ახალი ცნობები ათონზე ქართველთა მოღვაწეობის შესახებ

Abstract

Among Georgian manuscripts of the Athonite collection, there are liturgical and hymnographic collections. MS Ath. 38 is one of them. The manuscript is written in Athos writing style and dates from the 11th century. This collection contains “Lenten Triodion” of George the Athonite’ redaction. It appears to have been one of the most important manuscripts for studying this unique liturgical-hymnographic collection. The manuscript deserves attention from the viewpoint of the colophons attached to it, in which new, hitherto unknown historical evidence of monastic activities of the Georgians on Mount Athos are kept. MS Ath. 38 begins with a colophon, in which the three most important liturgical-hymnography collections are named – “Parakliton”, “Menaion” and “Lenten”. According to this colophon, the initiator and (“commissioner”) of all three of them appears to have been George of Tsikhisjvari, whose special commemoration was established in the Atsiani Monastery. Almost no information has survived about this monastery on Mount Athos. According to the mentioned colophon, the three important liturgical-hymnography collections were stored there. George of Tsikhisjvari seems to have been related to this monastery. This information is also attested in the “Book of Agapes” of Athos, according to which he purchased and cultivated some land for the Atsiani Monastery (Metreveli 1998: 255). MS Ath. 38 contains new data concerning this historical person and the Georgian monastery of Atsiani. In this colophon attached to the Athos manuscript, the word “Qursali” is mentioned twice, which, according to the context, indicates nationality. These Qursals stole the manuscripts “commissioned” by George of Tsikhisjvari from the Georgian monastery of Atsiani. The author of the colophon, who was presumably a monk from the monastery of Anchi, bought them back and returned them to Atsiani Monastery. The word “Qursali” is not found in other monuments of ancient Georgian literature. This word is not included in the “Dictionary” by Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, it is not given in Ilia Abuladze’s or Zurab Sarjveladze’s dictionaries of Old Georgian either. As the study shows, the word “Qursali” indicated the region in the western part of present-day Azerbaijan, which is currently on the territory of Armenia and is populated by Azerbaijanis. This word is a composite and means “Ali’s village for the Qursali tribe” (Qeybullayev,1990: 101-104). Ali is known as a prominent saint of Muslims. According to Armenian sources, the word “Qursali” refers to people of Turkish origin (Qeybullayev,1990: 101-104). The genealogy of the “Qursali” and their emergence on Mount Athos requires further study, including from a historical point of view. Today, it becomes clear that the 11th-century Georgian manuscript - Ath. 38 has revealed their existence on mount Athos and a rare term denoting their origin – “Qursali”. The manuscript Ath. 38 itself is one of the three manuscripts taken by these “Qursals” and later bought back by a historical person - George of Tshkhisjvari.