DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27365#0086
74
7COJVOGR/MWC PROGRAMME
imperial capitai. The relics of St Hiiarion, who was canonised by the Greek church,
were transferred to this monastery. Thereafter he was aiso canonised in Georgia. His
image thus personified the dose affinity between the Greek and Georgian churches
and he is referred to in the Orthodox tradition as Hiiarion the Georgian (feast day, 19
November).
The Georgian saints Euthymios and George were not canonised in Byzantium. Yet
it wouid be hard to overestimate their roie in bringing the Georgian and Greek
churches cioser together. In the 10-11th centuries they carried out an enormous
project in the monastery of Iveron on Mount Athos to make new translations of
almost the entire body of holy texts from Greek into Georgian. The work begun by St
Euthymios (d. 1028) was continued by his cousin George (1014-65)145. In many
respects it was thanks to their activities that in the 11th century the Georgian church
shifted its allegiance from the patriarchate of Jerusalem to that of Constantinople. This
led not only to significant changes in their ritual but also in the development of all of
Georgian culture which henceforth was indissolubly linked with Byzantium. Such an
authority as Professor Kekelidze considered that direct contacts between the Georgian
and Constantinople churches which began with the 9th century attained their peak by
the end of the 10th century. The appearance of Georgian monasticism on Mount
Athos at that time laid the foundations for the "Athonian-Constantinopolitan period in
Georgian ecclesiastical history" 146
In Akhtala SS Euthymios and George are depicted to either side of St Hiiarion and
presented as his successors. The same logic noted in the southern series of saints is
also applied here: three generations united by a common great task are shown, with
the founder of the tradition in the centre. Overall the northern series embodies the
theme of the unity of the Greek and Georgian churches.
Such a series is not to be found, it is interesting to note, in the numerous surviving
murals of Georgia. The only analogue, and one that is moreover extremely precise, is
provided by the iconographic programme of the Ossuary church in the Bachkovo
Monastery in Bulgaria. There, in the very same location, in the first tier of the west
wall and to the north side of the entrance, is shown Hiiarion of Georgia between SS
Euthymios and George of the Holy Mount * 47 The paired series to the south of the
entrance there are also worth comment: they depict three saints whose activities were
linked to Chalcedon^s The unexpected linking of the theme of Chalcedon with that
of closer relations between the Greek and Georgian churches forces us to consider the
145 Lang, op. cit,, pp. 154-65.
146 K.S. Kekelidze speciaHy emphasises the key roie of Euthymios and George of Athos who "set
themseives the goat of whoiiy subjecting the Georgian church, in the iiturgica) sense, to the practice of
Constantinopie and to achieve this, transited all the Greek liturgical texts and canons into Georgian,"
yra/ayataikf, pp. xiv-xv.
147 See L. Bakalova, "Images of Georgian saints in the Bachkovo Ossuary Church", /zvestia na
HMlitMtH za Mka^tvoznaafe (Transactions of the Institute of All History), Vol XVI, Sofia, 1973, pp. 87-
109.
148 Bakalova, RacMwrkata kartnRxa, p. 96, ill. 77 & 149.
7COJVOGR/MWC PROGRAMME
imperial capitai. The relics of St Hiiarion, who was canonised by the Greek church,
were transferred to this monastery. Thereafter he was aiso canonised in Georgia. His
image thus personified the dose affinity between the Greek and Georgian churches
and he is referred to in the Orthodox tradition as Hiiarion the Georgian (feast day, 19
November).
The Georgian saints Euthymios and George were not canonised in Byzantium. Yet
it wouid be hard to overestimate their roie in bringing the Georgian and Greek
churches cioser together. In the 10-11th centuries they carried out an enormous
project in the monastery of Iveron on Mount Athos to make new translations of
almost the entire body of holy texts from Greek into Georgian. The work begun by St
Euthymios (d. 1028) was continued by his cousin George (1014-65)145. In many
respects it was thanks to their activities that in the 11th century the Georgian church
shifted its allegiance from the patriarchate of Jerusalem to that of Constantinople. This
led not only to significant changes in their ritual but also in the development of all of
Georgian culture which henceforth was indissolubly linked with Byzantium. Such an
authority as Professor Kekelidze considered that direct contacts between the Georgian
and Constantinople churches which began with the 9th century attained their peak by
the end of the 10th century. The appearance of Georgian monasticism on Mount
Athos at that time laid the foundations for the "Athonian-Constantinopolitan period in
Georgian ecclesiastical history" 146
In Akhtala SS Euthymios and George are depicted to either side of St Hiiarion and
presented as his successors. The same logic noted in the southern series of saints is
also applied here: three generations united by a common great task are shown, with
the founder of the tradition in the centre. Overall the northern series embodies the
theme of the unity of the Greek and Georgian churches.
Such a series is not to be found, it is interesting to note, in the numerous surviving
murals of Georgia. The only analogue, and one that is moreover extremely precise, is
provided by the iconographic programme of the Ossuary church in the Bachkovo
Monastery in Bulgaria. There, in the very same location, in the first tier of the west
wall and to the north side of the entrance, is shown Hiiarion of Georgia between SS
Euthymios and George of the Holy Mount * 47 The paired series to the south of the
entrance there are also worth comment: they depict three saints whose activities were
linked to Chalcedon^s The unexpected linking of the theme of Chalcedon with that
of closer relations between the Greek and Georgian churches forces us to consider the
145 Lang, op. cit,, pp. 154-65.
146 K.S. Kekelidze speciaHy emphasises the key roie of Euthymios and George of Athos who "set
themseives the goat of whoiiy subjecting the Georgian church, in the iiturgica) sense, to the practice of
Constantinopie and to achieve this, transited all the Greek liturgical texts and canons into Georgian,"
yra/ayataikf, pp. xiv-xv.
147 See L. Bakalova, "Images of Georgian saints in the Bachkovo Ossuary Church", /zvestia na
HMlitMtH za Mka^tvoznaafe (Transactions of the Institute of All History), Vol XVI, Sofia, 1973, pp. 87-
109.
148 Bakalova, RacMwrkata kartnRxa, p. 96, ill. 77 & 149.