Christianization of Iberia

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Mkhedruli script, the Catholicos-Patriarch asks for the "forgiveness of his sins" (kept at the Walters Art Museum
in the United States).

The Christianization of Iberia (Georgian: ქართლის გაქრისტიანება, romanized: kartlis gakrist'ianeba)[a] refers to the spread of Christianity in the early 4th century as a result of the preaching of Saint Nino in the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli, known as Iberia in classical antiquity. The then-pagan king of Iberia Mirian III declared Christianity to be the kingdom's state religion. Per Sozomen, this led the king's "large and warlike barbarian nation to confess Christ and renounce the religion of their fathers",[1] as the polytheistic Georgians had long-established anthropomorphic idols, known as the "Gods of Kartli".[2] The king would become the main sponsor, architect, initiator and an organizing power of all building processes.[3]

Per

ecclesiological hierarchies established much later, particularly as "national" churches crystallized from the 6th century.[7] Despite the tremendous diversity of the region, the Christianization process was a pan-regional and a cross-cultural phenomenon in the Caucasus,[8] Eurasia's most energetic and cosmopolitan zones throughout the late antiquity, hard enough to place Georgians and Armenians unequivocally within any one major civilization.[9]

The

oldest attested Georgian Bir el Qutt inscriptions found in the Judaean Desert and the Georgian graffiti of Nazareth and Sinai.[10][11]

Iberia was a factor in a competitive diplomacy of the

Hellenistic-era establishment to the conversion of the crown,[14] embarked on a new multi-phased process that took centuries to complete,[15][16] encompassing the entire 5th, 6th and early 7th centuries,[17] resulting in the emergence of a strong Georgian identity.[18]

On the eve of the historic Christianization, the king and the queen were quickly acculturated Georgianized foreigners,[19] the physical fusion of Iranian and Greek cultures. Saint Nino was also a foreigner,[20] as were the first two chief bishops of Kartli, who were Greeks sent by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great.[21] It was only in the first half of the 6th century that native Georgians permanently seized the highest ecclesiastical posts. Nevertheless, outsiders such as Greeks,[22] Iranians, Armenians and Syrians continued to play a prominent role in the administration of the Georgian church.[23]

Christianization by an apostle

Even though Iberia officially embraced Christianity in the early 4th century, the

signet rings with a cross and ichthys or anchor and fish, clearly attesting their Christian affiliation. These may mean that the upper-class Iberians had embraced Christianity much earlier than its "official Christianization" date.[24]

Christianization of the royal family

Part of a series on the
History of Georgia
Prehistoric Georgia
Ancient history
Middle Ages
Early modern history
Modern history
History by topic

According to

Seamless Robe of Jesus was located. She was told that it was kept "in the eastern city of Mtskheta, a country of Kartli [i.e. Iberia]."[28] She decided to go to Iberia and eventually reached the mountains of Javakheti in June, after four months of travel. She stayed for two days at the Paravani Lake and then continued her journey towards the royal city of Mtskheta.[29] When she reached the capital, she found herself at the pagan holiday held for the god Armazi, with King Mirian taking part in the ceremony. Nino, shocked by the event, started to pray, resulting in "severe wind" that destroyed the pagan statue.[30] Later, she was approached by the attendants of Queen Nana, who was suffering from a grave illness. She was asked to cure the queen. The queen was healed immediately, and Nino converted the queen to Christianity. Hearing about the queen's healing, the king was "very surprised".[31] He initially opposed his wife's new religion until he, too, encountered a miracle one day while hunting, riding and "looking over Uplistsikhe" through the woods of Tkhoti mountain when he suddenly was surrounded by the threatening darkness of a solar eclipse.[32]

და დაშთა მეფე მარტო, და იარებოდა მთათა და მაღნართა შეშინებული და შეძრწუნებული. დადგა ერთსა ადგილსა და წარეწირა სასოება ცხოვრებისა მისისა. და ვითარცა მოეგო თავსა თჳსსა ცნობასა, და განიზრახვიდა ესრეთ გულსა თჳსსა: "აჰა ესე რა, ვხადე ღმერთთა ჩემთა და არა ვპოვე ჩემ ზედა ლხინება. აწ, რომელსა იგი ქადაგებს ნინო ჯუარსა და ჯუარცმულსა და ჰყოფს კურნებასა, მისითა მოსავობითა, არამცა ძალ ედვაა ჴსნა ჩემი ამის ჭირისაგან? რამეთუ ვარ მე ცოცხლივ ჯოჯოხეთსა შინა და არა უწყი, თუ ყოვლისა ქუეყანისათჳს იქმნა დაქცევა ესე, ანუ თუ ჩემთჳს ოდენ იქმნა. აწ, თუ ოდენ ჩემთჳს არს ჭირი ესე, ღმერთო ნინოსო, განმინათლე ბნელი ესე და მიჩუენე საყოფელი ჩემი და აღვიარო სახელი შენი, და აღვმართო ძელი ჯუარისა და თაყუანისვცე მას და აღვაშენო სახლი სალოცველად ჩემდა, და ვიყო მორჩილ ნინოსა სჯულსა ზედა ჰრომთასა.
And the king got alone, and he walked over the hills and woods scared and terrified. He stood at one place and became desperate over his life. And when he recovered his consciousness, and decided to his heart: "So this is it, I had my god and found no joy. Let the one preached by Nino, the cross and the one that was crucified and does the healing, by his glory – isn't he powerful enough to save me from this trouble? As I am lively into a hell and I don't know, how the whole world was this destroyed, or is it just for me. Let, if this is only for me to be in trouble like this, O God of Nino, enlighten the darkness and show me the place of mine and I will recognize your name, and will erect a pillar of Cross and will respect it and will build a house for me to pray, and will be obedient to Nino's faith of Rome.[33]

When at last, he called Christ, his wife's new God, for help – the daylight immediately returned. The king jumped down from the horse, raised his hands up to the "eastern sky" and said:

შენ ხარ ღმერთი ყოველთა ზედა ღმერთთა და უფალი ყოველთა ზედა უფალთა, ღმერთი, რომელსა ნინო იტყჳს.
You are the God over all the other Gods and Lord over all the other Lords, God, who is proclaimed by Nino.[34]

After saying this, the king promised again to the new God to erect "a pillar of the Cross". The king safely returned to the capital and was greeted by his "queen and the entire nation" of Kartli. He went with his army to see Nino. At the urging of Nino, the king laid the foundations of a church to commemorate his new faith, Christianity.[35] According to the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi, after Mirian's conversion, Nino "destroyed the image of Armazi, the god of thunder".[36] When the church was completed, the king sent ambassadors to the emperor Constantine the Great requesting that he send clergy to help establish the faith in the kingdom. Per Sozomen, upon hearing the news of the conversion of Iberia, "the emperor of the Romans was delighted, acceding to every request that was proffered."[37]

The foundation of the

Christian martyrs,[43] whereas the early Georgian church had no martyrs.[44]

After the Christianization of the monarchy,

Bagrationi monarchs to have descended directly from King David.[49] Iberia, by having a direct connection to Jerusalem, had several monasteries there already. It was in Jerusalem that Rufinus met Bacurius, and by the end of the fourth century a Georgian monastery was founded there.[50] During the reign of Vakhtang I, the Georgian hero-king,[51] the head of the Georgian church received the rank of Catholicos, and the Georgian church was recognized as autocephalous by the Church of Antioch.[52]

Christianization of the countryside

Despite the royal enthusiasm for the new religion, and its adoption within court circles, Christianity took root slowly in the rural districts of the kingdom.[53] Nino and her entourage met hostility from highlanders inhabiting the southeastern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains, but ultimately, they were persuaded to surrender their idols. Resistance also arose within the Jewish community of Mtskheta.[54] The first steps in the Christianization of Iberia's countryside occurred in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, when indigenous monastic traditions took deep root and facilitated the spread of Christianity into the more peripheral regions of Kartli.[55] Sometime in the 530s or 540s, the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers arrived in Mtskheta,[56] whose activities would result in the establishment of some sixteen monasteries and other churches across Georgia, many of whose sixth-century foundations still can be observed today.[57]

Christianization date

Solar eclipse of 11 July 2010, totality seen from the French Polynesia.

Estimates of the conversion date by historians have ranged over much of King Mirian's long reign. Foreign and Georgian scholars' proposed dates are the following: AD 312, 317, 318, 320, 323, 325/6/7/8, 330/1/2/3/4/5/6/7. Once widely accepted AD 337 for Iberia's conversion, is favored nowadays by many scholars to be AD 326,

John Zosimus, that was on 1 May,[59] the year traditionally held by the Georgian Orthodox Church.[60]

Apart from the historians, Iberia's conversion is of greater interest during decades of debates, to the

geophysical model ΔT≈7450±180°, do not contradict this scenario and an intriguing possibility,[65] but it remains an open question whether the ancient and medieval written accounts are trustworthy and really based on actual facts.[66]

According to The Georgian Chronicles it was "one day of Summer, July 20, a Saturday."[67]

See also

Notes

  1. ^
    Georgian historiography refers to the event as the Conversion of Kartli (Moktsevay Kartlisay), just like the chronicle.
  2. ^
    Rufinus relied on Bacurius the Iberian, a Georgian prince or "little king"[68] and a principal commander of emperor Theodosius I,[69][70] as one of his sources for the Georgian conversion to Christianity.

References

  1. ^ Schaff, p. 263
  2. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 4308
  3. ^ Plontke-Lüning, p. 469
  4. ^ Schaff, p. 23
  5. ^ Rapp & Mgaloblishvili, p. 266
  6. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 5439
  7. ^ Rapp & Mgaloblishvili, p. 264
  8. ^ Rapp, p. 4
  9. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 413
  10. ^ Rapp & Mgaloblishvili, p. 267
  11. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 628
  12. ^ Rapp & Mgaloblishvili, p. 263
  13. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 753
  14. ^ Rapp, p. 18
  15. ^ Haas, (2008), p. 106
  16. ^ Suny, p. 20
  17. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 2221
  18. ^ Haas, p. 44
  19. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 8678
  20. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 7149
  21. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 8445
  22. ^ Mgaloblishvili, Tamila (1998). Ancient Christianity In The Caucasus. pp. 6–7.
  23. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 8454
  24. ^ Haas, (2008), p. 114
  25. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 8361
  26. ^ Georgian Chronicles, page of ed 76, line of ed 8
  27. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 3658
  28. ^ Georgian Chronicles, page of ed 79, line of ed 2–5
  29. ^ Georgian Chronicles, page of ed 85, line of ed 5–6
  30. ^ Georgian Chronicles, page of ed 91, line of ed 13
  31. ^ Georgian Chronicles, page of ed 105, line of ed 12
  32. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 3749
  33. ^ Georgian Chronicles, page of ed 109, line of ed 14–24
  34. ^ Georgian Chronicles, page of ed 110, line of ed 5–6
  35. ^ Haas, (2008), p. 107
  36. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 4370
  37. ^ Schaff, p. 264
  38. ^ Plontke-Lüning, p. 454
  39. ^ Plontke-Lüning, p. 461
  40. ^ Haas, p. 29
  41. ^ Mgaloblishvili, p. 40
  42. ^ Georgian Chronicles, page of ed 99, line of ed 14
  43. ^ Plontke-Lüning, p. 462
  44. ^ Plontke-Lüning, p. 463
  45. ^ Rapp, p. 5
  46. ^ Mgaloblishvili, p. 39
  47. ^ Rapp, p. 1
  48. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 482
  49. ^ Haas, (2008), p. 110
  50. ^ Haas, (2008), p. 111
  51. ^ Rapp, p. 22
  52. ^ Haas, p. 42
  53. ^ Haas, (2008), p. 116
  54. ^ Rapp (2016) location: 4277
  55. ^ Haas, (2008), p. 117
  56. ^ Haas, (2008), p. 119
  57. ^ Haas, (2008), p. 120
  58. ^ Sauter, Simonia, Stephenson & Orchiston, p. 31
  59. ^ Mgaloblishvili, p. 44
  60. ^ Sauter, Simonia, Stephenson & Orchiston, p. 32
  61. ^ Sauter, Simonia, Stephenson & Orchiston, p. 26
  62. ^ Sauter, Simonia, Stephenson & Orchiston, p. 42
  63. ^ Sauter, Simonia, Stephenson & Orchiston, p. 41
  64. ^ Sauter, Simonia, Stephenson & Orchiston, p. 35
  65. ^ Sauter, Simonia, Stephenson & Orchiston, p. 43
  66. ^ Sauter, Simonia, Stephenson & Orchiston, p. 44
  67. ^ Georgian Chronicles, page of ed 108, line of ed 17
  68. ^ Schaff, p. 25
  69. ^ Haas, (2008), p. 108
  70. ^ Schaff, p. 135

Bibliography

  • Georgian Chronicles
    , Conversion of King Mirian and with him All of the Kartli by Our Saint Mother and Apostle Nino, Part No. 30
  • Plontke-Lüning, A. (2011) Narratives about Early Church Buildings in Armenia and Georgia, Moscow State University
  • Haas, C. (2014) Geopolitics and Georgian Identity in Late Antiquity: The Dangerous World of Vakhtang Gorgasali, Brill Publishers
  • Haas, C. (2008) Mountain Constantines: The Christianization of Aksum and Iberia, Journal of Late Antiquity 1.1, Johns Hopkins University Press
  • Suny, R. G. (1994) The Making of the Georgian Nation, Indiana University Press
  • Mgaloblishvili, T. (2014) Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus, Routledge
  • Rapp, S. H. Jr. (2016) The Sasanian World Through Georgian Eyes, Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature, Sam Houston State University, USA, Routledge
  • Rapp, S. H. Jr. (2014) New Perspectives on "The Land of Heroes and Giants": The Georgian Sources for Sasanian History, Sam Houston State University
  • Rapp, S. H. Jr. & Mgaloblishvili, T. (2011) Manichaeism in Late Antique Georgia? Chapter 17, University of Oklahoma
  • Sauter, J. Simonia, I. Stephenson, F. R. & Orchiston, W. (2015) The Legendary Fourth-Century Total Solar Eclipse in Georgia: Fact or Fantasy? Springer Publishing
  • Schaff, P. (2007) Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second Series Volume II Socrates, Sozomenus
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christianization_of_Iberia&oldid=1215558461"