ARAM, 18-19 (2006-2007) 527-539.T. MGALOBLISHVILI doi: 10.2143/ARAM.19.0.2020744 527 AN UNKNOWN GEORGIAN MONASTERY IN THE HOLY LAND Dr. TAMILA MGALOBLISHVILI (The Institute of Manuscripts, Georgian Academy of Sciences) In 1996 the Israel Antiquities Authority was carrying out archaeological ex- cavations in the village of Umm Leisun, near Jerusalem. The excavations were headed by John Zeligman, Jerusalem Regional Archaeologist. During the excavations the Israeli archaeologists unearthed a small monas- tery dating back to the early Byzantine period. There was also a small, beauti- ful chapel with a mosaic floor and a few rooms. Judging by the location of the monastery the archaeologists thought that they had discovered the Monastery of Eustatheus and published the results of the excavations. Later on, in September 2002, due to the construction work going on the ter- ritory of the monastery John Zeligman was obliged to continue the excava- tions. This time under the mosaic floor of the monastery chapel a crypt was revealed where on one of the burials there was a gravestone which bore an in- scription in the language unknown to the archaeologist. On September 18, 2002, at the invitation of Jon Seligman the inscription was seen by Giorgi Gagoshidze (art historian; epigraphist), David Tskhadadze (art historian, photographer), Lasha Zhvania (former consul of Georgia to Is- rael), Paata Gigauri (sculptor) and by me. To our great delight the newly-discovered inscription proved to be in an- cient Georgian. It reads: “This is the grave of Iohane Bishop of Purtavi, Georgian” According to palaeographic analysis the inscription should be dated to the end of the 5th or the first half of the 6th centuries.1 Together with the Georgian inscriptions discovered by Virgilio Corbo in the nearby site of Bir el Qutt2 this inscription is one of the oldest Georgian inscriptions in the Holy Land. 1 The paleographic analysis by G.Gagoshidze. 2 V. Corbo and M. Tarchnisvhili, Iscrizioni georgiane del monastero di S. Teodoro a Bir el Qutt (Bettlemme), La Terra Santa, 28, Jerusalem, 1950, 181-186; V. Corbo, Gli Scavi di Kh. Siyar el-Ghanam (Campo dei Pastori) ei monastery dei dintorni, Pabblicazioni dello Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, 11 Gerusalemme, 1955, 279-284; M. Tarkhnishvili, The Newly Discov- ered Georgian Monastery in Bethlehem Bedi Kartlisa, 16, 1954, 12-17 (in Georgian); Sh. Nut- subidze, Georgian Inscriptions in Jerusalem, the “Komunisti” newspaper, 4, I, No. 3 (11309), Tbilisi, 1959 (in Georgian); Sh. Nutsubidze, Critical Essays, Thinking and Creation, Tbilisi, 1966, 97-106, 107-124, 454-474 (in Georgian); K. Kekelidze, An Ancient Georgian Monastery near Jeru- salem and its Mosaic Inscription, Studies, VI, Tbilisi, 1960, 72-80 (in Georgian); K. Kekelidze, A History of Old Georgian Literature, I. Tbilisi, 1980, 39, 89 (in Georgian); S. Qaukhchishvili, The Life of Georgia, vol. II, Tbilisi 1959, 058-062 (in Georgian); G. Tsereteli, Ancient Georgian In- scriptions in Palestine, Tbilisi, 1960 (in Georgian); A. Gamqrelidze, Discovery of Ancient Geor- 06-8819_Aram 18-19_27_Mgalobhli 527 06-26-2007, 18:34 528 AN UNKNOWN GEORGIAN MONASTERY IN THE HOLY LAND GEORGIAN MONASTIC SETTLEMENT IN THE HOLY LAND I shall briefly review the sparse information dealing with the history of the Georgian settlement in the Holy Land before Arab rule, in order to outline the sig- nificance of this inscription not only for the history of this settlement, but also for the history of monastic life in the Holy Land and of Christianity in general. According to Georgian tradition the relations between Georgia and the Holy Land extend over 2600 years. The first Jews came to Georgia in the time of Nebuchadnezzar the Great, after the destruction of Jerusalem3. According to the Georgian written sources, in later centuries, from the first century B.C. to the first century A.D., several other waves of Jews arrived and settled in Georgia4. How- ever, the presence of Jews is currently documented by other direct evidence only from the first centuries A.D.5 But these relations became especially close from the 4th century, when Christi- anity was declared the state religion in Georgia. At that time the Georgians began learning Christian culture and translating and distributing the literature the new church required. With this in view, Georgian spiritual and secular figures, readily supported by the monarchy, strove to establish literary centres and seats of Geor- gian culture not only inside the country but also beyond its borders. A special dream of the population of the newly baptized country was to make a pilgrimage to Palestine, to see the holy places with their own eyes and to offer their prayers on the spot. The results were not long in coming, as it seems the first Georgians appeared in Palestine in the latter half of the 4th century,6 their numbers increasing in the following 5th-6th centuries.7 gian Inscriptions in Palestine, the “Literaturuli Gazeti” newspaper, 15, VI, 1956, No. 24 (986) (in Georgian); B. Giorgadze, On the 4th-5th century Monument of Georgian Culture Discovered in Palestine, The “Sabchota Khelovneba” journal, 1959, No 12, 33-38 (in Georgian), and others. 3 S. Qaukhchishvili, The Life of Georgia, vol. I, Tbilisi, 1955, 72-130 (in Georgian). 4 S. Qaukhchishvili, The Life of Georgia, vol. I, 17, 36, 44, 88-89, 95, 98, 115-116. 5 D. Hvolson, Collection of Jewish inscriptions from Mtscheta and other places, St. Peters- burg, 1884 (in Russian); G. Tsereteli, The newly discovered inscription from Mtcheta, Vesnik Instituta Yazika Iatorii i Materialnoy Kulturi, Tbilisi, 1940, 5-6 (in Russian); N. Babalikashvili, Jewish inscriptions in Georgia, Tbilisi, 1971, 4 (in Georgian). 6 According to the opinion of some scholars Evagre Pontoeli (Evagrius Ponticus) is the first Georgian monk in Palestine. See R. Janin, Georgians in Jerusalem, Istanbul, 1921, 11 (in Geor- gian); M. Tarchnishvili, A Remnant of Georgian Art in Egypt, Bedi Kartlisa, 11, 1952, 25 (in Geor- gian); M. Tarkhnishvili, Il monachismo georgiano nelle sue origine e nei suoi primi sviluppi, Il monachismo orientale, Roma,1958, 307-319; K. Kekelidze, A forth-century Georgian Thinker and Public Figure Abroad, Studies, VI, Tbilisi, 1960, 5-17 (in Georgian); J. Assfalg and P. Kruger, Kleines Worterbuch des Christlichen Orients, wiesbaden,1975,139; P.N. Egender, OSB, Les Debus du Monachisme en Palestine, Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus, Iberica Causica vol. I, London, 1998, 132; see also S. Qaukhchishvili, Georgica, Byzantine Writers, Information about Georgia, vol. VII, Tbilisi, 1967, 107-117 (in Georgian); The activities of Georgians in the Holy Land at the end of the IV and the beginning of the V century must also have been referred to in the graffiti made on the plastering of the church which stood on the site of the new Catholic church of Annunciation in Nazareth and had been ruined by the 1st half of the 5th century; see Z. Alexidze, The Louvre, Mt. Sinai, Nazareth, Mneme, Tbilisi, 2000, 10-25. 7 L. Menabde, The Seats of Old Georgian Literature, vol. II, Tbilisi, 1980, 20-25 (in Georgian); 06-8819_Aram 18-19_27_Mgalobhli 528 06-26-2007, 18:34 T. MGALOBLISHVILI 529 At first, Georgians lived in well-known places, setting up communities and building hostels for newly arrived fellow countrymen. These first Georgian pilgrims were members of the royal family and representatives of nobility. They worshipped in their mother tongue not only in Iberia but also in Pales- tine, in the monastery of Mar Saba, as can be seen from the text of the will of St. Saba (d. 532).8 It is interesting to note that from the 5th to the 10th centuries the divine serv- ice in eastern Georgia (Iberia) followed the tradition and practice of Jerusa- lem.9 It is also well known that the first books used for the liturgy in the Geor- gian Church reflected the Jerusalem practice, the liturgical rites of the church of the Holy Sepulchre.10 During the 5th-6th centuries the geographical extent of the activities of Geor- gians in Palestine is quite impressive. Georgians are encountered not only in Jerusalem and its surroundings, but also in the Judean desert, at most of the oldest monasteries and laurae, as well as the numerous monasteries built and run by Georgians themselves. The number of pilgrims and travellers from Georgia must have been so large that according to Peter the Iberian’s Georgian “Life” he, Peter the Ibe- rian, built not only churches and monasteries but was also obliged to build guest-houses in the Holy City. This is what the Georgian version of “The Life” states: “Peter the Iberian and Ioane the Laz… “built a house for the guests within the city (i.e. Jerusalem) where the visiting Greek and Georgian brethren could take shelter. So they could wash their feet, have their meals and sleep at night and they (Peter the Iberian and Ioane the Laz) spent some of the treasures they had been given by God. Then they went to the desert, gathered their brethren and built a monastery for themselves”. 11 According to the mentioned Georgian version of “The Life” Peter, Ioane and their disciples “went to Egypt and Scetis to visit the monasteries”. They offered prayers in all of them, then selected a site and built a monastery and a church and “again returned to Jerusalem and built another guest-house in the city”.12 I. Lolashvili, The Life of Peter the Iberian, Tbilisi, 1988, 79-203 (in Georgian); I. Abuladze Monu- ments of Ancient Georgian Hagiographic Literature, vol. II, Tbilisi, 1967, 213-263 (in Georgian). 8 K. Kekelidze, A hystory of Literature, I, 38-39; L. Menabde, Seats, 26. 9 See K. Kekelidze, A Jerusalem Lectionary, Tiflis, 1912 (in Russian); M.