მთის წმ. გიორგის მონასტრის საეკლესიო სიძველეები
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Date
2019
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უნივერსალი
Abstract
The working process on the history of Mtis St. George Monastery, revealed 14 artifacts of ecclesiastical-ritualistic characteristics, which once belonged to this Monastery. Nowadays, most of them are considered to be lost. Fortunately, we have an opportunity to reconstruct the history and the origins of some of these relicts according to the historic documents, inscriptions and the priceless descriptions of these artifacts made by Giorgi Botchoridze in the 1920-es. Though these descriptions had no additional analytical treatment and the origins and the history of each artifact were unknown. The paper represents the brief history of these sacred relicts of the Monastery. To demonstrate the importance of these relicts, below is a list and the brief descriptions of the most important samples. 1. “The Icon of the Arch-Martyr of Mta (Mountain)” – The main relict of the Monastery. Should be dated with the same period as the Monastery itself (the edge of 9th-10th cc.). The icon is mentioned in the historic sources (mainly historic documents and inscriptions) from 10th c. till 19th c. In the wergild part of the deed of donation to Mtis St. George monastery granted by King Bagrat VI in 1465-1467 years, damaging (“braking”) of this Icon was considered as the main crime against this church seigniory and the guilty person was sentenced to crucifixion on a pillar. Such crimes as robbing the Monastery or stealing its herd, abandoning wife or accidently killing the peasant owned by the Monastery were even lighter crimes than damaging this main Icon of the Monastery. Nowadays it is not identified with any other St. George’s icon, because of what it is considered to be lost. 2. “The Icon of St. Marina” – The only source that mentions this relict is the deed of donation to Mtis St. George monastery granted by King Bagrat VI in 1465-1467 years. According to the text of the document, King Bagrat, apart from other donations, embossed the Icon of the Arch-Martyr of Mta (already mentioned above), the Icon of St. Marina and renewed other “darkened” icons. The fact that the icon of St. Marina was mentioned straightly after the Icon of the Arch-Martyr of Mta (the main relict of the Monastery) and the other icons of the monastery were mentioned in general shows that this Icon was one of the main relicts of the Monastery. This artifact has not been identified with any other St. Marina’s icons either and is also considered to be lost. 3. “The “Golden Cross” of John the Baptist from Dzmuisi” – The wooden cross embossed with gold and silver was made by the order of “Poor” Arseni. According to G. Botchoridze the artifact was preserved in Mtis St. George Monastery till 1900-es. After, it was carried down to the village Dzmuisi, owned by the Monastery for many centuries. G. Botchoridze identified the ktetor of the Cross “Poor” Arseni as the Catholicos Arsen II (950-988), accordingly he considered that the King mentioned in the inscription was Bagrat III Kourapalates (975-1014). Today it is known that Bagrat III received the title of Kourapalates in 1001, when Catholicos Arsen II was no longer alive. The inscription also mentioned Eristavt-Eristavs (Dukes) of Racha Kakhaber and Mikel, who carried their activities in the middle of 11th c. Therefore the cross should be dated with 11th c., precisely with the period between 1029/30-1050 years when King Bagrat IV (grandson of Bagrat III) had a title of Kourapalates. This outstanding sample of medieval Georgian art was destroyed within the Soviet Antireligious Movements of 1920-es. 4. “St. George Icon of Dzmuisi (I)” – This artifact was also preserved in the Monastery till 1900-es, after carried down to village Dzmuisi and destroyed within the Soviet Antireligious Movements of 1920-es. Though, according to the description of G. Botchoridze, it was reppoused on the goldened silver sheet with high quality mastery. Iconographic scene of the icon was the rare one: St. George was standing at the walls of the building and was giving a sack of money to poor people. Three demons hanging on a rope between them were trying to prevent him to have a mercy on beggars. Similar iconographic scenes can be seen on the embossed crosses of Mestia and Samtavisi of 11th c. Since there are no precedents of separate icons with this scene, I concluded that St. George Icon of Dzmuisi (I) was once also a part of a big cross. The inscription made on this scene mentioned the unknown Bishop of Ishkhani Melkisedek. In 2015 another inscription mentioning the same name has been revealed in the interior of Ishkhani Cathedral drum. According to paleography and other issues it was dated with the 1st half of 11th c. After all these similarities I consider that in the 1st half of 11th c. Bishop of Ishkhani Melkisedek ordered to make a big embossed cross with the scenes from the life of St. George for Ishkhani Cathedral. The whole Cross or at least one part of it was carried to Mtis St. George Monastery after 1545, when the Ottomans invaded the southern part of the Kingdom of Imereti (Tao-Klarjeti), where Ishkhani is located. These and other artifacts from the treasury of Mtis St. George Monastery appeared to be the important historic sources as for the history of the Monastery itself, but also for the different issues of the political and ecclesiastical history and art history of medieval Georgia.
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Keywords
St. George Monastery, Ecclesiastical, Artifacts
Citation
III International Symposium for Young Scholars in the Humanities (Symposium proceedings)