and the King. 8. In the second half of the XIX century a violent movement started aimed at the preservation of the Georgian language. According to the outstanding public figures of this period, preservation of the language implied the salvation of the nation. Alt- 50 hough Georgia fell into two provinces – Tbilisi and Kutaisi, the name of the country Sakartvelo was preserved (e.g. “Sakartvelos Moambe”). However, there was no demand for the restoration of the Georgian language either in State agencies or major churches. 9. With the strengthening of the Marxist parties, Georgian printed media al- most forgot about the preservation of the national language. However, some statesmen (A. Djordjadze) demanded re-introduction of the Georgian language in the State agencies and the church. This was similar to the demand of restoration of Georgian as the State language. This issue was later included in the constitution of the independent Georgia. 10. In every constitution of the Soviet Georgia the Georgian language was declared as the State language. In 1978 the Soviet authorities made an attempt to withdraw the corresponding Article from the constitution. Due to the joint effort of the entire Georgian nation, the Article about the State language was preserved in the new Constitution. This efficient protest filled the nation with the spirit of regaining national independence. 11. According to the Constitution of the independent Georgia, the Geor- gian language was declared State language, but the adoption of the law on the national language was delayed. Now everything depends on the appropriate imple- mentation of the above-mentioned law. Ivane Amirkhanashvili (Georgia, Tbilisi) The Pattern and Style in Old Georgian Prose The genre of hagiography is distinguished by clearly expressed canonical character. The author thoroughly observes ideological, stylistic, structural and theological norms of writing. A hagiographical work has strictly determined compositional scheme. The setting is clearly distinguished. Structural and contextual realities of the Bible are used. The imperative character of a pattern is also expressed by the fact that an author is not free in choosing the theme. It is commissioned or given to the author by order. The author takes an order and specially warns the reader that he renders what exists in the memory of the society and makes no use of literary invention. It is true, the author of hagiographical work makes no use of a literary invention but he does not give up the elements of fiction either. It should be also mentioned that a pattern also participates in the use of literary devices, although partially. In this case the author has an opportunity to be comparatively free when using such kinds of tropes as rhetorical figures, metaphors, similes, epithets, reminiscences. Systematic use of tropic forms creates the opportunity for the formation of a style as such. The style of hagiography reflects all those ideological, world outlook and literary realities which took place within the long history of the development of genre. Therefore, if we want to understand the style of hagiography, we should comprehend 51 the inner logic of this style and determine whether the given system of literary elements is the sum of private cases or general regularity. Giorgi Andriadze (Georgia, Tbilisi) Jurisdiction of Georgian church- Georgian ethno-cultural area Since its establishment, the jurisdiction of the Georgian Church, has included considerably larger territories than modern Georgia. We presume, those territories were Georgian tribespeople’s settlement areas, due to which Georgian Church set out to take care of their Christianity and successfully materialized it. Thus, it can be legiti- mately called Georgian Ethno-Cultural space. To defi this, we can place reliance in the document of Georgian Church’s Autocephaly Renewal from the beginning of the twentieth century. On 9th September 1917, in Sioni Cathedral City of Tbilisi, the first council of Georgian Church figures, based on historical sources, restored the canonical borders of Georgian Church, within which, for many centuries Georgian Apostolic Orthodox Christian Church existed, up to cancellation of its autocephaly. According to Dipych, the first eparchy had been called Mtskheta and it was ruled by Catholicos-Patriarch of all Georgia, The second eparchy was TbileliMertopolitani it is a territory in the south of the Russian empire former Bocrchalodistrict, nowadays this is Lore-Tashir historical land in the Republic of Armenia. The third eparchy – Abba Alaverdeli Bishopric Administration included historical province of north Didoet- Durdzuketi, with the border specified on the Charter as follows: “..Didoet-Durdzuketi, included into Terek and Dagestan territories” The fourth eparchy was Bodbe Parish, the canonical borders of which, according to Charter of Church Administration, had been spread over quite large territory. In ad- dition to Kizikhi, it was included historical provinces of Hereti, Rani, Shaki and Tsuqeti. The Charter specified the mentioned territory by the list or regions and districts of Russian Empire. There were included Zaqatala, Samuri, Nukhi, Areshi, Ganja and Kazakhi regions and districts covering the large north-wester territory of nowadays’ Azerbaijan. The fifth eparchy was UrbnisiBishopic Administration, with the canonical composition including historical Dcaleti, currently southern part of Alagiri district of nowadays’ North Ossetia. The sixth – Atskuri eparchy included Basiani and Valashkerti districts within the Ottoman borders, as well as Artaani, Karsi and Kaghzevani (Aghzevani;Khalizmani) districts within the Russian Empire. These are territories of Armenia, orthodox Christian population of which (mostly of Georgian by origin) comprised the parish of Georgia Church. Eparchies of Kutaisi, Gelati, Nikortsminda, Tsageri, Chkondidi and Tskhurn- Beda were located within the Georgian territory only, while Batumi- Shemocimedeli Parish included Guria-Atchara, Tao-Klarjeti and Tchaneti vast territories. For identification of the canonical borders thereof, the Charter of Church 52 Administration initially mentioned the historical bishopric cathedrae covered by new, Batumi-Shemocimedeli eparchy and further, for exact specification of this territory, listed the districts of Ottoman and Russian empires comprising the territory of this eparchy. Batumi-Shemoqmedeli Eparchy,

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