Giorgi Merchule

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Giorgi Merchule (

Grigol Khandzteli
(Gregory of Khandzta) (759-861).

Giorgi was a monk at the

Pavle Ingoroqva. Giorgi's wide knowledge of contemporary canon and patristic literature is indeed evidenced by his work.[1]

"The Vita of Grigol Khandzteli"

Latin in 1923 and David Marshall Lang published a paraphrased English
version in 1956.

Merchule's eloquent and imaginative prose is unsurpassed in Georgian hagiography. His work is not a traditionally formal account of the saint’s life, but rather shows a characteristic interest in the surrounding world.[3] Merchule widened the range of patristic Georgian narrative to cover intimate details, rhetorical pleas and historical facts.[4] Yet, the popularity of "The Vita" does not stem from its literary merits alone. Written in the crucial period when the resurgent Bagratid dynasty, in close alliance with the church, mounted a struggle, ultimately successful, for the unification of Georgian lands, the work articulates the idea of all-Georgian unity and autocephaly of the Georgian church. In one of the most-quoted passages of medieval Georgian literature, Merchule advances a definition of Kartli (a core ethnic and political unit that formed a basis for Georgian unification) based upon religious and linguistic considerations:

არამედ ქართლად ფრიადი ქუეყანაჲ აღირაცხების, რომელსაცა შინა ქართულითა ენითა ჟამი შეიწირვის და ლოცვაჲ ყოველი აღესრულების ხოლო კჳრიელეჲსონი ბერძნულად ითქუმის, რომელ არს ქართულად: "უფალო, წყალობა ყავ," გინა თუ "უფალო, შეგჳიწყალენ." And Kartli consists of that spacious land in which the liturgy and all prayers are said in the Georgian language. But [only] the Kyrie eleison is said in Greek, [the phrase] which means in Georgian "Lord, have mercy" or "Lord, be merciful to us."

— translated by Donald Rayfield; Rapp (2003), p. 437.[5]

"The Vita" is also notable for its allusion to the Bagratids'

biblical David found in Georgian literary sources.[6] Merchule himself, like the subject of his hagiography, energetically supports the cooperation between the monarchy and the church, asserting that "where there is the honor of power, there is the likeness of God" (სადა არს პატივი მთავრობისაჲ, მუნ არს მსგავსებაჲ ღმრთეებისაჲ).[7]

Merchule might also have been engaged in hymnography as indicated by a postscript in the manuscript of collection by the 10th-century hymnist Michel Modrekili.

References

  1. ^ a b Kevin Tuite (2007). The Rise and Fall and Revival of the Ibero-Caucasian Hypothesis, p. 24. Historiographia Linguistica, 35 #1.
  2. ^ Full title: "The work and career of the worthy life of our holy and blessed father Grigol the Archimandrite, builder of Xandzta and Shat’berdi, and with him the commemoration of many blessed fathers" (შრომაი და მოღუაწებაჲ ღირსად ცხორებისაჲ წმიდისა და ნეტარისა მამისა ჩუენისა გრიგოლისი არქიმანდრიტისაჲ, ხანძთისა და შატბერდისა აღმაშენებლისაჲ, და მის თანა ხსენებაჲ მრავალთა მამათა ნეტართაჲ; šromay da moḡuac’ebay ḡirsad cxorebisay c’midisa da net’arisa mamisa čuenisa grigolisi arkimandrit’isay, xanʒtisa da šat’berdisa aḡmašenebelisay, da mis tana qsenebay mravalta mamata net’artay).
  3. ISBN 0-89875-570-0
    .
  4. ISBN 0-7007-1163-5
    .
  5. ISBN 90-429-1318-5
    .
  6. Toumanoff, Cyril
    . Medieval Georgian Historical Literature (VIIth-XVth Centuries). Traditio 1 (1943): 139-182.
  7. ISBN 0-271-01628-0
    .
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