„თავები“ ოთხთავის ქართულ ხელნაწერებში/ The “Kephalaia" in the Georgian Manuscripts of the Four Gospels

Abstract

The study of the Old Georgian translation of the Four Gospels and the manuscripts containing it has a long history and, of course, the major object of research is the text of the Gospel itself, which is rarely presented in manuscripts in its "pure form" (Genette, 1997, p.5). It is accompanied by the so-called "accompanying texts" and various tools used for the segmentation of the text and the visualization of information that form a fairly well-established system of paratexts. The codices of the Four Gospels are distinguished not only by the text, but also by the paratexts. The Greek manuscripts of the Gospel are well studied in this respect and it is noted that a system of paratexts varies according to a type of a text and a family of manuscripts (Metzger, 1977. Parker, 2008). It is noteworthy that until recently the Georgian manuscripts of the Four Gospels have not been an object of a special research in this respect. The first task of our scientists was to study the text of the Gospel, for which the so-called "external material of the text" was considered less interesting. The publisher of the Athonite redactions of the Georgian Four Gospels I. Imnaishvili wrote: “We do not say anything about the external materials of the text, which precede and follow the Four Gospels. They have no direct connection to the text of the Gospel" (1979, p. 56). In fact, as it turns out, the history of the text and its paratexts are closely related (Tvaltvadze, 2021, pp. 59-63. Sarjveladze, 2021, pp.169-174). One of such paratexts is Κεφαλαια - the list of the thematic passages and chapters within each Gospel. Some of the sections obtained as a result of such division of the text are relatively long, while some are very short. Each chapter is named after a main story depicted in an episode and has a serial number in the list. The Kephalaia usually precedes the text of the Gospel. Numbers of chapters, sometimes even their titles (τίτλοι) are indicated in an appropriate place in a text, usually on a page of a manuscript from which it begins. This makes it easier for a reader to find a particular episode (Metzger 1981, pp.40-41. Hong, 1997, pp. 401-410). It is not known when a paratext appeared in manuscripts of the Gospel. However, it is known that it was not presented in early Greek manuscripts, for example, in Codex Vaticanus, whose text was divided into chapters. The paratext was first found in Codex Alexandrinus. Accordingly, it is supposed that "κεφάλαια και τίτλοι" has been presented in the Greek manuscripts of the Four Gospels since the 5th century (Goswell,2009, pp.134-174; Smith, 2014, pp.102-181). It should be noted that the division of the text of the Gospel into chapters is not the same everywhere and the titles of the chapters are also different (Edwards, 2010, pp. 413-426). The Georgian equivalents of "Κεφαλαια" are „თავები“ ("chapters") or „თავნი საკითხავთანი“ ("chapters of reading") that mean a list of titles (τίτλοι) selected for each chapter within each Gospel, which informs us about the content of the particular Gospel. This list of titles is also called "ზანდუკი" (table of contents) in the Georgian literary tradition („ესე ზანდუკი არს მარკოზის სახარებისაჲ“/"This is the table of contents of the Gospel of Mark"). The paratext is presented in most of the Georgian manuscripts of the Four Gospels. However, its direct connection with the history of the text of the Georgian translation of the Four Gospels is not clear. The purpose of our study is to determine whether the manuscripts containing redactionally different texts of the Gospels differ according to the "chapters" and how the history of this paratext relates to the change of the structure of the Four Gospels and to the stages of editing the text of the Gospel. To answer these questions, we have studied more than 30 Georgian manuscripts of the Four Gospels, which contain the texts created at different stages of the editing process of the old Georgian translation of the Gospel. As expected, the manuscripts (according to the paratexts presented in them) present different pictures. In particular, the manuscripts of the Gospel are divided into two groups: a) the codices in which "chapters" are not presented and b) the codices in which "chapters" are presented. However, we do not always have the same situation in the second group of manuscripts: the lists containing redactionally different text also contain different versions for this paratext. The oldest manuscripts of the Gospel, which had been created mainly before the end of the 10th century (pre-Athonite period) and contain the Proto-Vulgate (Opiza /Jruch-Parkahli) text, do not contain "chapters". "Chapters" are not presented in the Khanmeti Palimpsest manuscripts of the Gospel, in Adishi (897), Opiza (913), Jruchi (936) and Parkahli (973) Four Gospels as well as in the codices consisting of the text of this redaction (Sin.Geo.O.15; Sin.Geo.O.30-38; K-137; K-363...). However, it should be noted that in one part of the manuscripts of the Proto-Vulgate redaction the beginnings of the chapters are marked differently (mainly the red ink, cross and asterisk are used for rubrication). The list of the thematic episodes of the Gospel first appeared in the manuscripts of the 10th-11th centuries (Outtier,1992, pp. 117-124), particularly, in the group of manuscripts that contains the text of the so-called "reworked Proto-Vulgate " (e. g. MS: Sin. Geo.O.16; S-962; Vienna Georg.1; Tskarostavi codex, Urbnisi codex, Tbeti codex, Mestia codex). However, in some of them there are the "miracles" (The list of miracles performed by Jesus, extracted from the text of the Gospel and sequentially arranged), not "chapters". Their location is not strictly defined. They mainly precede each Gospel, although in some manuscripts they follow it. In some cases, the "miracles" of all Four Gospels are presented together (for example, in the Tskarostavi, Tbeti and Mestia codices). Some of the manuscripts of the pre-Athonite period (e.g., Sin.Geo.O.16; S-962) have the paratext entitled "Miracles", but in reality, “it is the list of chapters. Part of them (e.g., Urbnisi codex; Vienna Georg.1) have both ("chapters" and "miracles). It is noteworthy that the titles of the chapters in this group of manuscripts are often quite extensive and in fact, convey a brief content of the episode. Usually, the serial number of the chapters is also indicated in the text. It is either framed or separated by dots for being distinguished from other marginal notes (Ammonian Sections, Eusebian Canons numbers). Sometimes the number of the chapter is indicted even when the manuscript does not present a table of contents of the chapters (e.g., in the Palestinian codex (H- 1741). Unlike the manuscripts of the pre-Athonite period, the vast majority of the codices created in the Athonite period (from the second half of the 11th century) are accompanied only by "Kephalaia" (we do not have "miracles"). The location of the paratext is strictly defined and the titles are shorter than in the manuscripts of the previous period. The text of the Gospels also strictly adheres to the rule of indicating a number of a chapter on margins. The titles of chapters are rarely completely indicated on the upper and lower margins (for example, in Vani Gospels, A-1335). In the codices of the Athonite period, several manuscripts were identified which, in general, form the particular transitional stage in the process of forming the system of paratexts (in terms of "chapters"). These manuscripts (the Four Gospels of Alaverdi, Kurashi, Ienashi and the original text of the Gospel of Oshki) contain the intermediate review of the redaction (Giorgiseuli I) of George the Athonite. It turns out that along with the text of the Gospel, the paratexts undergo changes during the editing process. The good example of this is the Gospel of Oshki (Ivir.georg.62), the two-layered manuscript, whose lower layer is corrected according to the George the Athonite’s redaction that was recognized by the church as the Vulgate. The editor, who corrected the text according to the Vulgate, worked hard to correct the text of the titles presented in the table of chapters, scratched the old text and copied the new one, the so-called "Vulgate titles", which accompanied the text (Athonite Vulgate) created after the final editing of the text of the Gospel. The names of the chapters that were originally presented in the table of contents of this Oshki manuscript (Ivir. Georg. 62) differ from the titles included in the lists of the so-called "reworked Proto-Vulgate”. However, they are identical to the "chapters" of Alaverdi, Ienashi and Kurashi Gospels, but it is noteworthy that sometimes they are different from the Alaverdi and kurashi gospels and coincides only with the reading of the Ienashi codex. If we consider the list of chapters of the Proto-Vulgate manuscripts as variant A, variant B should be presented in the Four Gospels of Ienashi and in the lower layer of the Gospel of Oshki codex. Accordingly, the chapters of Alaverdi and as well as Kurashi codex may be regarded as variant C, while to variant D belongs “Kephalaia”, which is presented in the manuscripts containing the Athonite Vulgate. It is shorter and more laconic than others. The place of the list of chapters is strictly defined in the structure of the codices of the Vulgate manuscripts. It necessarily precedes the Gospel, in whose text a number of an appropriate chapter is indicated on an appropriate place. In this regard, the lists of Athonite Vulgate redaction (Sin.Geo.O.19, Sin.Geo.O.81, Kaliposi,Vani, Echmiadzini, Gelati, Black Mountain, Jruchi II, Vatican and Paris codices, as well as the vast majority of the manuscripts presented in the Jerusalem and Athonite collections of the Georgian manuscripts (Jer.Geo.49, 93, 103, 122, 160; Ivir.Georg.15, 53, 62, 67, 75, 91) are structurally and visually similar to the Greek manuscripts of that period. Although no detailed study has been conducted to determine the relation of the "chapters" of the Georgian manuscripts to the Greek redactions, we think that we can answer the questions posed above and conclude that in respect to the chapters, the manuscripts of the Four Gospels of the pre-Athonite and Athonite periods are not homogeneous. The codices containing redactionally different texts of the Gospels also differ according to this paratext. It turned out that the long process of editing the Georgian translation of the Four Gospels, which comprised several stages and mainly involved "making the text like Greek”, was directly related to the change of the "chapters" as well as other elements of the paratexts. All of these ultimately served to perfect the structure of the Four Gospels and "make them like Greek".