The Narrative of the Caucasian Schism: Memory and Forgetting in Medieval Caucasia

CORPUS SCRIPTORUM

CHRISTIANORUM

ORIENTALIUM

EDITUM CONSILIO

UNIVERSITATIS CATHOLICAE AMERICAE ET UNIVERSITATIS CATHOLICAE LOVANIENSIS Vol. 666

SUBSIDIA 137

THE NARRATIVE OF THE CAUCASIAN SCHISM MEMORY AND FORGETTING IN MEDIEVAL CAUCASIA

NIKOLOZ

ALEKSIDZE

LOVANII IN AEDIBUS PEETERS

2018

A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

© 2018 by Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium Tous droits de reproduction, de traduction ou d'adaptation, y compris Jes microfilms, de ce volume ou d'un autre de cette collection, reserves pour tous pays. ISSN 0070-0444 ISBN 978-90-429-3606-5 D/2018/0602/53 Editions Peeters, Bondgenotenlaan 153, B-3000 Louvain

'Do not tear down the ancestral fence!' Katholikos Abraham to Katholikos Kyrion

'Do not tum your heart toward Egypt, but instead, remember whence you came out, from the new Egypt, as you were blown out from the house of Pharaoh! ' Katholikos Movses to Katholikos Kyrion

We do not know upon whose recommendation we respect one tradition and dishonour another! St Nerses the Gracious

And so they announced: "This is the first day of our faith!" Katholikos Arseni of Sapara

"What at that moment we cannot recall, upon taking into our hands, we shall recall." Mxit'ar Gos

The wind of Surp Sarkis Blow gently down the street, May you find my lover, In the gardens of Ortac'ala. A Popular Tbilisi song

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following book is largely based on the doctoral dissertation defended at Oxford in May 2013. The original dissertation was titled Making, Remembering and Forgetting the Late Antique Caucasus. The present book retains some arguments, and utilizes identical primary sources, however, it substantially differs from the original thesis in scope, focus, argument, and questions raised. I would like to extend special gratitude to Professor Bernard Coulie and Professor Bernadette Martin-Hisard, for acting as my external examiners and providing feedback that eventually made this book possible. Without Bernard Coulie' s offer to publish the book with the CSCO series, and his continuous support throughout the preparation of the manuscript, the publication of the present work would have been dramatically delayed. I would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Dulverton Trust. Without the Trust's generous support, I would not have been able to arrive and start my studies at Oxford in the first place. Thanks to the Trust, during the three years of my stay in Oxford, I was able to fully concentrate on my work and enjoy all the benefits of Oxford life without having to worry about the financial situation. I would also like to thank the House of St Gregory and Macrina where I spent two years, and met and interacted with some of the most fascinating people in my field, made friends for life and matured more than ever before. Special thanks, for the good advice and support to the faculty members and to my fellow postgraduates at the Oriental Institute and Pembroke College for keeping up a congenial spirit. Neither this thesis, nor my stay at Oxford, would have been possible without everyday help, intellectual and emotional support, criticism, and patience of my DPhil supervisor, Prof. Theo M. van Lint to whom I owe most special gratitude. Through Prof. van Lint's efforts, a vibrant intellectual atmosphere was created at the Oriental Institute that turned my entire stay in Oxford into an unforgettable experience and intellectual journey. I owe special gratitude to Geoffrey Gosby, Oxford's linguist and Kartvelologist, who kindly agreed to read and edit the manuscript and provide invaluable feedback. Likewise, Dimitri Conomos read the original manuscript of the dissertation and provided me with first stylistic feedback. Professor Ani Chantladze at Tbilisi State University's chair of Armenian studies, provided expert advice in both classical Georgian and Armenian.

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Most special gratitude gows to Dr. Dali Chitunashvili for her generosity and patience with my incessant queries, and for teaching me how to handle manuscripts and to read between lines, to spot details, where nothing seems to transpire. Finally and crucially, I would like to single out two people: my father, who has been perhaps the principal inspiration of my work, and Nutsa, without whose intellectual companionship and persistant encouragement to finish the manuscript, neither the present book nor any other would have seen the light of day.

NOTE ON TRANSLATION AND TRANSLITERATION The system of transliteration for Georgian is adopted from the Revue des Etudes Georgiennes et Caucasiennes. The Armenian system follows the Revue des Etudes Armeniennes rule. When quoting from existing translations, transliteration of proper names and of place names will be amended according to the system adopted by the present book, in order to avoid misunderstandings. Proper names and technical terms, that are common for Armenian and Georgian languages, will be transliterated according to the source language. E.g. Armenian person will be consistently rendered as Asot, whereas the Georgian person with an identical name will be Asot'. In those frequent instances, where multiple spellings are attested, only one standard spelling will be used throughout the book. E.g. the name of the seventh-century Georgian katholikos is spelled in various editions and manuscripts as Kiwron/Kiwrion/ Kiron/Kyron, but will be Kyrion throughout the text. Armenian and Georgian forms of one and the same toponyms will be used interchangeably depending on the context and the point of view. i.e. Both Gugark' and Gugareti will be used, similarly Georgian T' ao and Armenian Tayk' will be used interchangeably without particular regularity, unless viewed from a certain linguistic point of view. Names of contemporary authors and figures are not transliterated according to the adopted system of transliteration but rather by modem convention, e.g., Javakhishvili and not ,3avaxisvili, Aleksidze and not Aleksi3e. In case of extreme variance in orthography, e.g., Malxaseants/Malxaseanc'/ Malkhaseants, etc, one system will be adopted. In the bibliography, all languages utilizing Latin alphabet remain untranslated, whereas Armenian, Georgian, Cyrillic, Greek, and other texts are provided in their original language followed by a translation.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY TEXTS

Armenian Agathangelos = The Lives of Saint Grego1y: The Armenian, Greek, Arabic, and Syriac Versions of the Hist01y attributed to Agathangelos, translated with introduction and commentary by R.W. Thomson. Ann Arbor MI: Caravan Books, 2010. AnonSebast = U.f,wfintfi Uhpwumw9nt d,wJwfiw4wqpntfJJnLfif!. (XVI q.) [Chronicle of an anonymous Sebastian Historian XVI c.]. In lJwfip d,wJwfiw4wqpntfJJntfifitp (XIII-XVIII ']']·) [Little chronicles (13'd-18 1h cc.)] 1, edited by V. Hakobyan. Yerevan: Haykakan AAH GA hratarakcowtyown, 1951 : 165177. AnonymXVI = l},f,wfintfi J,wJwfiw4wqpnt{0)0 C90 u(Y)8ob0)0 [On the severance of the Georgians and Armenians], edited by Z. Aleksidze. Tbilisi: Mecniereba 1980. AS-Fr= Aleksidze, Z. and Mahe, J.-P. "Arsene Sapareli, Sur la separation des Georgiens et des Armeniens." Revue des Etudes Armeniennes 32 (2010): 59-132. Conlber = 8(Y)3G030ll 00tr>O)r::iou0l2 [Conversion of Georgia], edited by I. Abuladze. In Abuladze, I. d3or::io 00MO)'C)r::'O 0c')O(Y)c')M0(:30'C)r::'0 r::io6ofrl06'CJMOU doBr::iooo 1 (V-X uu.) [Monuments of old Georgian hagiographic literature 1 (5 1h-J01h cc.)]. Tbilisi: Sakartvelos mecnierebata ak'ademiis gamomcemloba, 1963: 81-63. DispES = uo6ti3l>-Boo0 ootr>ou0 0\:30)380 c')Mdor::iou0 U(Y)UO)o6ou 8080fr>O), u(Y)8ob0)0 8(Y)d('.!'CJMou0 [Dispute of monk Ekvtime Gr3eli with Sostene, the Armenian teacher], edited by M. Sabinin. In Sabinin, M. u000tr>0)3or::i(Y)u u08(Y)O)bo. ufr>'CJr::io 0('.!VOM0l2 ('.!'CJ0vr::i0)0 C90 360000)0 u030M0)30r::'(Y)U v80C900)0 [The Paradise of Georgia. A complete description of the work and passion of the saints of Georgia]. St. Petersburg: Tipigrafia Imperatorskoy Akademii Nauk, 1882: 615-621. MartDetT = v80C900)0 tJM800)0 (Y)M0)0 d800)0 (20300)0UO (20 6ofr>o306ouo u0doO)b030 [Readings for two holy brothers, Davit and Tirican], edited by I. Abuladze. In Abuladze, I. 00MO)'C)r::>-u(Y)8b'CJMO r::io6ofrl06'CJM'CJr::>O 'C)MO)OOMO)(Y)oooo BoGbtr>o-8000)0 u0'C)d'CJ600080 [Georgian and Armenian literary relations in 91h-J0th cc.]. Tbilisi: Sakartvelos mecnierebata ak'ademiis gamomcemloba, 1944: 178-183.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

xv

MartGrP-Geo = Vita S. Gregorii Parthiensis, edited by L. Melikset-Bek. Tbilisi: Saxalxo Sakme, 1920. MartHrips-Geo = 02,001062,,'.J~Mi.Joi.J "Mot3l>o8006010 80M63o~Mooi.J" d30~0 30M01'('.)~o 010Me,8060 [The old Georgian translation of the Martyrdom of the Hripsimeans], edited by I. Abuladze. In Abuladze, I. Sromebi [Studies] 4. Tbilisi: Mecniereba, 1985: 73-105. MartHrips-Geo II= lJ.'fwfJwfi'fhqnufr 2ffi '('.)d03,'.)~010.a [Martyrdom of the holy Sukian martyrs], edited by I. Abuladze. In Abuladze, I. 30M01'('.)~-i.Jr18b'('.JMO ~06,'.)M06'('.)M'('.)~O '('.)M010,'.)MO"lr10,'.)00 80(3bM,'.)-8,'.)00"l,'.) U0'('.)d'('.)6,'.),'.)000 [Georgian and Armenian literary relations in 9th_1Qth cc.]. Tbilisi: Sakartvelos mecnierebata ak'ademiis gamomcemloba, 1944: 22-61. MatKar = 8060060 30M01~01.J0 [The history of Georgia], edited by S. Kaukhchishvili. In Kaukhchishvili, S. 30tvJ01~01.J (3bM3tvJ000 [The Life of Kartli] 1. Tbilisi: Saxelgami, 1955: 249-317. SD = Sumbat' Davitis3e. (3br13tvl,'.)00 (?0 'CJVtJ,'.J00 002,tvl06M6006010 [The life and history of the Bagrationis]. In Kaukhchishvili, S. 30tvJ01~01.J (3br13tvJ000 [The Life of Kartli] 1. Tbilisi: Saxelgami, 1955: 372-386. Synax-Geo = (?O(?O i.J306o3l>0MO. 2,0MM2,0 8010v806(?~0U 0)0Me,8060 [The Great Synaxary, translated by George Hagiorites], edited by D. Chitunashvili and M. Dvali. Tbilisi: The National Centre of Manuscripts, 2017. TypBakur = Shanidze, A. 30M0130~010 8M60l>6otvlo 0'('.)~2,0M,'.)0180: 6o.3odr1601.J 30M01'('.)~o M,'.)(?03(300 [The Georgian monastery in Bulgaria: the Georgian redaction of the Typikon]. Tbilisi: Mecniereba, 1971. VB-Descr = Vaxust'i Bat'onisvili. 0C'.!V,'.JM0 l>08,'.)t3r1l>0 l>030M013o~r11.J0 [Description of the Kingdom of Georgia], edited by S. Kaukhchishvili. In Kaukhchishvili, S. 30tvJ01~01.J (3br13M,'.)00 [The Life of Kartli] 4. Tbilisi: Saxelgami, 1973: 1-894. VitaDG = (3bC'lM,'.)00.Q (?0 ar130~03M00.Q vBo(?OU0 80801.J0 ~'('.),'.)60U0 (?03001 2,0tvJol>x.o~ol.J0.a [The life and work of our Holy Father saint Davit Gares3eli], edited by I. Abuladze. In Abuladze, I. d30~0 30M01'('.)~0 02,or12,tvl0t30'('.)~o ~06otvl06'('.)tvloi.J doe,~ooo 1 (V-X I.Ju.) [Monuments of old Georgian hagiographic literature 1 (5 1h-1Qth cc.)]. Tbilisi: Sakartvelos mecnierebata ak'ademiis gamomcemloba, 1963: 229-240. VitaGH = Giorgi Mcire. (3bC'lM,'.)00.Q (?0 8M30~03M00.Q v8o(?OU0 (?0 6060MOU0 80801.J0 ~'('.),'.)601.J0 2,or1Me,o 8010v80C?o~ol.J0.a [The life and work of our father

XVI

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George Hagiorites], edited by I. Abuladze. In Abuladze, I. d30~0 30MO)\'.'.J~o 050M5M050\'.'.)~o ~060M06\'.'.JMou do5~000 2 (XI-XV uu.) [Monuments of old Georgian hagiographic literature 2 (1Jlh-J5 1h cc.)]. Tbilisi: Mecniereba, 1967: 101-207. VitaGH-Eng = The Life and Citizenship of Our Holy and Blessed Father George the Hagiorite by George the Minor, translated by T. Grdzelidze. In Grdzelidze, T. Georgian Monks on Mt Athos: Two Eleventh-Century Lives of Hegoumenoi of lviron. London: Bennet and Bloom, 2009. VitaGH-Fr = Martin-Hisard, B. "La Vie de Georges l'Hagiorite." Revue des Etudes Byzantines 64-65 (2006-2007): 5-204. VitaGX = Giorgi Mercule, OMC"l80.Q ~0 8C"lr:1\'.'.J0voo0.Q ~OMU0~ (3bMMOOOU0.Q v8o~OU0 ~0 6060MOU0 808ou0 f\\'.'.)06ou0 2)M02)C"l~OUO 0tiido806~tiio6ou0.Q, b06(30)0u0 ~0 806ootii~ou0 0~80006ooo~ou0.Q [The life and work of our Father Archimandrite Gregory, the builder of Xan3ta and Sat'berdi], edited by I. Abuladze. In Abuladze, I. d30~0 30MO)\'.'.J~o 050M5lii050\'.'.)~o ~06olii06\'.'.Jliiou doei~ooo 1 (V-X uu.) [Monuments of old Georgian hagiographic literature 1 (5th-JOth cc.)]. Tbilisi: Sakartvelos mecnierebata ak'ademiis gamomcemloba, 1963: 248-319. Vita/Z = (3bMM000.Q 0M060 'bo~0'b6o~ou0.Q [Life of Iaone Zedazneli], edited by I. Abuladze. In Abuladze, I. 0U\'.'.)MO~ 80800)0 (3bM3Mooou \'.'.)d3o~ouo lii0~03Goooo [The old Georgian redactions of the Lives of the Syrian Fathers]. Tbilisi: Mecniereba, 1955: 2-68. VitaJE = Giorgi Mtacmideli. (3bMM000.Q 6060MOU0 808ou0 f\\'.'.lo6ou0 0C"l306ouo ~0 050)38ouo [Life of our blessed fathers lovane and Eptwme], edited by I. Abuladze. In Abuladze, I. d30~0 30MO)\'.'.J~o 050M5lii050\'.'.)~o ~060M06\'.'.JMou doei~ooo 2 (XI-XV uu.) [Monuments of old Georgian hagiographic literature 2 (1Jlh-J51h cc.)]. Tbilisi: Mecniereba, 1967: 38-100. VitaPI-Geo = (3bMM000.Q ~0 8C"l30~0dC"l00.Q v8o~OU0 ~0 6060MOU0 808ou0 fl\'.'.Jo5ou0 .3o6MO 30tii0)3o~ou0.Q [The life and work of our Father Peter the Georgian], edited by I. Abuladze. In Abuladze, I. d30~0 30MO)\'.'.J~o 050M5lii050\'.'.)~o ~06olii06\'.'.Jliiou doei~ooo 2 (XI-XV uu.) [Monuments of old Georgian hagiographic literature 2 (1Jlh-J5th cc.)]. Tbilisi: Mecniereba, 1967: 213-266. VitaReg = Leont'i Mroveli. (3bM3Moo0 30M0)30~0)0 80500)0 [The life of the Georgian kings], edited by S. Kaukhchishvili. In Kaukhchishvili, S. 30MO)~ou (3bM3Moo0 [The Life of Kartli] 1. Tbilisi: Saxelgami, 1955: 1-71. VitaV = 3uanser. (3bM3liioo0 30b6065 2)C"lM2)0U~OU0 [The life of Vaxt'ang Gorgasali], edited by S. Kaukhchishvili. In Kaukhchishvili, S. 30tiiO)~ou (3bM3Moo0 [The Life of Kartli] 1. Tbilisi: Saxelgami, 1955: 139-244.

Greek

Attaleiates = Michaelis Attaliatae Historia (Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae), edited by I. Bekker. Bonn: Weber, 1853. AKomn = Annae Comnenae Alexias, edited by A. Kambylis and D.R. Reinsch. New York, NY: De Gruyter, 2001. AKomn-Rus = AHHa KoMHHHa. A.t1e1eMe lfBepw51" [Once again on the Theme of Iberia]. Kavkaz i Vizantiya 1 (1978): 36-56. Arutiunova-Fidanyan, Iver = Arutiunova-Fidanyan, V. "HBHp B BH3aHTHiiCKHX HCTO'iHITKax XI B" [lvir in the Byzantine sources of the 11 th c.]. Banber Matenadarani 9 (1973): 46-66. Arutiunova-Fidanyan, Self-Awareness = Arutiunova-Fidanyan, V. "The EthnoConfessional Self-Awareness of Armenian Chalcedonians." Revue des Etudes Armeniennes 21 (1988-1989): 345-357. Arutiunova-Fidanyan, Typikon = Arutiunova-Fidanyan, V. TunuK I'pu20puR IlaKypuaHa [The Typikon of Gregory Pakourianos]. Yerevan: Izdatelstvo Akademii Nauk Armenii, 1968. Assmann, Cultural Memory= Assmann, J. Cultural Memmy and Early Civilization: Writing, Remembrance and Political Imagination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Assmann, Moses the Egyptian= Assmann, J. Moses the Egyptian: The Memmy of Egypt in Western Monotheism. London: Harvard University Press, 1997. Auge, Rapports = Auge, I. "Les Grecs et leurs rapports avec les Armeniens dans les sources armeniennes du xne siecle." Le Museon 121 (2008): 337353. Babian, Relations = Babian, G. The Relations Between the Armenian and Georgian Churches. Antelias: Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, 2001. Bais, Albania = Bais, M. Albania Caucasica: Ethnos, storia, territorio attraverso le fonti greche, latine e armene. Milano: Mimesis, 2001. Bartlett, Remembering= Bartlett, F.C. Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Batiashvili, Bivocal Nation= Batiashvili, N. The Bivocal Nation: Memo,y and Identity on the Edge of Empire. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Berdzenishvili, Studies= Berdzenisvhili, D. 6.:it\l3030~o [Studies]. Tbilisi: Samk'ali, 2005.

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XXI

Bfr6, Caucasian Campaign = Bfr6, M. "Georgian Sources on the Caucasian Campaign of Heracleios." Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungariae 35 (1981): 121-132. Bfr6, Shushanik = Bfr6, M. "Shushanik's Georgian Vita." Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungariae 38 (1984): 187-200. Brock, Christians = Brock, S. "Christians in the Sassanian Empire: a Case of Divided Loyalties." In Religion and National Identity, Papers Read at the Nineteenth Summer Meeting and the Twentieth Winter Meeting of the Ecclesiastical History Society, edited by S. Mews. Oxford: Blackwell, 1982: 1-21. Brock, Thrice-Holy= Brock, S. "The Thrice-Holy Hymn in the Liturgy." Sobornost 7 (1985): 24-34. Carriere, Abgar = Carriere, A. La legende d'Abgar dans l' "Histoire d'Armenie" de Moise de Khoren. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1895. Chakmakjian, Christology = Chakmakjian, H. Armenian Christology and the Evangelisation of Islam. Leiden: Brill, 1965. Chahin, Kingdom= Chahin, M. The Kingdom of Armenia. A Histo,y. London and New York, NY: Routledge, 2001. Chantladze, Michael= Chantladze, N. "803,\'.)~ ol.J'('.Jtiiol.J 't108m00(:18VOM~Mool.J' d30~0 l.JM8b'('.Jtiio m.:.tiiei8.:.6ol.J 6o3l.J6ol.J dtiio6odol.J.:.m3ol.J." [Towards the criticism of the Old Armenian text of the Chronography of Michael the Syrian]. In The Caucasus between East and West: Historical and Philological Studies in Honour of Zaza Aleksidze, edited by D. Chitunashvili. Tbilisi: National Centre of Manuscripts, 2012: 467-475. Chantladze, Mxit'ar Gos = Chantladze, N. 8bomotii 2>M80. 3.:.tiim3o~m0m3ol.J [Mxit'ar Gos. Concerning the Georgians]. Tbilisi: Artanuji, 2012. Charanis, Armenians = Charanis, P. The Armenians in the Byzantine Empire. Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 1963. Charanis, Ethnic Changes = Charanis, P. "Ethnic Changes in the Byzantine Empire in the Seventh Century." Dumbarton Oaks Papers 13 (1959): 2344. Chichurov, Caucasian Campaign = Chichurov, I. 0 Kae,w3cKoM noxooe uMnepamopa JfpaKAUfl [About the Caucasian campaign of the Emperor Heraclius]. Moscow: Nauka, 1978. Charanis, Transfer = Charanis, P. "Transfer of Population as a Policy of the Byzantine Empire." Comparative Studies in Society and Histo,y 3 (1961): 140-154. Chitunasvhili, Commemoration= Chitunashvili, D. "l.JM8ob v806~06m0 buo5ooooo 60M-d~.)M~'('.J~O v0tii8M803~MOOU bo~6ovotii8o" [The commemoration of the Armenian saints in a manuscript of T'ao-K'larjetian origin]. In 2"d International Conference Tao-Kla,jeti, Abstracts of Papers. Batumi: National Centre of Manuscripts, 2012: 113-114. Cowe, Theology = Cowe, P. "Generic and Methodological Developments in Theology in Caucasia from the Fourth to Eleventh Centuries Within an East Christian Context." In II Caucaso: Cerniera fra culture dal Mediterraneo alla Persia (Secoli N-Xl). Settimane di studio de! centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo XL/II, 1, a cura di 0. Capitani. Spoleto: Centro Italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo, 1996: 647-683.

XXII

N. ALEKSIDZE

Cowe, Philoxenus = Cowe, P. "Philoxenus of Mabbug and the Council of Manazkert." Aram 5 (1993): 115-129. Cowe, Vaspurakan and Ani = Cowe, P. "Relations Between the Kingdoms of Vaspurakan and Ani." In Armenian Van/Vaspurakan, edited by R.G. Hovannisian. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2000: 73-87. Dadoyan, Political Strategies = Dadoyan, S.B. "Islam and Armenian Political Strategies at the End of an Era: Matt'eos Jowlayec'i and GrigorTat'ewac'i." Le Museon 114 (2001): 305-327. Dagron, Minorites = Dagron, G. "Minorites ethniques et religieuses dans !'Orient byzantin a la fin du xe et au XIe siecle: L'immigration syrienne." In Recherches sur le X/' siecle (Travaux et Memoires du Centre de Recherche d'Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance 6). Paris: E. de Boccard I Centre de Recherche d'Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance, 1976: 177-216. Dedeyan, Arabes au Caucase = Dedeyan, G. "Les Arabes au Caucase: les relations des rois bagratides d'Armenie avec le Califat 'abbaside de Bagdad (de 884 a 1055)." In Il Caucaso: Cerniera fra culture dal Mediterraneo alla Persia (Secoli IV-Xl). Settimane di studio de! centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo XL///, 1, a cura di 0. Capitani. Spoleto: Centro Italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo, 1996: 169-193. Der Nersessian, Etudes = Der Nersessian, S. Etudes byzantines et armeniennes. Louvain: Imprimerie Orientaliste, 1973. DescrGeoMSS = Bregadze, T., Kavtaria, M. and Kutateladze, L. dc,Mo,'('.)c::'

bo~6"voMoo" "~VoMo~Mo" ~M\:3o~o u"od~ouoM a'('.)'bo'('.)aou (") JM~03Goou"

[Description of Georgian manuscripts: Collection of the former Church museum (A)] 1. Tbilisi: K. Kekelidze Institute of Manuscripts, 1973. Draguet, Pieces antijulianiste = Draguet, R. "Pieces de polemique antijulianiste 3: L' ordination frauduleuse des julianistes." Le Muse on 54 ( 1941): 59-89. Drost-Abgarjan, Abgar-Legende = Drost-Abgarjan, A. "Zur Rezeption der Abgar-Legende in Armenien." In Edessa in hellenistisch-romischer Zeit: Religion, Kultur und Politik zwischen Ost und West. Beitriige des internationalen Edessa-Symposiums in Halle an der Saale, 14.-17. Juli 2005, herausgegeben von L. Greisiger, C. Rammelt, and J. Tubach (Beiruter Texte und Studien 116). Beirut: Orient-Institut I Wiirzburg: Ergon Verlag, 2009: 69-74. Dulaurier, Chronologie = Dulaurier, E. Recherches sur la chronologie armenienne. Paris: L'Imprimerie Imperiale, 1859. Dumezil, Albaniens = Dumezil, G. "Une chretiente disparue. Les Albaniens du Caucase." Melanges Asiatiques = Journal Asiatique 232 (1940-1941/1): 125-132. Eastmond, Royal Image,y = Eastmond, A. Royal Image,y in Medieval Georgia. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998. Edwards, Oltu-Penek = Edwards, R.W. "Medieval Architecture in the Oltu-Penek Valley, A Preliminary Report on the Marchlands of Eastern Turkey." Dumbarton Oaks Papers 39 (1985): 15-37. Eremyan, Feudal Armenia= Eremyan, S. Ky;1bmypa paHHeifjeooa11bHOu ApMeHuu [The culture of early feudal Armenia]. Yerevan: Akademiya Nauk Armyanskoy SSR, 1980.

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XXIII

Farmanfarmaian, Georgia and Iran = Farmanfarmaian, F.S. "Georgia and Iran: Three Millennia of Cultural Relations." Journal of Persianate Studies 2 (2009): 1-43. Fowden, Barbarian Plain = Fowden, E. The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius Between Rome and Iran (Transformation of the Classical Heritage). Berkeley, CA and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1998. Frend, Monophysite Movement= Frend, W.H.C. The Rise of the Monophysite Movement: Chapters in the History of the Church in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972. Frivold, Incarnation = Frivold, L. The Incarnation: A Study of the Doctrine of Incarnation in the Armenian Church in the 5'" and 6'" Centuries According to the Book of Letters. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1981. Garagozov, Narratives= Garagozov, R. "Historical Narratives, Cultural Traditions, and Collective Memory in the Central Caucasus." Journal of Russian and East European Psychology 46/1 (2008): 52-98. Garitte, Fragment= Garitte, G. "Sur un fragment georgien d'Agathange." Le Museon 61 (1948): 89-102. Garitte, Rhipsimiennes = Garitte, G. "La Passion des saintes Hripsimiennes en georgien (Agathange, eh. XIII-XIX)." Le Museon 75 (1962): 233-251. Garsoi:an, Armenian Integration = Garsoi:an, N. "The Problem of Armenian Integration into the Byzantine Empire." In Studies on the Internal Diaspora of the Byzantine Empire, edited by H. Ahrweiler, A.E. Laiou. Washington D.C.: Harvard University Press, 1998: 53-125. Garsoi:an, Dyophysites = Garsoi:an, N. "Acace de Melitene et la presence de dyophysites en Armenie au debut du V0 siecle." In Au carrefour des religions: Melanges offerts a Philippe Gignoux, textes reunis par R. Gyselen (Res Orientates 7). Leuven: Peeters, 1995: 73-87. Garsoi:an, Eglise = Garsoi:an, N. L'Eglise armenienne et le grand schisme d'Orient (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 574; Subsidia 100). Louvain: Peeters, 1999. Garsoi:an, Independent Kingdoms = Garsoi:an, N. "The Independent Kingdoms of Medieval Armenia." In The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times. Volume I, The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century, edited by R. Hovhannisian. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1997: 143-185. Garsoi:an, Precisions I= Garsoi:an N. "Some Preliminary Precisions on the Separation of the Armenian and Imperial Churches: I. The Presence of 'Armenian' Bishops at the First Five Oecumenical Councils." In KAo 5o5M" [The new Nino]. In Saint Nino 1, edited by R. Siradze. Tbilisi: Artanuji, 2008: 196-202. Krikorian, Armenische Kirche = Krikorian, M. Die Armenische Kirche. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2002. Krikorian, Autonomy = Krikorian, M. "Autonomy and Autocephaly in the Theory and Practice of the Ancient Oriental Churches." Kanon: Yearbook of the Society for the Law of the Oriental Churches 5/2 (1981): 114-129. Krikorian, Ecumenical Councils = Krikorian, M. "The First Three Ecumenical Councils and their Significance for the Armenian Church." The Greek Orthodox Theological Review 16 (1971): 191-209. Lalayants, Surb Sargis= Lalayants, E. UnLf'P Uw{'q/iu So'iifo fi~w['wqfof' funuw~9nL/JfoL'iifibf'l!. U.fuwL.f!wLw.f!fo pwf'pwnm/_ [Surb Sargis: Description of the feast and notes on the Axalkalaki dialect]. Handes Amsorea 1/12 (1894): 350353.

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Lebon, Timothee Elure = Lebon, J. "Version annenienne et version syriaque de Timothee Elure." Handes Amsorea 40 (1927): 713-720. Lerner, Chelishi = Lerner, C. "On the Origin of the 'Chelishi' Manuscript of the ConversionofKartli." LeMuseon 117 (2004): 131-137. Lerner, Wellspring = Lerner, C. The Wellspring of Georgian Historiography. The Early Medieval Historical Chronicle: the Conversion of Kartli and the Life of St. Nino. London: Bennet and Bloom, 2004. Lomouri, Petriconi = Lomouri, N. "K RCTopirn: rpy3RHCKOro IleTpRU:OHCKOro MOHaCThipsi (EaqKoBCKRii MOHaCThiph B EonrapRR)" [Towards the history of the Georgian monastery of Petritsoni]. In HeKomopbze Bonpocbz ucmopuu I'py3uu 6 apMRHCKou ucmopuo2pagjuu [Some Questions of the History of Georgia in the Armenian Historiography], edited by D. Muskhelishvili. Tbilisi: Universali, 2009: 284-367. Macomber, Seleucia-Ctesiphon = Macomber, W.F. "The Christology of the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon." Orientalia Christiana Periodica 24 (1958): 142-154. Mahe, Bekehrung = Mahe, J.-P. "Die Bekehrung Transkaukasiens: Eine Historiographie mit doppeltem Boden." In Die Christianisierung des Kaukasus I The Christianization of Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Albania). Referate des lnternationalen Symposions (Wien, 9. bis 12. Dezember 1999), herausgegeben von W. Seibt. Wien: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2002: 107-125. Mahe, Chronique et icone = Mahe, J.-P. "Chronique et icone dans Jes litteratures annenienne et georgienne." In The Caucasus between East and West: Historical and Philological Studies in Honour of Zaza Aleksidze, edited by D. Chitunashvili. Tbilisi: National Centre of Manuscripts, 2012: 212226. Mahe, Confession religieuse = Mahe, J.-P. "Confession religieuse et identite nationale dans l'Eglise armenienne du vne au XIe siecle." In Des Parthes au Califat: Quatre lec;ons sur laformation de l'identite armenienne, edite par N. Garsoi'an et J.-P. Mahe (Travaux et Memoires du Centre de Recherche d'Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance. Monographies, 10). Paris: De Boccard, 1997: 6078. Mahe, Eglise = Mahe, J.-P. "L'Eglise armenienne de 611 a 1066." In Histoire du Christianisme des origines a nos }ours, t. IV. Eveques, moines et empereurs (6/0-1054), sous la responsabilite de G. Dagron, P. Riche et A. Vauchez. Paris: Desclee, 1993: 457-547. Mahe, Fonction du Catholicos = Mahe, J.-P. "Le role et la fonction du Catholicos d'Armenie du Vile siecle au xe siecle." In Des Parthes au Califat: Quatre lec;ons sur la formation de l'identite armenienne, edite par N. Garsoi:an and J.-P. Mahe (Travaux et memoires du centre de recherche d'histoire et civilisation de Byzance. Monographies, 10). Paris: De Boccard, 1997: 79-102. Mahe, Gregoire= Gregoire de Narek. Tragedie. Matean olbergut'ean: Le livre de lamentation. Introduction, traduction et notes par A. et J.-P. Mahe (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 584; Subsidia 106). Leuven: Peeters, 2000.

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[Studies in the history of Georgian and Armenian relations in 4'h-12th centuries]. Tbilisi: Mecniereba, 2002. Maksoudian, Chalcedonian Issue = Maksoudian, K. "The Chalcedonian Issue and the Early Bagratids: the Council of Sirakawan." Revue des Etudes Armeniennes 21 (1988-1989): 333-344. Maksoudian, Reconciliation = Maksoudian, K. "Reconciliation of Memories: The Maligned Dioscorus." St. Nersess Theological Review 3/l (1998): 3744. Mamedov, Albania and Atropatena = Mamedov, T. AA6aHUf! u AmponameHa no iJpe6He-ApMRHCKUM ucmol/HUKaM [Albania and Atropatena according to old Armenian sources]. Baku: Elm, 1977. Mamedova, Caucasian Albania = Mamedova, F. Ka6Ka3cKaf! AA6aHUf! u AA6aHbl [Caucasian Albania and the Albanians]. Baku: Tsentr Issledovaniy Kavkazskoy Albanii, 2005. Manning, Strangers = Manning, P. Strangers in a Strange Land: Occidentalist Publics and Orientalist Geographies in Nineteenth-Century Georgian Imaginaries. Toronto: Academic Studies Press, 2012. Maranci, Byzantium= Maranci, Ch. "Byzantium through Armenian Eyes: Cultural Appropriation and the Church of Zuart'noc'." Gesta: International Center of Medieval Art 40/2 (2001): 105-124. Mardirossian, Livre des canons = Mardirossian, A. Le Livre des canons armeniens (Kanonagirk' Hayoc') de Yovhannes Awjnec'i. Eglise, droit et societe en Armenie du IV' au VIII' siecle (C01pus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 606; Subsidia 116). Leuven: Peeters, 2004.

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Margaryan, Northern Armenia = Margaryan, H. 21nwf,uw1f,fi 2w1wumwfif, hL '{pwumwfif, XII 11wpf, "{WmtlnL/JJwfi t5f, .[!wfif, !.wpghp [Some questions relating to the history of northern Armenia and Georgia of the J2th c.]. Yerevan: Haykakan AAH GA hratarakcowtyown, 1980. Marr, Agape= Marr, N. "Cne;::i; Ayam1 y apMJIH" [Trace of Ayam1 among the Armenians]. Xristianskiy Vostok 112 (1913): 141-142. Marr, Arkaun = Marr, N. "ApKayH, MOHrOJihCKoe Ha3Bam1e xpwcni:aH B CBjj3H c BOilpOCOM 06 apMjjHax-xaJIKe)J;OHHTax" [Arkaun, the Mongolian name of the Christians with reference to the Chalcedonian Armenians]. Vizantiiskiy Vremennik 12, 1-2 (1906): 1-68. Marr, Armenian Manuscript = Marr, N. "06 apMjjHCKOH HJIJilOCTppoBaHHOH pyKorrwcw H3 xanKe;::i;oHHTCKOH cpe;::i;hr" [An Armenian illustrated manuscript from a Chalcedonian milieu]. In Caucasian Cultural World and Armenia, edited by P. Muradyan. Yerevan: Ganjasar, 1996: 302-309. Marr, Armeno-Georgian Philology = Marr, N. "06 e;::i;HHCTBe 3a;::i;aq apMjjHOrpy3HHCKOH qrnnonornw" [On the common aims of Armeno-Georgian philology]. Kavkazkiy Vestnik 3 (1902): 15-29. Marr, Baptism = Marr, N. "Kper.ueHwe apMj!H, rpy3HH, a6xa3oB H anaHOB CBj!ThIM rpwropweM (apa6cKajj Bepcwjj)" [Baptism of Armenians, Georgians, Abkhazs and Alans by St Gregory (the Arabic Version)]. Zapiski Vostochnogo Otdelenya lmperatorskogo Russkogo obshestva 16 (19041905): 54-149. Marr, Synaxaire = Marr, N. Le synaxaire georgien: redaction ancienne de !'union armeno-georgienne (Patrologia Orientalis 95 [19.5)). Tumhout: Brepols, 1990 [reprint of 1926). Marr, Travel = Marr, N. "I,fa rroe3)J;KH Ha AqioH" [From the travel to Athos]. Journal of the Minisny of Education March (1899): 1-24. Marr, Tsats = Marr, N. "[(aTbI rraneoHTOJiorwqecKw" [Tsats in terms of paleontology]. In lfwnl!. Ii. !.w1wqf,mnL/JJwfi !.wpghpf!. [Marr and the questions of Armenian studies], edited by B. Arakelyan. Yerevan: Haykakan AAH GA hratarakcowtyown, 1968: 195-204. Martin-Hisard, Christianisme = Martin-Hisard, B. "Christianisme et Eglise dans le monde georgien." In Histoire du Christianisme des origines a nos jours, t. IV. Eveques, moines et empereurs (610- /054 ), sous la responsabilite de G. Dagron, P. Riche et A. Vauchez. Paris: Desclee, 1993: 549-603. Martin-Hisard, Georgian Hagiography = Martin-Hisard, B. "Georgian Hagiography." In The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography: Period and Places 1, edited by S. Efthymiadis. Farnham: Ashgate, 2011: 285-299. Martin-Hisard, Hilarion = Martin-Hisard, B. "La peregrination du moine georgien Hilarion au Xle siecle." Bedi Kartlisa 39 (1981): 101-138. Martin-Hisard, Jean et Euthyme = Martin-Hisard, B. "La Vie de Jean et Euthyme et le statut du monastere des Iberes sur l'Athos." Revue des Etudes Byzantines 49 (1991): 67-142. Martin-Hisard, Moines et monasteres = Martin-Hisard, B. "Moines et monasteres georgiens du IXe siecle: La Vie de Saint Grigol de Xancta. Deuxieme partie: une mise en perspective historique." Revue des Etudes Byzantines 60 (2002): 5-64.

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Martin-Hisard, Peres= Martin-Hisard, B. "Les 'Treize Saints Peres'. Formation et evolution d'une tradition hagiographique georgienne (Vle-xue siecles)." Revue des Etudes Georgiennes et Caucasiennes 1 (1985): 141-168; 2 (1986): 76-111. Martin-Hisard, Sainte Nino = Martin-Hisard, B. "Jalons pour une histoire du culte de sainte Nino (fin IVe-xme s.)." In From Byzantium to Iran. Armenian Studies in Honour of Nina G. Garsofan, edited by J.-P. Mahe and R.W. Thomson. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1997: 53-81. Martin-Hisard, T'ao-K'lardzheti = Martin-Hisard, B. "Du T'ao-K'lardzheti a l'Athos: moines georgiens et realites sociopolitiques." Bedi Kartlisa 61 (1984): 34-46. Martin-Hisard, Vaxt'ang = Martin-Hisard, B. "Le roi georgien Vaxt'ang Gorgasal dans l'histoire et dans la legende." In Temps, memoire, tradition au MoyenAge. Actes du 13' congres de la Societe des historiens medievistes de l'enseignement superieur public, Aix-en-Provence, 4-5 juin 1982, edited by B. Guillemain. Aix-en-Provence: Universite de Provence, 1982: 205-242. Melikset-Bek, Alphabets= Melikset-Bek, L. "O rette3wce apMj{HCKoro, rpy3HHCKoro w aJI6attcKoro aJI~0 u1, 0 ombooo [Main issues of the historical geography of Georgia]. Tbilisi: Mecniereba, 1980. Muskhelishvili, Political Relations = Muskhelishvili, D. "lfa IIOJIHTH'leCKHX B3aHMOOTHOUJeHHli cpe.ri:HeBeKOBOli ApMeHHH H rpy3HH" [From the political relations between medieval Armenia and Georgia]. In HeKomopb1e eonpocbI ucmopuu I'py3uu e apMRHCKou ucmopuo2pao5ol:>oomo 8om UC'l'a~OUO UC'l81:>omol>omo, t:108mo 5o6oliiouo Q?OQ?OUO 6o!iiuo dOO)O~OdC'l'bol>omo {?O 0(?08 oliio2,ovC'l6o~ol>omo, 303l>o ool>oo5ol>ol>o, (?OOOUO, (ii('l8o~L>o J!iid306 C'l5dM8 d0(30 30580 vo(ii~o5ooo~o. 41 MartDetT, 183: 80006 3omolii(30 DOVtto l>od8e} ol>o v8oQ?ol>o 8o8ol>o ~oo5l>o 6o!iiuol> dOO)C'l~OdC'l'buo UC'l81:>omol>ol>o, !iio8omo m3m 3i:>OQ?30Q?O 02,0 ool:>6om Uod3lii3o~oool>o ...

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in illo tempore, in those idyllic times. Several great kings of various epochs that the author had heard of are listed, which suggests an original oral narrative. Reference to two figures is of particular interest: these are Emperor Heraclius and the Armenian Katholikos Nerses. No other figure has been so confused in the Georgian and Armenian traditions as a katholikos bearing this name. Nerses the Great (353-73), Nerses II Astarakac'i (54857), Nerses III the Builder (641-61) and also Bishop Nerses the Martyr42 are often referred to interchangeably depending on the context. 43 The epithet Great is sufficiently vague for it to be attached to different persons with the same name. 44 The author in all appearance refers to Nerses III 'the Builder', since by tradition this Armenian Katholikos was closely associated with the Church of Isxani, which he had allegedly founded, and which by the tenth century was a major cathedral church in Georgia. N. Marr believed that the expression "Our Holy Father" indicated that the text was created before the Schism, when the Georgian author could have allowed himself to use a first person plural pronoun. However, this is not necessary. If 'our' was used in a personal sense, the author would be speaking about Nerses III, whom both Georgians and Chalcedonian Armenians esteemed very highly and who was immediately associated with this region. In the newly formed textual communities old figures acquired new mnemonic functions and the memory of Nerses the Builder served as a unifier of the Georgian and the Armenian heritages in the region. By the ninth century the Armenian Chalcedonian Katholikos Nerses the Builder had become a symbol of cultural continuity in T'ao. Nerses III as a hero of legend and history was mysterious and equally controversial, as he was one of the few Armenian Chalcedonian katholikoi from the middle of the seventh century. Apart from the above-mentioned martyrdom account and the Severance, Nerses is mentioned once again by a roughly contemporary author (951). When describing the building activities of Grigol Xan3teli and his companions in the deserts of T'ao and K'lar3eti, Giorgi Mercule writes:

42 AS, 92: AS-Fr, 121: bMt':'.'M ao8C?&M8~(? Q'bM~QU~ (?~00::JM~ U~::J(?~MO 5QMUQ oSb5ot':'.'8~5, d~(38~5 ('.20MU8~5 (?~ 8~MO')~t':'.'-8MMV8'CJ5o8~5. 50000')~ ('.28MO')OU~QO')~. 43 For example, Kirakos Ganjakec'i attributes the consecration of Syrian Abdiso to Nerses III. See KG, 54. 44 The same problem exists in the identification of the Georgian Katholikos Arseni the Great, the editor of the Lives of the Syrian Fathers.

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Then the Kouropalates arrived in Isxani and the two blessed men, Father Grigol and Father Saba, accompanied him. And the Kouropalates grew fond of this place ... Through Divine will, Saba became bishop of Isxani, at the Cathedral Church and throne built by blessed Katholikos Nerse, but which has been widowed for many years. And now the spiritual wedding once again took place and was rebuilt by the blessed one [Saba], and through the earthly work of those God-serving kings. 45 Thus, according to this claim, Isxani was once the episcopal see of Armenian Bishop and later Katholikos Nerses III. This view was shared and continues to be shared by many scholars. 46 Despite this, there is no archaeological or historical evidence of a pre-tenth-century cathedral Church in Isxani. Moreover, as far as I know there exists no direct evidence that Nerses had ever been Bishop of Isxan(i). 47 The presentation of Nerses as Bishop of Isxani is yet another example of the attempt to create mnemonic continuity with the aim of including Armenians into the nation building project that Grigol and the secular rulers had initiated. 48 Therefore, I would suggest that the remembrance of both Bishop Nerses and the Cathedral built by him are examples of yet more constructed memories. Our knowledge of the biography of the Armenian Chalcedonian Katholikos Nerses is derived almost entirely from Sebeos' History. 49 We know that he was born in Tayk' in the village of Isxan; nevertheless, that Nerses was ever a bishop of Isxan is not supported by any medieval authors apart from the Georgian Life of Grigol Xan3teli. I believe that the claim that Nerses was the Bishop of Tayk', or more precisely, that his Episcopal See was in Isxan, is a general misconception; in any case, there are insufficient sources to argue that Nerses did actually occupy an Episcopal See 45 VitaGX, 274: o8ouo 8o8C?BM8o(? dDMo3o~o60 8030(?0 o8bo5lJ (?O 5o6oM5o OBO do(350 8080!2 BMOBM~ (?O 8080!2 Uo()o cno6o. (?O (3MOo(? 8ommoM(?o dDMo3o~o6lJo O(?BO~O OBO ... 6obocno ('.28Mcnol.Jol2cno oJ86o Uo()o o3olJdM0MU o8bo6l.Jo 'bo(?o, 5o6oMOUo 6QMUQ docno~OdM'bolJo o('.28o6oba~uo docnM~OdO Od~ouool.Jo (?O Uo::J(?oMUo 8ouuo, MM8Q~O vo~ovo(?cno 8Mo3o~cno (?0Jat,io3oba~ O::JM. ov dDO~O(? oJ86o ua~OQMO jMMVO~O (?O 8QMMQ(? o('.2o8ofo o8ou 6o6oMOUo 8ooM, bM~M 3MM(30Q~O(? 8M('.2Dovobocno ('.28Mcnou-8uobat,icno 8ocn 805ocnol2cno. Mahe also refers to this sole source in Eglise,

472. See, e.g., Maranci, Byzantium, 105-124. Such cases of monastic foundations forgetting their past and replacing them with "more venerable pedigrees" were common in western European monasticism. Geary, Remembrance, 136. The case of the Cathedral of Isxani is still somewhat exceptional as it attributes the foundation to a non-Georgian but highly authoritative katholikos. 48 This process is eloquently described in the Life of Grigol Xan3teli. For studies, see Martin-Hisard, Moines et monasteres, 5-64. 49 Seb-Eng, 140-141. 46 47

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in Tayk'. The only reference to Nerses as to the bishop of the region belongs to Sebeos, although he fails to specify the exact location of the episcopal see. Besides, had there been such a considerable episcopal centre in Isxan, Sebeos would not have referred to it as a mere village. Other Armenian sources equally know nothing of the Episcopal see of Isxan. It is possible that a linguistic detail is misleading us here. Arseni Sapareli calls Nerses III Isxneli, which in Georgian could literally mean two things: either a 'person from Isxani' or 'bishop oflsxani'. Even if the second case were correct, Arseni still confuses provenance with the Episcopal diocese. 50 Usually this form is also used to refer to a bishop, thus one could understand Arseni's testimony in a way that Nerses was Bishop of Isxani and therefore of Tayk', but I do not believe this to be a necessary implication.51 Whatever the truth, it is important that the name of Nerses the Builder acquired a strong mnemonic function in this Armeno-Georgian liminal zone. His rule was transposed to certain remote days of illo tempore, of religious unity in the region. Nerses' remembrance was further promoted by the Georgian founders of the tenth-century monasteries, who wished to create a sense of continuity between the Armenian past of the region and the Georgian present, and this through the commemoration of this great Chalcedonian Armenian patriarch. The idea of Caucasian unity permeates early medieval and medieval Georgian historiographic writing, albeit in ways radically different from the Armenian counterpart. Whereas the Armenian grand narrative sustained 50 This theory could be challenged by a sundial discovered in Oltisi, a fortress southcast of Isxani and residence of Davit II Kouropalates. The sundial has a Greek inscription together with some Armenian letters. The Greek inscription reads: EHlNAPrn:OEIUrKOITI[P/B?]. The sundial was used as a stone in an eleventh-century Georgian Church. The publisher of the inscription has suggested that NAPrir must be the seventh-century Katholikos Nerses III who was exiled to T'ao. He also recommends reading the final two letters as 'Iberia' (I, Narsis bishop of Iberia). The final two letters were very poorly visible even then; as for now, the entire inscription is only barely legible, and therefore it is very difficult to say what the last two letters were, which must have stood for a toponym. Edwards, 0/tu-Penek, 21-23. Edwards' theory sounds plausible, but I cannot agree that "the epigraph was used so disdainfully as a foundation of the Georgian Church which may be an indication of the Iberian attitude towards this detente". Besides, reading the letters as 'Iberia' poses another problem: that, in the seventh century, that part of Anatolia could not have been called Iberia. I therefore think that the sundial was made much later, and the inscription refers to a different person. 51 Compare with Katholikos Arseni Sapareli, who was merely from Sapara and not Bishop of Sapara, as there existed no such diocese in Georgia. Similarly Jacob, the fifthcentury author of the Martyrdom of Susanik, sometimes traditionally called Curt'aveli by modem scholarship, lived in Curt'avi but was a priest in and not Bishop of Curt'avi.

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the idea of the former unity through the conceptualisation of the Schism, the Georgian historical narratives wished to present the unity as a historical continuity, still in effect in the current state of affairs. For this purpose, Armenian rhetoric was often eagerly taken over by the Georgian writers, especially the royal chroniclers, and incorporated into their own identity discourse. The author of the Lives of the Kings, traditionally identified as Leont'i Mroveli (i.e. Bishop of Ruisi) was not interested in glorifying the Georgian Bagrat'ionis in opposition to the Armenian Bagratunis, as does Xorenac'i. Moreover, there is no mention of any Bagrat'ioni ruler at all. Here, even the legend of the Caucasian ethnarchs was presented in a completely new light. The author of the Lives of the Kings did not attack the Armenian claims of supremacy, as developed by Xorenac'i. Unlike Xorenac'i or even Georgian 3uanser, he argued not for the monoethnic dominance of the Georgians in Caucasia, but on the contrary, presented all the Caucasian peoples as blood relatives and the Armenian ethnarchs as their leaders.52 In contrast to Movses, who presented the myth of Armenian expansion as a series of aggressive conquests, the Lives of the Kings perceived the idea of Caucasian unity as a brotherly union, as epitomized in the opening sentence of the History: "First let us recall that the Armenians and Georgians, Ranians and Movak'anians, Hers and Lek's, Megrels and Caucasians, had a single father, called Targamos. " 53 It was even claimed that the language of the Georgians was Armenian before it "became Georgian", the latter being a mixture of various languages. 54 Despite the 'Armenophile' tendencies of the Lives of the Kings, it has retained its popularity throughout the centuries, and it is only recently that its credibility and honesty have been challenged by the Georgian scholarship. Such a perception of Caucasian unity as the one formulated in the Lives of the Kings was concomitant with the political aspirations of the Georgian ruling elite, and this model became widely adopted, even by part of the Chalcedonian Armenian scholarship. 55 The Life of Georgia was translated For discussion, see Aleksidze, Story of Kartli, 324-327; Rapp, Studies, 427. VitaGeo-Eng, 2; VitaReg, 3: 3oti'l30~0~ 303uo6Mm ouo, ti'lo8omD uM8obmo ~o doti'lm3o~mo, ti'lo6mo ~o 8M30.:36o~mo, .!oti'lmo ~o ~o.:3mo, 802,MO~O'Jo ~o .:303.:3ouoo6mo - o8om m3umo OMO'JO OtJC'l 8080, uobo~om moti'l508C'lu. 54 VitaGeo-Eng, 4-6. 55 S. Rapp rejects such a reading of the Lives of the Kings. He dates the treatise to a pre-Bagratid period and identifies its archaic layers. Rapp, Studies, 160-168. But even if this were the case, and even if Leont'i had been only an editor of the Lives of the Kings, why were the Lives incorporated in the Life of Georgia, in the royal annals, and how did it become so dear to the Georgian tradition? 52 53

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into Armenian 56 in the second half of the twelfth century, and its perception of the common ancestry of all Caucasian people influenced some Armenian historians, such as Mxit'ar Ayrivanec'i. 57 Mxit'ar even supported Leont'i in his claim that King Pamavaz, who laid the foundation of Georgian statehood, also created writing and literacy for the Georgian language, thus accepting the Georgian tradition as opposed to the traditional Armenian narrative. 58 Another historian, Vardan Arewelc'i, also referred to the 'Books of the Georgians', and elaborated on the Georgian legend of the seven brothers and eponyms of the Caucasian peoples according to the Georgian tradition. 59 The notion of a united Caucasia as advocated by the Georgian royal rhetoric required historical endorsement and a spirit of uninterrupted continuity. Evidently, Leont'i's intention to connect the two eponymous houses justified the legitimacy of Georgian Bagratid rule over the Armenian lands. 60 At around the same time, several stories were spread featuring accounts of the common ancestry of Armenian and Georgian Bagratids, as advanced in particular by the tenth-century Georgian chronicle Mat'iane Kartlisa. 61 Georgian royal historiography also promoted the idea of the Georgian Bagratids being related to the great Armenian house of Arsakuni. Submat' Davitis3e stressed that the mother of King Bagrat' IV was of the "seed of the illustrious, mighty and great Arsakunis" ,62 although to our knowledge, she was Arcruni by her father's lineage and Bagratuni by her mother's. 63 Leont'i Mroveli goes even further by claiming that the throne of Iberia was for a certain period of time occupied by the Armenian Arsakunis, 56 See, Abuladze, Armenian Translator, 109-119; Crucially, see also Thomson's translation and introduction in VitaGeo-Eng, For some remarks on the political and cultural aspect of this translation, see Watschnadze, Tscheischwili, Kart/is Cxovreba, 14-27. 57 Mxit'ar wrote in the late 13,h century. 58 MA, 39: '{pwg wnwJpf, /Jw11wwp wnf,wLwq, np p ,fbg LbqnLf wpwp q,fpwgbpff,f,, f,w I, q'lfl' f,npw: 59 VA, 1-30; VA-Eng, 131. 60 a) For a discussion, see Maisuradze, Historiography, 54. Cf. with the similar eagerness of Byzantine rulers to seek Armenian royal blood in Emperor Basil I (867-86) in order to justify their rule over Armenia among the Armenians. Yuzbachian, Armenian States, 100-105. b) There were numerous cases of attempts to legitimize power through invented lineage in Caucasia. For example, in the late twelfth century, the Orbeleans created an alternative myth of their descent in order to challenge the power of Giorgi III of Georgia (1156-84). See La Porta, Lineage, 127-165. 6I MatKar, 249-251. 62 SD, 386: ... M08om'CJ 6ooMOO O~('l OM~~o630c::-om0 80m dc::-00Mm0 (?0 (?O(?ITT0 8o\'3om0 0Mo0 0 'C)6006m0 ... 63 Maisuradze, Historiography, 54.

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although this is unknown to any parallel sources. 64 These claims intended to legitimize their rule over Caucasia in the eyes of the Armenians, both Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian, and to provide a rhetorical framework within which the Armenians could perceive the Georgian Bagratids as their legitimate suzerains. 65 A number of Armenian intellectuals, especially those who lived in the immediate vicinity of the Georgians, eagerly accepted the idea that the Georgian royal throne had inherited the Arsakuni glory. Kirakos Ganjakec'i, for example, claims that the Georgian royal insignia, the throne and the crown, were inherited from the great Arsakuni King T'rdat: [The Mongols received] the venerable and priceless throne and the marvellous crown (the likes of which no other kings possessed and which, they say, belonged to Xosrov, father of T'rdat the Great, king of the Armenians). [This crown] had remained there secretly due to the fortification of the place, had [subsequently] fallen to the kings of the Georgians and remained there until recent times. 66

Promotion of the idea of continuity accommodated the Georgian royal project perfectly well. 67 Dialogizing with Armenian cultural memory and appealing to the legendary Arsakuni heritage, which, thanks to Armenian historiography, and notably Xorenac'i, has remained a part of the glorious legacy of the Armenians, turned out to be a highly useable concept. In general, Armenian historiographers, despite the absence of confessional union, especially those from northern Armenia, tried to have the Georgian kings accepted as legitimate rulers over themselves and as supporters of the Armenian Church. 68 This conception was devised and fostered both by Georgians and Armenians. 69 Recollection and presentation of the Georgian VitaReg, 30-51. See for example, VA-Eng, 184. 66 KG-Eng, 264; KG, 316-317: l;L 'l'lwf,au /Jw'lwwpnL/Jbwf, jbpfau pwdwf,bw[, qmwfumF, U[WUlnLwftwF, b. qwf,'lff, b. q/Jw'lf, (pw2wll', qnp nl nLF,ffaF, WJL /JwlfWLn{'.[!, qnp, wubf,, hlnupnt/_nL Lbw( (opf, Sp'fwUIWJ Jbofa, (w1ng W{'.[!Wjf, b. wf,'I Jf,wgbwL 'fwqmwftwF,nL/JbwJp ,/_wuf, wJpnL/Jbwf, mbqwJf,, b. fa /Jw'lwwpuf, ,/_pwg wF,ftbwL b. Jf,wgbwL Jfaf,ll,_ gw1uop, 67 The same rhetoric was assumed by Sumbat' Davitis3e (l l'h c.), who argued for the common ancestry of the Georgian and Armenian Bagratids. SD, 373-374, and by another eleventh-century anonymous chronicle: MatKar, 249-251. 68 See, e.g. the Armenian inscription on the Church of Haxpat, where Davit IV is praised as the restorer of the Monastery and as a God-loving King. Melikset-Bek, Teachers, 136. 69 The creation of shared memory was, according to later Armenian historiography, successful even down to the nineteenth century. Maisuradze, Historiography, 93-94. This view of a strong non-orthodox sovereign was also popular among the Armenians with regard to the Byzantines. Despite the fact that the Byzantine emperor was a heretic, his office still had an eschatological significance. See, HultgArd, Byzantine Impact, 67-74. During the rule of 64

65

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kings as latent sympathizers of the Armenian confession is reflected in pseudo-Mxit'ar Gos's testimony: And when Demetre, the King of Georgia, died, his son Dawit' reigned in his stead, a well-intentioned man, especially towards the princes of Armenia who were under his authority. He greatly honoured the satrap of the city of Tiflis, Vasak, son of prince Vahram and his brothers, called K'urd and Sargis, and showed such benevolence as to send for the King Kiwrike, son of King Dawit' Bagratuni, and promises to return to him his patrimony which his ancestors had taken from him; and thus he sent him back with presents, and arranged a meeting. He intended to convene a council and learn the truth about the faith and thus honour Orthodoxy. When they learned of such a desire, the princes of Georgia became jealous, above all the family called the Orbeleank', and giving him a deadly drug to drink, they killed King Dawit', and a great and prolonged mourning fell upon the land of Georgia and Armenia; and they made Giorgi his brother king in his stead. 70 Mxit'ar Gos's Letter to the Georgians is one of the most ardent defensive treatises of Armenian Orthodoxy from the Georgian allegations and attacks, but, on the other hand, it is also an eloquent plea for political unity under the Georgian monarchs: 71 Nerses Snorhali and the famous attempts to achieve union between Constantinople and Cilician Armenia, the rhetoric was very reconciliatory. Armenians were eager to accept the divine nature of the Byzantine Emperor but claimed their own spiritual superiority. Keshishean, Nerses, 147. The hope for a unity of Christians under a common non-Christian enemy is declared in another letter to the Emperor by Nerses Snorhali. For secondary literature on the subject, see Auge, Rapports, 348-352; Zekiyan, Dialogue, 420-441. Cf the following reference to Emperor Manuel Komnenos (1143-80) who "in his love towards Christ, decided to destroy the malady of discord between the Armenians and the Greeks and to establish an accord between them". Synax-Arm, 604-605. Similarly, Nerses Lambronac'i (1153-98) laments Manuel's death, saying that "his [Manuel's] intention to establish peace in the Church was not achieved, and there is no hope left for anyone who would continue his work". Following the decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire, this attitude further persisted with respect to the Georgian kings. 70 MG-Hist-Eng, 488. MG-Hist, 610-611: f,uft f,pph Jhwi/Jw'lwwpfi './..pwg '1-bJbmpl;, /Jw'lwwpbwg ,f,nf,,wfiwft finpw '1-wif,/J np11f, finpw' WJ{' pwpbJf,m Jwfiwiwfi'I wn f2/uwfiufi 2.w1ng, np.[! l;f,fi l!f,'I J.bnwJp finpw, bi 'IP 1n1d Jbowpl;p U[Wmnwq q2wf.wU[ .[!wqw.[!f,f, S[!,f,fubwg q'./..wuwft np11f, '{wf.pwJw f2f,,wfif,f, h qb'lPwpu finpw q.Pnip11fi ftnlbgbwL h qUwp'ff,u. h WJfi.[!wfi pwpbJ[!mni/Jf,ifi gnigwfil;p, Jf,f,l 'IP wnw.[!/;p h ftnlp q/Jw'fwwpfi t,f,ipf,ftl;' np11f, '1-wi/Jf, /Jw'lwwpf, Pw'fpwmnifiwJ bi funumwfiwjp finpw 11wp:J.nigwfibL f, fiw qdwnwfi'lni/Jf,ifi finpw, qnp fiwf,,fibwgfi f,ipng f.wHwL l;p f, fingwfil;. h WJfiU[/;u U[W{''fbwi.[! J'lwpftl;p qfiw dwJw11/1p bqbwL f,Jw: t,wJ/;p h dnqnqu wnfibL bi f.wqw'[u f.wiwmn1 q62Jwpf,mu '[f,mbL bi WJf,U[/;u U[WmnibL qniqqw,f,wpni/Jf,ifi: QwjuU[f,uf, qftwJu f,pph '[f,mwgf,fi f,2/uwfi.[!f, q.pwg. 1n1d fiwf,,wfi:J.wpbft bqbfi Jwfiwiwfi'I flppb[bwfi.[!f, ftnlbgbwL wq'[, h 'lb'l Jwf.ni wppnigbwL UU[wfif,f, q/Jw'fwwpfi '1-wif,/J, I, uni'l Jbo h pwqJwdwJwfiwftbw wpwpbwL w2fuwpf.f,f, './..pwg bi 2.w1ng: bi /Jw'lwwpbgnigf,fi Qq.f,np'[f,' b'lPwJp finpw l!f,'I finpw: 71 For a detailed commentary, see Chantladze, Mxit'ar Gos, 9-86; For an overview, see Abuladze, Mxitar Gos, 5-16; Melikset-Bek, Teachers, 214-237.

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Even if our pious Kings, Tamar and Dawit' deem [the above said] sufficient to convene a great church council of all the nations, because of the remoteness of Greeks, Romans and other peoples, nevertheless by divine grace they can eradicate animosity between the Arrnenians and Georgians, in order not to offend Christ. For this is hatred and animosity against Christ, that they curse and condemn each other's crosses, faith and churches ... It was pleasing to God's and Christ's will that all Christians be united in religion, however this is impossible, as already written. But what is possible must not be obstructed. 72

Unlike many other authors, Mxit'ar holds a defensive position rather than an attacking one. He explicitly states his reason for writing this treatise: namely, to protect the Armenians from Georgian polemic attacks that had become common in those days (12m_13m cc.). Most importantly, and once again, unlike many of his contemporaries, Mxit'ar does not try to further deepen the abyss between Georgians and Armenians, but instead wishes to demonstrate "how minor the differences are among the worshippers of the Lord". 73 2.5. Arseni of Sapara: The Dialogue The two opposing understandings of the dialectic of unity and separation are evident in a comparative look at one Armenian and one Georgian chronicler. As pointed out, two authors, Armenian Uxtanes of Sebasteia and Georgian Arseni of Sapara, wrote books at roughly the same time and with identical titles. Apart from the former's sheer size and the fact that Uxtanes is simply a better historian than Arseni, the two texts also differ in their essence. Although Arseni's treatise is often labelled as antiArmenian, and thus classified in the medieval Georgian corpus, it is far from being unequivocally such. If one strips the text of preconceptions and disregards our contemporary horizon of expectations, one shall discover that Arseni's narrative is not so much a polemical text but, quite on the contrary, aims at inclusion of the local Armenians into the larger mnemonic sphere. Moreover, I believe that the target audience of the text 72 MG-AdGeo, 507: /, W[''f, {Jl"{ltn /, pwpk"fw2m /Jwqwwpn Jkp (M, pwLwqwfi' fo'wJwp /, '}.wLf,/J, mf,kqkpwqwfi dnqm/. wnHL wt1M1w1fi wqqwg qwufi f.knwwpnL/Jtwfi (3nLfiwg /, 2,nnt1wfiw1k9w9 /, WJLn9 wqqwg, WJL U.umnLwOnj 2finpf.wL.f!U qwpnq /;f, q2.w1n9 /, q'{pwg /J2fiwllnL{Jf,Lfif, pwnfiwL, np 'l_~['f,umnu (f.w1f.n1kfi, qf, WJU ~pf,umnuf, l wmtLnL{Jf,Lfi /, P2uwdnL{Jf,Lfi, np 'fluwl /, 'fluwm /, qkqkqkgf, t1f,t1kwfi9 qf.w1f.n1kfi /, uwfuwmkfi ... WJU lp U.umnLOnj f.w6n1 /, ~pf,umnuf, qwll.[!, qf, wt1Hw1fi wqq .f!ppumnuff,9 Jf,wqpwLU ff,fi LkwL, pw113 ll f.fiwp, np"(lu 'lf'k9w.[!, WJL qqwpkLfiu ll wpdwuf, fuw,f,wH( 3 For a similar argument by Armenian Patriarch Nerses the Gracious, see Keshishean, Nerses, 123.

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is ethnic Armenian rather than Georgian, or, better said, the ethnically mixed but religiously Chalcedonian community of the Armeno-Georgian marchlands. Having a seemingly polemical pathos, the purpose of the treatise is to dialogize with the Armenian tradition and not to polemicize with them. Care is taken not to be all-exclusive and not to burn all bridges of reconciliation with the Armenians. Here, the alienation of the Armenians from Orthodoxy, while indeed narrated in very dramatic words, nonetheless is presented as something forced upon them, a result of fatal circumstances, in most cases a whim or a weakness of specific individuals, and not as the nation's deliberate choice. Every time the Armenians were given freedom of consciousness and were not forced, they chose union with the Byzantines. The Armenians tragically swayed from Nestorianism to Monophysitism, and were constantly blackmailed by the Persians into choosing an anti-Byzantine path. After years of such turmoil, when they were given a choice between Scylla and Charybdis, to either abandon Orthodoxy or to forsake their lands, Katholikos Nerses, and not the people, chose the former. 74 Only then did they go to the Persian Shah and request the 'Jacobite faith', which they deemed the lesser evil. Consequently, the Armenians, as a nation, remain blameless. The current situation of Armenian heterodoxy is an anomaly, whereas the normal sequence of history is their Chalcedonian orthodoxy as epitomized in the sacred memory of the seventh-century Chalcedonian patriarch Nerses III. The final paragraph of the treatise recounts the story of this Nerses, and stresses that a considerable part of the Armenians followed him, by thus addressing the ethnic Armenians of T'ao{Tayk' and declaring them to be the 'real' Armenians. 75 The explosion of cultural life and literary production in early medieval T'ao left traces of the formation of textual and mnemonic communities. In its liminality, the region of T'ao suffered a certain dichotomy of nurturing some of the most anti-Armenian sentiments, whereas, on the other hand, it is the literary heritage of T'ao that attempted to integrate the Armenian population within the T'aoian mnemonic community. Here 'reconciliation of memories' is particularly transparent in the region's hagiographic production and the commemorative practices of the saints. For example, a tenth-century Georgian hagiographic collection (MS lvir.geo.8), which was composed in T'ao and then taken to the Iviron 74 75

AS, 86-87. AS, 120-121.

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Monastery of Mt Athos, includes Lives of a vast number of Armenian saints and only two 'Georgians', or rather saints of the Georgian tradition: Susanik' and Abo (d.786), neither of whom, for that matter, was an ethnic Georgian. 76 The collection was evidently created for the common usage of the Armenian and Georgian population of the region and only later taken to Athos, similarly to many other manuscripts created in the schools of T'ao. 77 An eleventh-century (c.1060s) Synaxary (A 97 of the National Centre of Manuscripts of Georgia) copied in T'ao and for centuries kept in the monastery of Mi3na3or is another example. 78 Apart from the canonical commemorations, the Synaxary also includes an addition of saints: Grigol Xan3teli (5 Oct), K'onst'ant'ine K'axi (10 Nov), Abibos Nek'reseli (12 Nov), Boa of Hierapolis (30 Dec), Ioane C'q'ondideli (7 Jan), Youths of K'ola (12 Feb), Davit of Dwin (23 Feb), Sukias and His Companions (15 Apr), Davit and T'iric'an "who were from Somxiti [Armenia] and were martyred in T'ao" (18 May), Iodasap King of the Hindi (19 May), George the Hagiorite (29 Jun), Nerses the Armenian Archbishop (1 Jul), Father Lamparios (6 Jul), John of Palavra (26 Jul), Yizidbozid (28 Jul), Eustathios of Mcxeta (29 Jul), Razden (9 Aug), Susanik (21 Aug), Bishop Kordov, the martyrs Ireneos, Or and Orophsis (23 Aug), Lavrenti and Diomidi (28 Aug). 79 The list is important for several reasons: the Synaxary was apparently designed for a Georgian monastery also populated by ethnic Armenians, and included almost an equal number of saints from the Georgian and Armenian traditions. Despite this, the number of Armenian saints commemorated is already much fewer than in the earlier MS Ivir.geo. 8. Here, St Susanik is commemorated according to the short version, i.e. the one translated from Armenian, and not the old Georgian 'national' version (17 Oct). This means that in the Georgian tradition St Susanik was already commemorated in two ways and two traditions - according to the Georgian 5th c. Vita, and this in central Georgia, in Mcxeta, and according to 76 A number of Armenian hagiographical works were translated into Georgian in the ninth-tenth centuries, including Martyrdoms of Queen Sanduxt, Nerses, the Archbishop of Armenia, and of Bishop Xadis, his student; of Saint Izidbozid; of St Atom, of His Son and of His Companions; of Vardan and of Other Naxarars of Armenia; Martyrdom of Davit who Died in Dwin and others. The manuscript is unpublished. For study, see Abuladze, Relations, 0119-0199. For parallel Armenian (where extant) and Georgian texts, see Ibid, 3-132. 77 For a full description ofT'ao's and K'lar3eti's manuscript heritage see, TKMH. 78 On A 97, see DescrGeoMSS I, 432-448. 79 DescrGeoMSS I, 396-448; Chitunashvili, Commemoration, 113-114.

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the Armenian tradition, that is to say, the Georgian translation of the short Armenian version of the Martyrdom of Susanik. 80 Curiously, the colophons of MS Iver.geo.8 systematically mention a certain Patriarch Arseni as the commissioner of the collection or even as its translator. 81 In the period in question there were two patriarchs called Arseni: Arseni the Great (d. 887) and Arseni Sapareli (d. 980), to whom the On the Severance of the Georgians and Armenians is attributed. Often the two Arsenis are identified as one. Indeed, the creation of such a collection for local Armenians resonates with the spirit of the treatise by Arseni, which is traditionally and indeed wrongly labelled as 'anti-Armenian', but is in fact an attempt to integrate ethnic Chalcedonian Armenians within Georgian cultural memory. Such were the circumstances where the narrative of Caucasian unity was formed, albeit with entirely different intentions and rhetorical techniques. Whereas in some textual communities, preserving the remembrance of the rift between the two nations as a major historical event was essential in order to sustain the remembrance of a future 'reunification', other textual communities sought to keep the memory of continuity.

80 On the textual history of the Martyrdom of St Susanik and a comparative study of the Armenian and Georgian texts, see I. Abuladze's edition and commentary: MartS, 01-063; for other studies, see also Bfr6, Susanik, 187-200; Muradyan, Susanik. 81 MS Iver.geo.8: 139r, 194v, 237v, 275v: J!iioi.J~fl, rJ8,'.)~,'.)i.J tJMS,'.JC'.:'O)o 80800)80)03o!ii0)0 O(?O(?,'.) otiiU,'.)60 80800)80)03o(iio, 8o(?O(?,'.)b,'.)C'.:'0 V80(?00)0 8Mv'o8,'.)0)0ll, 0806. The manuscript is unedited. See also MartSuk, 22.

CHAPTER 3

'ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF UNITY' 3.1. The Floating Gap of Memory

The discredited bishop Movses of Curt'avi, who, according to his own words, was all but victimized in Georgia, wrote and complained to Vrt'anes K'erdol (604-7), the locum tenens of the Armenian Patriarchal throne, on account of his mischiefs. Among other requests, such as to forward a circular letter to the Armenians in Georgia on the matters of faith, he requested the following: I fully appropriated the book of blessed Timothy [Aeluros] and copied all of the letters that can be found in that holy Church and with you. 1 Other letters also reached me in fullness from various places of blessed teachers that expose and anathematise the council of the diphysites. But after the eradication of the definitions of that Jewish Council by the pious emperors Zeno and Anastasius, I could not discover anywhere in what manner or by whose hand this innovation ruined so many churches. May your holiness order in writing to my humbleness whatever you may know concerning this subject. 2

This inquiry sent by Movses is one of the first and rare instances in Armenian writing in which the lack of historical record concerning the Christian doctrine is explicitly referred to as a problem. As the leader of the Armenian community in Curt'avi and its environs, Movses required at hand a standard narrative of the past century, the story of the Armenian Orthodoxy and of its distancing itself from the Chalcedonian heresy. This story he could then disseminate in his diocese and thereby defend his I For the Armenian translation of Timothy Aeluros and a corresponding study, see Lebon, Timothee Elure, 713-720; Rucker, Timotheus Aelurus, 699-722; Schmidt, Refatatio, 149-165. 2 GT' I, 140; GT' II, 44; GT' III, 283: 'l.'ffapu hpwuhLnJf, Sfa,5n[Jtnufa pnqwu']wq uurw9w1, I, /JnuLIJ,/! np fa unipp hqh'l/;9wf'l I, wn iJ./;'l 'lurwu 'lwJbf,wjf,f, 'l['b9fa: 2wufau wn fau I, WJL /Jni'l/J,l! pnqwu']wq urh'lw9 urh'lw9 hpwubll' qwp'Jw"lburw9u np,f! JWU'JfaJwf,/;f, I, u'lnqhf, 'ldn'ln1 hpqwpuwqw9u: Pw19 1hur f, pw9 pwpiJ.ni/Jhwu uwf.Jwufa f.ptwqwu dn'lnqn1u. pwphu1w2ur /Jw'lwwpw9u hpwuhlnJU Qhunuf, I, U.uwuUJWUWJ, nc 'lurfa nipt,f!, Pt np"ftu ']wpiJ.hwL unpn'lwiJ.kni/Jfaif,f, 2wpdbwl qnpbwf,/;w9 'l.Pw'l.nLl1 /;///;'l/;9fau, I, liwJ fa iJ.bnf, npn9. np"ftu u,/;'lbqw9bwl t uppni/Jfaiu'l iJ.hp, f.pwJw1h9t,l! 'll'/;L wn Jhp uniwuurni/Jfaiu: Note that this paragraph is entirely absent from Uxtanes's edition. For the letter, see US-Eng, 43-44.

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flock from the Georgian attacks; this was a tool that he apparently lacked. The question that bothered Movses was what had happened during the previous one hundred years, from the time of the supposed 'eradication' of the Chalcedonian error by the blessed emperors Zeno and Anastasius until the rather unexpected 'resurgence' of Chalcedonianism in the very centre of Caucaisa in his own days. Indeed, the impression one receives from Movses' letters is that, in a situation of unambiguous union in Caucasia, suddenly, out of the blue, the Georgians under the leadership of Kyrion came out as Chalcedonians. When Bishop Movses and, later, the patriarchs Movses and Abraham were to face the Georgian opposition, they realised the paucity of mnemonic and historical tools required to effectively overcome it. These uncertainties over interpretations of the past were reflected in the ambiguous answers that the Georgians provided, with bizarre references to the faith that they "commune both here and there", and in a persistent claim that their religious practice has always been such. 3 The historical ignorance of a provincial bishop may be understandable, but the lengthy answer by Vrt'anes on this enquiry is no less incompetent, abounding in pious legends and lacking particular knowledge of specific historical developments. In his reply, Vrt'anes narrated at length on the Emperors Justin (518-27) and Justinian (527--65), and on the 'miraculous' absence of the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon from the tomb of St Euphemia, without mentioning the Second Council of Constantinople or any of the accompanying events that may have provoked the Chalcedonian backlash in the region. 4 Neither is there provided an account of the Armenian reaction against Chalcedon, nor of any Armenian council convened against the Chalcedonians. This comes in sharp contrast with a persistent medieval Armenian tradition that the famous Second Council of Dwin of 555 was convened fifty years before the Schism specifically for the purpose of resisting the Chalcedonians. But nothing of this kind transpires in Vrt'anes' narrative. One is left with an impression that, following the 'anti-Chalcedonian' decrees of Zeno and Anastasius, nothing happened, and a blank spot in history and memory appeared both in the Empire and, which is more bizarre, in Armenia proper.

3 See Andrews, Armenian History, 30-42, for discussion of the lacunae of Armenian historiography of the late fifth and the entire sixth century. 4 GT' I, 141-145; GT' II, 44-52; GT' III, 285-291. For an abridged version of this letter, see US-Eng, 74-76. See also Garsoi:an, Eglise, 540-544. For a classical study on Armenia in Justinian 's era, see Adontz, Justinian.

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In effect, what we encounter in this exchange of letters is a tension between two modes of remembering, initially described by Maurice Holbwachs and later elaborated by Jan Assmann as communicative and cultural memories. 5 The era that Movses is referring to is the period of his own lifetime; not days of the distant past, but a matter of the previous fifty years, a period that in principle cannot be called a 'floating gap' of oral memory. 6 Crucially, through Movses' request to share with him an immediate 'biographic' memory, the bishop of Curt'avi was effectively requesting a formulation of a quasi-national narrative that he could then disseminate among his Armenian flock, thus creating a so-to-say first line of mnemonic defence against the Georgians. Movses' above-quoted letter is one of the very first in the Armeno-Georgian section of the Book of Letters, written over one hundred years after the first documented attestation of the doctrinal stand of the Armenian Church by Katholikos Babgen in his two letters of 506 and 509. Throughout over a decade of disputation between the Georgians and the Armenians (c.595608), remembering and forgetting served as basic rhetorical tools. Remembering, or rather its lack, of the beginnings of the Chalcedonian controversy, of the nature of the union between the 'brotherly' Churches and peoples over some 'one hundred years', was the cornerstone of a contention that was never overcome between the Georgian and Armenian cultural memories. Throughout the entire correspondence, in spite of numerous references to the former days of brotherly union between the two peoples and Churches, there is not a single mention of any common activity or decision, or of a knowledge of how the 'Chalcedonian heresy' penetrated the region. The only exception is a rather mysterious document, or an 'Act' of an equally mysterious council, which is cited regularly in the debates. The document was allegedly composed over one hundred years before the controversy broke out, and was signed by all the Orthodox of the region, as an affirmation of the pan-Caucasian unity in faith. 3.2. From the Council of Dwin to the Council of Dwin If one wishes to receive a very belated answer to Movses' query and to gain basic knowledge of late antique Armenian Church history between the Council of Chalcedon and the Schism, as viewed by the Armenian Church, one may tum to the official website of the Armenian Apostolic Church: 5 6

Assmann, Cultural Memory, 15-70. The term is coined by J. Vansina in Oral Tradition, 23.

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The First Council of Dvin (506) The synod of the Armenian, Georgian, and Caspian-Albanian bishops assembled at Dwin during the reign of Catholicos Babken I. The participation of the Catholicoi of Georgia and Albania were set to make clear the position of the churches concerning the Chalcedonic Council. The "Book of Epistles" mentions that 20 bishops, 14 laymen, and many nakharars participated in the council. The involvement in the council discussion of different levels of laypersons seemed to be a general rule in Armenia. The Second Council of Dvin (551) The second Council of Dvin was ordered by Catholicos Nerses II of Bagrevand where definite rules and regulations were established and the Armenian Church Calendar was set. 18 bishops and nakharars took part in the council. The Chalcedonic Council decisions were officially rejected during this Council and thus the ties with the Chalcedonic Churches were severed. The observance of the feast of Holy Nativity and Theophany was reinstated for January 6. The handwritten document, "The Vow of the Unanimity of the Armenian Land" was accepted. Nestorianism, and the Messelians and the Paulicians were all refuted and strict decrees were issued against them ... The Third Council of Dvin (609-610) The 3rd Council of Dvin was convened during the reign of Catholicos Abraham I of Aghbatank and Prince Smbat Bagratooni, with clergymen and laymen participating. The Georgian Church was split from the Armenian Church and the Catholicos had repeatedly tried to turn to Catholicos Kurion [sic] of the Georgian Church. The council was convened to clarify the relationship of the Armenian Church towards the Georgian Church. After the Council, Catholicos Abraham wrote an encyclical letter addressed to the people where he blamed Kurion and his adherents for the split. The Council never set up canons; it only deprived Georgians from taking communion in the Armenian Church.7

The narrative presented here is effectively an attempt to rationalize the same period that Movses presented as inconceivable. The website presents a certain teleological and historicist account of an evolution and formulation of Armenia's doctrinal position as embodied in the councils of Dwin. This account logically culminates in the Schism and devises the interpretive tool that Movses had requested from Vrt'anes, and that the latter failed to provide. These three paragraphs try to convey that once there used to be union between all three major south-Caucasian Churches. This union was affirmed in written at the Council of Babgen in 506, which attested 7 http://www.armenianchurch.org/index.jsp%3Fsid%3Dl %26id%3D4094%26pid %3D59%26lng%3Den (20.10.2017)

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to the uncompromising stand of these Churches vis-a-vis Chalcedon. The second council of Dwin was crucial due to the strengthening of Armenia's doctrinal position and the formulation of its canons; the narrative finally culminates with the Schism between the Caucasian Churches over Chalcedon that was supposedly sealed at the third council of Dwin. Such a presentation of sixth-century Church history is extremely schematic and, as we shall see, abounds with problems. However, such a rationalization and schematization of sixth-century history is not necessarily a prerogative of the twentieth century. Yovhannes Awjnec'i (717-28), the patriarch and philosopher who effectively sealed the Armenian nonChalcedonian position, created one of the first standard narratives of the Armenian path toward Orthodoxy. What Vrt'anes failed to do in the early seventh-century, Yovhannes accomplished in the middle of the following. Awjnec'i's History of the Armenian Councils is indeed an Armenian salvation story of sorts, a story of the path from the adoption of Christianity toward the culminating point at the Council of Manazkert, where Yovhannes himself ratified the definitions of Armenian Orthodoxy. 8 In Yovhannes' vision and narrative, the councils of Dwin are presented as the starting point for the formation of the Armenian Orthodoxy vis-a-vis all other Churches, the beginning of the long story of drawing of a line of demarcation between Armenia and the rest of the Christian world. 9 According to Y ovhannes, St Gregory himself convened the first Armenian council, where the Nicene canons were adopted and, more importantly, adapted for local purposes by St Sahak. Adaptation rather than adoption of canons and constant 'nationalization' of the universal were the principal functions of the Armenian councils in Awjnec'i's vision. 10 Furthermore, Nerses I the Great called the second council as a reaction to the First Council of Constantinople. The third Armenian Council was of paramount importance, as it was the Armenian response to the anti-Nestorian policy of the Council of Ephesus, the last ecumenical council recognized by the Armenian Church. 11 The fourth council adopted the Armenian Church Canons at Sahapivan. 12

See van Esbroeck, Konziliengeschichte, for the German translation and study. On similar subject, see the History of the Councils by Vardapet Abraham. 1 For discussion on the appropriation of the Nicene canons by the Armenian Church, see Thomson, Armenian Adaptation, 453-457; for the texts of the Canons, see Mercier, Canons, 187-262. 11 See e.g. Krikorian, Ecumenical Councils. 12 See Akinean, Sahapivan, 79-170; Arevsatyan, Canons, 334-348; Mardirossian, Livre des canons, 533-562. 8

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The fifth council was convened by Babgen in K'alak'udast and was dedicated to strengthening the limits of Armenian Orthodoxy and to keeping Persian Nestorians at bay .13 The sixth council, the ultimate point of divergence, where "the unity of Baptism and Nativity was established, the one nature of Christ confessed, and the Xac' ec 'ar introduced", was convened by Katholikos Nerses II to combat the Chalcedonian definitions. Finally, Yovhannes himself assembled the seventh council, which reaffirmed the definitions of Dwin 555 and finalized the formation of the national Church. 14 In this sequence, the central place is occupied by the council that has preoccupied medieval historians the most and through which the history of Caucasian unity and separation was refracted - the semi-legendary Council of Dwin of 555. Yet another 'answer' to Movses' inquiry is chronologically placed just between the patriarchal website and Movses, and belongs to an eleventhcentury Armenian historian Anania Sanahinec'i, an eager and ardent polemicist against the Georgians: 15 What shall we say of the severance of the Georgians from our faith that had not yet reached us? For one hundred years they were cursing the council of Chalcedon with us until the Armenians gathered in Dwin and Manazkert and threw away the council of Chalcedon and established the same faith that they received from St Gregory and three holy Councils. Gabriel Halalac'i, the Archbishop of Mcxeta, was together with us and thus united with us. They separated from us when Gabriel died and a certain Kyrion was established in his place, who latently had the poison of Chalcedon and being ill of the longing for supremacy, and enraged because of the establishment of the Albanian and Siwnian in front of him, that was decided among us in the times of Katholikos Abraham, he was summoned once and twice and he did not obey. 16

Medieval Armenian cultural memory had distilled a range of historical events relevant to Armeno-Georgian relations into several cornerstones Yovhannes' knowledge of this council is dependent on the letters of Babgen. See Mardirossian, Livre des canons, 268-281. 15 For a brief biography of Anania, see Melikset-Bek, Teachers, I00-109. 16 AnSan, 112: f,uft fo"fic u,uu,9f,9 {u,uf, .ffiJ, nc l!.fiftwLhwL zI u,J l!.f,'I Jh'l. fiqn{h9f,fi 'l.dnrzn{fi ~u,rzfth'lnfif,. b. Jf,ficb. dnrzn{h9u,f, Z.U1J.f! f, ').nif,fi b. f, Ifu,f,u,'l.fthpm b. npn2h9f,fi 'l.f.u,iu,mf, ~u,rzfth'lnfif, b. f.u,umu,mh9f,fi 'l.fin1fi f.u,iwm, 'f.np l!.f,ftu,Lu,f, f, uppnjll OU liobc::ioliooo6, C!_)O O'CJVtJO 6ofiiao3M o3olidM0MU8o6 6o!iilio domoc::iMdM'l'ilio, MM8Qc::'0 O(JM oabofiio 0oc::io (QUQ O(JM bMMM~)OC!_l 8v3oc::>QbQc::'O) (!_lo 0Q0MQU 30U8Q dOMC?'CJc::>Uo, l.,b'CJOITT0(30 o3oUdM0MUmo C!_)O o'l'ifo'CJMITTo, (!_lo b!iido6oli, 8QMMQC!_l dfiiobou (?0(!_)0 (!Mt'JOC!_) 8'C)630 C!_)306l., 80U3Q 6QMUQU 'l'iQ VOc::>Uo 8QMMQUo, (!_lo 8oomMmb8QOQUo voc::ilio 0Lio360060 805oliolio voc::iovo(!_)Uo 8QMMQUO l'>'C)oUMM l.i3o!iilimo 805oliol.io, VQc::'OVoC!_lUo 8oU, MM8Qc::>Uo QVo8o o'l'io(!_l-b'CJ'l'iOO (!_lo d'CJOc::'OC!_l 0Qo~'C)Q6QU v8o(!_loil OPJO dfiiobou doc::id0C!_lM6ol.iou, lioboc::i-liC?soli 6oliOMMoo6o Lioot13lioobfii ob(!_)OOM 'CJC?8MmMQUo, (!_lo 80Li30 voc::ili 0060(3bo(!_)QU voo6o OoO, mofiio86oc::io oo8Mmou (!_lo 5oc::iodliM6 8v3oc::ioboc::imo60 (fiiM8oc::i6o Otj360Li oU'C)M), MM8oc::i6o 00M30c::'30 oe?vofii6ou vo60oe?UoC!_loM8oc::ioC? doc::>dOC!_lM6ol.io (!_lo MMmo b'CJ6obomo d!iiouoiju C?8fiimoliomo, (!_lo d'CJofii6olio vofiioc::imo 8Mfii~oc::i od866ou UOd'CJ(?Oc::'OC!_l mo3mo 8ommo. (!_lo md'CJOU ofiimo b'CJ6obou LiootJ3Uo C?8fiimoliou (!_lo JMM(30ITTo (!_lo 'CJd'C)C!_lo3omo b'CJ6obomo doC!_looobC?oli d!iioliooli X'C)oM(38'C)c::'oC!_l (!_lo 8M8d'C)C!_loMo(!_l. (QUQ ofiil.i: OQ.38oooli X'C)oM(3'C)8'C)c::'0 'v8o(!_loM C?8ofiimMUo'' MM8oc::i oMU bo~o(3oMO, Lioo3Lioobfii 0QOMM'l'i 0600Mdooc::iolio, MM8Qc::>Uo UobQc::>OUO od'CJ6C!_Jo UQ6o) (!_lo 006l.io'l'ie?3MQU OQ~'C)Q6Qbom d0C!_lQ-&o6(!_) 0M8o 8ofiimc::ioliooo6 Uofiiv8'CJ 6Mobolio. 74 This is not the only instance where Arseni copies information verbatim from the Narratio. He does the same when speaking of fugitive bishops: first he claims that this happened under Abraham and then under Movses, although the sequence of the katholikoi is confused. See AS-Fr, 118.

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from communion with the Armenians. The council was initiated by Abdiso. 2nct council: The council of Chalcedon was condemned again ( ! ), the translations of Philoxenos and Timotheos were brought again ( ! ), it adopted the xac'ec'ar.

But such confusion is not necessarily due to Arseni's ignorance or lack of chronological skills. Medieval Armenian historians were equally perplexed by the number and nature of the sixth-century Church councils. They very rarely speak of two consecutive councils of Dwin - one convened by Nerses and the other by Movses or Abraham, as we know it now (607). Normally they mention either one or the other, and almost never the two together. For instance, Yovhannes Drasxanakertc'i does not mention the Council of Dwin (555) and skips directly from the Council of Babgen to the 607 Council of Dwin, which according to him anathematized Kyrion. 75 Concerning Katholikos Nerses, he says merely that he transferred the relics of Saint Yizidbozid to Dwin.76 Besides, according to Drasxanakertc'i, it was not Nerses but Movses who created the 'national' calendar. 77 Samuel Anec'i (121h c.) also mentions Nerses II with barely a single word. 78 Kirakos Ganjakec'i (13 1h c.) has nothing to say about Nerses II, other than that he was in office for nine years. 79 The convocation of the Council of Dwin, as with the entire issue with the Georgians, is attributed to Movses, whom Kirakos mistakenly locates in the mid sixth century. Kirakos also contaminates the events of almost one century and squeezes everything into the council where the Armenian calendar was established. The lacunae in his knowledge are filled in with pious legends of fires, miracles and divine signs:

75 The anathematization of Kyrion is often ascribed to the 607 Council of Dwin, which is wrong. The 607 Council elected Katholikos Abraham and set down explicitly antiChalcedonian definitions, but the correspondence with Kyrion continued for another three or four years. Contemporary scholarship also often takes the 607 Council as a date of the separation of Georgians and Arrnenians. See S. Rapp's conception of Dwin III, in Rapp, Studies, 169-171, 245-299. 76 On St Yizidbozid, see Peeters, Izbozeta, 191-216; See also Garsofan, Eglise, 228231. 77 YD-Eng, 37-38. Mxit'ar Ayrivanec'i also ascribes the introduction of the Armenian calendar to Katholikos Movses, see MA, 48: Upp.njf, l!n,f_hup l1w/Jm1ftltnup {.pwJwf,wLf,' Sw{nf,wgpf, U./Jwf,wu p 2fuwf,, np JWf I, f,Jwf, nl qn1 f,n9w, pw19 /Jl ll'f,fr Jf,w1f, untppf, Unq,f, f, '1numwf,mf,nw1owu: bt ff,f, pf,wftfrl.f! bpftpf,u ftfuf, 2.wJ.f! I, l[fuf, [w'lqwt /,] ftpof,f,Lf, '{pw9f,, pwJ9 2.wjp Lb'lnLWL fuouff,f,: t 9 In an older article the scholar quotes and elaborates on this other version of the text. Arutiunova-Fidanyan, lver, 46-66. 2 For the textual history of this passage, see Tsagareishvili, Vrac'i Azgaw, 413-415. 16

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themselves, they abandoned the walls and fled. 21 Appealing to the word 'apostate', Arutiunova-Fidanyan argues that both were Armenian Chalcedonians, that is to say, Armenians who had received the Georgian or Chalcedonian faith and betrayed their parental faith. Hence they were labelled as 'Georgians by race' .22 Regrettably, the scholar ignores the fact that beginning from the seventh century, and throughout the whole subsequent history of Armenian and Georgian relations and polemic, both considered each other to be apostates from Orthodoxy. It was of no concern whether someone apostatised himself or herself, the very fact of being heterodox was a state of apostasy. But there is no need to speculate, because Arutiunova-Fidanyan's argument is rejected by Matt'eos himself. When he speaks of the provenance of P' ilaretos V araznuni, the Byzantine ruler of Antioch, he clearly differentiates between confessional and ethnic markers without confusing the two: "Because he was an unfaithful Christian, he did not know either Armenian, or Roman ways, but was Greek by faith (kronk' horomoc') and Armenian by father and mother." 23 Gregory is referred to as Vrac'i azgaw- 'Georgian by race' and P'ilaret as 'Armenian by provenance' - hayerenk' ev mayreneok'n Hay. Arutiunova-Fidanyan, however, claims that Matt'eos Urhaec'i implies 'Chalcedonian Armenian' by saying that Gregory was 'Georgian by race'. This claim leaves one to wonder why Matt'eos, when speaking simultaneously and in the same context about P'ilaret Varaznuni and Grigol Bak'urianis3e, would stress that P'ilaret was "Armenian by mother and father" - and by this he would mean 'Armenian' - and then say that Grigol was "Georgian by ethnicity" - which would mean that Gregory too was ethnic Armenian. Does it follow that in both cases he speaks of Chalcedonian Armenians? Certainly not, as in the case of Gregory, only his ethnicity is mentioned, while his faith is implied. And in the case of P'ilaretos, the author has to specify - kronk' horomoc' - "of the Greek faith". There are several instances when noble Armenians, even a katholikos (Bahan I 9679), accepted the Chalcedonian confession or were re-baptised, but no one would have thought of calling them Vrac'i azgaw or 'Byzantines by race'. 24 MU, 147-149. See Arutiunova-Fidanyan, Chalcedonian Armenians, 60-61; Maisuradze, Relations, 179-180. 23 MU, 206: '{wuu 'lP tp uw wu!.wLWUI J!('pumnHw1, nl 2w1 qfam&Ln{ nl 2nnnJ' {wf'J!U t, ''{OUJ!U 'l.2nnnllngu n'i'.'.)1'louo 80801.Jo ~'i'.'.Jo6ol.Jo o1'loumo3mo 01'loumo301.Jo ood'i'.'.)M006ol.Jom31.J C'.:'.'MBSOOJo ~o ~0801.J vo(ii3omo. 32 Ibid, 116. XXl/2: ~o 81.JBO\'JUUo oofo uo81.Jo ~C'.?ouo uouo\'JM~ ~081.Jo QOM30~01.J: o1'lmuo ~('.?OUo - 80801.Jo ~0801.Jo ood'i'.'.)M006ol.Jom31.J ~o o1'lmuo ~C'.?ouo - 80801.Jo d8ol.Jo ~0801.Jo l:>'i'.'.)0UMM306ol.Jom31.J ~o o1'lmuo - 80801.J d8oi.J Q'i'.'.JC'.:'.'Ouo ~0801.Jo ood'i'.'.)M006ol.Jom31.J. 33 Ibid, 106. XXl/9; 125. XXXVl/1; 129, XXXVII/16. 34 MU, 148. 35 TypBakur, 62: ... 3o1'lmsoc::'.'6o 301'lm 6omouo3om 836060 ~o 830~1'lMoom 0('.1'1:>~oc::'.'60 ~o 8oMo~oi.J aoMSO'i'.'.JC'.:'.'UO Bl:>M3Mooouo ~'i'.'.JO'i'.'.JC'.:'.'60. 36 Arutiunova-Fidanyan, Typikon, 42. I cannot avoid mentioning another odd assumption: "The close ties of Gregory with Vaspurakan are proven by the fact that the first abbot

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The only direct source that claims Grigol's Armenian origin is Anna Komnene (1083-153). 37 But whom shall we trust? Anna Komnene, who in a single instance calls Grigol Armenian, or Grigol himself, who not only called himself Georgian frequently and not only mentioned his father on many occasions, but also provided his own genealogy? 38 Anna Komnene (who was only three years old when Bak'urianis3e died), knowing that so many Armenians were in the service of the Byzantine crown, could have easily considered Grigol to be Armenian. This is even more probable in light of the fact that Grigol became the 'Great Domestikos of all the east' and for years served in the Armenian land, having also inherited a great portion of it. Are we therefore to suppose not only that 'Georgian by race' stood for Chalcedonian in the Armenian, but also that 'Kartveli' in its Georgian usage meant the same thing? Certainly not. 39 Can it really be that, if Komnene says that he was Armenian, then he was, but if other Byzantine, Armenian and Georgian sources say that he was Georgian then he still remains Armenian.

of the monastery was a monk from Vaspurakan, named Gregory of Van". See ArutiunovaFidanyan, Typikon, 36. Vani is a very common toponym in Georgian. Monasteries throughout the territory of Georgia bore the proper name Vani or sometimes Vahani. But the translator added Vaspurakan to her judgment. For discussion, see Lomouri, Petriconi, 300-301. Moreover, in one of the testaments of Gregory, he says that certain lands would belong to "my relatives and my men, even if they were Armenian by faith". TypBakur, XXXV/11. From this, both Muradyan and Arutiunova-Fidanan infer that because Gregory had Armenian relatives, he must have been Armenian. But let us leave open the question of to what extent having Armenian relatives means being Armenian. Neither, obviously, is any question raised as to whether being of the Armenian faith must necessarily mean having Armenian ethnicity. I shall leave aside other arguments by Fidanyan, such as the 'Armenian' names of Gregory's relatives. For additional criticism, see Lomouri, Petriconi, 284-367. 37 Anna Komnene, 124: TOY Ilmcouptcivov (dv11p oi: oiiwc; µucpoc; µi:v ETJV otµac; KUTU TOY 7tOlT]TT]V, 1tAT]V dUa µaxTJTT] 5313oc::'o, :XMXOdou 80506d'CJMO"l 8Mo6.'>0"l('.'.'800"l'CJ uM8obo OtJM, C!?" 01uo60 'CJ~MQ?OU· "Gvirpeli arrived, treasurer of 303ik', and was baptised, for he was an Armenian, and he was called [took the monastic name of] Arseni." c) In a similar fashion the much later chronicle by Zak'aria Agulec'i equally makes such a differentiation: "In 1667 [there were] two partners, who lived in Izmir, Georgians by dwellin_g [binadars Vrac'i], Armenians by ethnicity [azgaw Hay], from the city of Tpilisi, named Sahverdim and Gaspar." ZA, 72: fit'{pfi fl.d,:J.9. w1u mwpnwJ f,'f.Jpp p. p.pfiwqwp np p.,j!pfif, Jpf, mlq f!_fiq[p,j! pfi, WJU p. p.pfiwqwpu qpwgp bf,, W'f.lfWL f.wJ, p ,l!w,zw,l![f, fit'J,{faunL, wfintfifi (;wf.{bpqfa, Jpnwfi uo JoMcn~ououo Mo.acno o5'('.) U:X'('.)~l.,o 8ouuo o't>ooMMu o5'('.) ())'('.) '('.JM~ od85ou, Uo::J(?MOU0505 5050::i305C"lu ... (?O voMSOQ?o 8ebocnocn 8ol., J'('.)f18ocno Q00UdC"l0C"l't>cno (?O 8[?'('.)Q?O~cno cn3ucno (?O QMOUo 8MMV8'('.)50uo (?O 8C"lovos5ou d'('.)fl::Jofouo do550MOU0Uo. 0'('.)V::Jo ~'('.)f15ooocn o55o~C"l't>ouo 8ooM, Mo.acno 805 cno30(?805 (?O 8oucno5ocno 508C"lOM~OC"l5 dsooo 8ob3~0 8ob~C"l0~0Uo Jo3ouo505 (?O 8ooob~C"l5 Mo.a, 8C"lOJo(?C"l5 J'('.)Q?QOO Q?o 8cno(?305 8ou 8050 J3000 ... 80805 8C"l30(?o 8oJo~ docnC"l~OdC"l't>O (?o cno::J'('.)o5oueo vo5o8o Uo::J(?MOU 8ol., 3o6MC"l't> 8dovM3o~ouo. bC"l~C"l 805 8cno'('.)2)(?C"l UOJQ~O 8ouo8C"lu~ol.,o 8ou, Mo.acno 08cnJ3Mu 02)0(30 ~'('.)fl'('.)~OOOUoQOM 8ououo. bC"l~C"l [?3cno35058J5Moo~8o5 8odo~ '('.)0::JMo uow~uo 8ouuo Q?o 8cno8M't>oQ?5o d~ooMoQ? Q?o 8cno8MocnMoo Q?o J'('.)fl::Jo5o(? Q?ood'('.)flcno Q?o ueo J3ocno 8ocn, MC"l8o~o oJ'('.)5(?o J'('.)Q?Uo

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The Georgian version of the account is essentially concomitant with Uxtanes's rendering, albeit with a major divergence. In this version, apart from Bishop Peter being presented as Peter the Fuller, the Georgian patriarch is not identified as Kyrion but rather as a certain Katholikos Michael. One may find it striking that not only is Kyrion absent from written narratives, he does not feature in these oral accounts either, a fact that puzzled Uxtanes too. The Georgian account has nothing to do with the Armenians, and the story of Peter the Fuller's death was told as a further substantiation of Georgia's perpetual Orthodoxy and its everlasting opposition to heterodoxy. Therefore the events were projected back onto the fifth century. 10 This version of the legend even reached down to the eighteenth century, and was reproduced almost verbatim in Vaxust'i Bagrat'ioni's History. 11 But the question is, is the story as originally heard by Uxtanes and known in the Georgian writing, really connected to the Schism? In other words, how did the narrative develop? Were the actual dramatic events that accompanied the Schism, forgotten in the Georgian tradition and later adapted in the same tradition as Georgia's original and century-old battle for Orthodoxy, or was there an entirely different story later entangled in various narratives and traditions? Furthermore, the story of Peter the Fuller's conflict with the Empress, his misogyny and his blasphemy against the Mother of God, is strikingly reminiscent of similar apocryphal accounts of Nestorius' travel, who is theologically speaking the exact opposite of Peter the Fuller. The story's 'misogynist' tendencies reveal particularly close affinities with the antiChalcedonian propaganda of the Story of Nestorius the Wicked. 12 The story of the exile, his conflict with the Queen and noble women and his blasphemy against the Mother of God, which essentially is a polemical topos against the Nestorians, and not the miaphysites, were connected with Nestorius and his wanderings in exile. This fact may mean that in its schematic form this narrative appeared among the Georgians during the antidiphysite period of the Georgian tradition, in the sixth century, was retained in the Chalcedonian tradition, and was eventually applied to the opposing non-Chalcedonian camp. 8060 8ouuo. 2,06~36o '(')~8MO?C'l 02,0 (?O 'b'(')o30 (?O (?OU(?30 ~tj~'(')~oboo. UOU0d'(')(?06o. 80806 tJMSO~O?O Bou mofo 8tjC'l~O?o oboudC'l.3C'l'bO?o (?O 8Mtj'(')OUO?o (?O.!dtiiobou Bou 'l'ioC?o J30 (?o (?o'b36ou J3mo. (?O QUMQO? 8Md~Ou 82,0~0 02,0. 10 11 12

See van Esbroeck, Sahak, 351-352. See VB-Descr, 101, fn. 1: Vaxusti also adduces the story of Xacecar to the narrative. See Goeller, Nestorius, 276-287; Witakowski, Propaganda, 59.

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8.2. Two Centuries Earlier There is only one bishop/archbishop Michael known to early mediaeval Georgian historical sources, whose only contribution to history is his rather infamously erratic behavior. According to the Life of Vaxt'ang (8 1h c.) and the Conversion of Georgia (7 1h c.?), 13 there lived a certain Archbishop Michael in the mid fifth-century Mcxeta, who presided over the Iberian Church during the reign of Vaxt'ang the Wolf-Head. This Michael was the last Archbishop of Mcxeta, whose prelacy was terminated by the introduction of the office of Katholikos. Apart from being known for burning the 'heretical' writings of his predecessor, a certain Archbishop Mobidan, there is only one widely known anecdote associated with Michael's name: King Vaxt'ang Gorgasal had planned to reform the Church and to introduce the office of the Katholikos for the purpose of obtaining ecclesiastic independence from the Byzantines. Michael strongly disapproved of the King's plan to reorganize the Church. When Vaxt'ang returned to Mcxeta from one of his many battles and, as was the custom, knelt in front of Michael to receive his blessing, Michael kicked the king in the face and smashed his teeth. The king was outraged by such unheard-of behavior, and banished the archbishop from Iberia. Once he had got rid of the defiant hierarch, he dispatched envoys to Constantinople and asked the Emperor and the Patriarch to send him an archbishop-katholikos, and to install him as the first Katholikos of Iberia. Before arriving in Georgia, the candidate was first sent to Antioch to be consecrated there, as according to Georgian tradition, the Georgian Church was nominally under the Antiochene jurisdiction. The name of the first Katholikos sent from Constantinople via Antioch was Peter. 14 The names, the episode with kneeling in front of Michael, and the accompanying violence, are strikingly similar to the story of Peter' s stoning to death. Understandably, this short and rather uncharacteristic account from Vaxt'ang's Life is a widely studied topic of late antique Georgian history. Due to a glaring absence of any reference to doctrinal controversies, and particularly to the Chalcedonian controversy, in the late antique and medieval Georgian literature, scholars have tried to discover residues of theological polemic, and to explain the antagonism between Vaxt'ang 13 The dating of both of these texts is highly controversial, ranging from the seventh to eleventh centuries. 14 VitaV, 196-197; VitaGeo-Eng, 153-251. See also, van Esbroeck, Vakhtang, 9-23; van Esbroeck, Sahak, 351-352.

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and Archbishop Michael along the Chalcedonian/non-Chalcedonian lines. Michel van Esbroeck, for example, saw reflections of actual history in this account, and rather surprisingly believed that the Peter sent from Constantinople through Antioch indeed must have been Peter the Fuller. In the same story, van Esbroeck saw reflections of dogmatic tensions over Chalcedon that broke out in the mid-fifth century and coincided with Vaxt'ang's reign. 15 Ivane Javakhishvili has expressed a view that, while Michael was Chalcedonian, Vaxt'ang was adhering to the Henotikon of Zeno, which was later allegedly adopted at the so-called First Council of Dwin of 506. 16 Other scholars, such as Zaza Aleksidze, suggest that on the contrary, Vaxt'ang must have been Chalcedonian, whereas Michael was non-Chalcedonian. 17 Needless to say, all these hypotheses remain in the realm of speculation, and discussion of the Chalcedonian controversy in fifth-century Iberia is anachronistic. It is unlikely that the theological and political aspects of the Chalcedonian controversy were so nuanced in the fifth-century Georgia, or even Armenia. In the Georgian literature, in the chronicles or the lives of saints of the fifth, sixth and the seventh centuries, there are no accounts or even indirect hints at any theological controversies. Chalcedonian issues are not referred to, and unlike its Armenian counterpart, which prefers to see its history as a path towards Orthodoxy, the Georgian literature avoids any reference to doctrinal matters. The account of archbishop Michael's burning of his predecessor's writings is perhaps the only echo of existing controversies, but these were certainly not Chalcedonian. The popular memory that by the tenth century has preserved the conflict between a certain Peter and a certain Michael indeed presents it as a controversy over the natures of Christ. However, this is a tenth-century rationalization, when Armeno-Georgian antagonism was particularly ardent, rather than an actual state of affairs in the fifth century. In the fifth century, the problem was probably entirely different, and the scandal unfolded over the jurisdiction of the Church, as hinted by the Conversion and the Life of Vaxt'ang, rather than over Chalcedon. Owing to Uxtanes, the Armenians saw in this story a reflection of Georgian apostasy and ill nature, whereas in the Georgian tradition the story has in all appearance passed many stages of development and eventually remained as a substantiation of Georgia's continuous defence of Orthodoxy. 15 l6 17

See van Esbroeck, Vakhtang, 9-12. Javakhishvili, History, 377-380. Aleksidze, Conflict, 99-107.

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Vaxt'ang 'the Wolf-Head' is one of the few Georgian kings who became a hero of epic and folk narratives. Even the historical account of his life, the Life of Vaxt'ang, attributed to a certain 3uanser, abounds in legends with a possible oral source. His reign was indeed perceived as a turning point in Georgian history, and even the remotest highland folklore has preserved his memory as one of few great Georgian kings. 18 It is not surprising that medieval Georgian oral tradition has retained the memory of Vaxt'ang's reign as transformative by making him a liminal figure of the Georgian epic and historical traditions. The ecclesiastical reform carried out by Vaxt'ang was not a smooth process, which is evident from the rather sketchy accounts of Vaxt'ang's historian and from the chronicle of the Conversion of Georgia. The series of violent incidents that accompanied these reforms and the establishing of closer ties with Constantinople were most probably distilled in the bizarre story of Michael. The internal struggle for power was further retained in Georgian popular memory as an act of defense of Orthodoxy from the non-Chalcedonian influx symbolized in the image of Peter the Fuller. As a result, these dramatic events were schematized in popular memories as a story of a certain Katholikos/ Archbishop Michael who stoned to death a certain Patriarch Peter. The story made its way into Armenian historiography and cultural memory, where it was used to contribute extra drama to the seventh-century Schism by creating an even more terrible image of Katholikos Kyrion. 8.3. The Grey Zone of History Such a dramatic chronological confusion can be explained by another general trait of medieval Georgian historical writing, which also provides an explanation as to why the entire sixth century and accompanying theological controversies were neglected and contaminated by other adjacent events. 19 The Conversion of Georgia, which is perhaps the earliest chronicle that narrates Iberia's 'salvation history' from the foundation of the kingdom to the seventh century, merely focuses on several focal or transitional events of Georgia's history, whilst obscuring the rest of it. According to the Georgian conversion narrative, the process of Christianization

18 On Vaxt'ang in legend and history, see Martin-Hisard, Vaxt'ang; van-Esbroeck, Vision. 19 On a related topic, see Mahe's comparative overview of late antique Armenian and Georgian historical thinking in Mahe, Chronique et icone. For a different perspective, see Thomson, Writing of History, 493-521.

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began centuries earlier than the actual conversion, and is directly connected with the foundation of the kingdom of Iberia. Although rather implicitly, in both the Conversion and the Lives of the Kings, 'Christianization' was initiated by King Pamavaz in the third century B.C.E., who established the first 'national' cult, created 'national' literacy, promulgated the 'national', i.e. Georgian language, and set clear limits to what Georgian statehood meant. 20 Slightly before that, having united the Oecumene, Alexander the Great had imposed monotheism in Iberia, an act that was seen by the authors of the Conversion as preparation for the spread of the Gospel. 21 The creation of the Georgian kingdom with all its attributes and the introduction of monotheism are indeed seen as the beginning of Christianisation. The next and the central stage in this history of conversion after the invasion of Alexander, according to all medieval texts, is the evangelisation of the Georgian royal family and the establishment of strong ties between King Mirian and the Emperor Constantine. It is in this sequence that King Vaxt'ang and his time are allotted centrality, whose name is connected with the introduction of the office of katholikos and the gaining of independence for the Georgian Church. 22 This part in the Conversion of Georgia is especially noteworthy in its 'chronophagy', as it condenses several unrelated events of roughly fifty years into one episode of Georgia's history: And after him the other Parsman reigned, and Saba, a native of Mcxeta was katholikos. Thereafter, two native households of Mcxeta received the honour of katholikoses. Under the same king, Evlale was katholikos. Then came blessed Iovane of Zedazeni, from Mesopotamia of Syria, and twelve disciples came with him. And after him, Bak'ur reigned and Mak'ari was katholikos. And during his reign Varsken was the pitiaxs and the martyrdom of Susanik' took place in Curt'avi. And after him, Samovel was katholikos, and then Simon-Pet're. Under the same Bak'ur the royal rule in Kartli ended. 23

Conlber, 82; VitaReg, 8-10. The sojourn of Alexander in Iberia is claimed only by the Conversion and the Lives of the Kings and is unknown by any other parallel sources. Conlber, 79-80; VitaReg, 17-20. On the subject, see Rapp, Studies, 10-11, 118-120, 249-251. 22 Conlber, 93. See also Kekelidze, Vaxt'ang, 187-201. 23 Lerner, Wellspring, 148 (Lightly modified). Conlber, 94. ~o 8oomMmb8o6o l>b'('Jo.O 20

21

~301%805 ~o .:iomo~oJM'bo ot,M uobo, 8J3~tiio 8(3bomouo. odom 0o5 Mliimo l>b'('JoO'.>o ~oo.3t,MQU JoO'.>o~OJM'l'.JMbo.a 8J3~MO'.>o 8(31'.iQO'.>OUoO'.>o. 80005 8M30~0 OM305Q 'l'.Jo~o'l'.Jo~Q5Q~O O'(')O 8~o5oMOO'.>, oc10 ~o O'.>Mtii8o65o 8Mv'ogo5o 8ou5o, doMO'.>~OU 8Md(303omc105 8QMMoUQUo VQ~Uo. ~o o8ou OQ8~ 0M8o~ 8Ql:JMb~o boJ'(')M ~o JoO'.>o~OJM'l'.JO OtjM 80.:JoMO. ~o o8ou 'bo O'(')Oo50JO ovo8o (3'(')M603u. o8ou boJ'(')MOU 'bo ~OQUM'(')~O 805Mbo.a dotiim~ouo.a.

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Here, all major events that were remembered as being of crucial importance for the religious and national identity of the Georgians, are presented as a single act in history: the patriarchal see was occupied by a native of Mcxeta, that is to say by a Georgian; the Syrian Fathers came to (re)-enlighten Georgia; St Susanik, the protomartyr of the Georgian tradition was killed, thus signaling the beginning of a new era of Georgian Christianity, and, finally, kingship was abolished in Iberia, and thus a chapter of Georgian history brought to an end. All of these events and above all, the arrival of Ioane Zedazneli, are dated from the 'actual conversion' of Iberia. 24 Indeed, this dense paragraph is expanded in early medieval Georgian narratives as the Life of Vaxt'ang, the Martyrdom of Susanik, and the Lives of the Syrian Fathers, which indicates that this large period was perceived as central to Georgian identity-formation. The cycle of the Syrian Fathers, which underscores and contaminates almost the entire sixth century, is silent about the Fathers' religious identity. They are merely presented as missionaries, martyrs or ascetics, as Georgia's 'illuminators'. Ioane Zedazneli, the leader of the group, arrived in Georgia precisely to illuminate "this northern land of ours". 25 The Vita of Ioane Zedazneli emphasises that the main role of Ioane was missionary, by even claiming that by the time Ioane arrived, Georgians were newly converted [axalnerg], even though according to the same tradition, Georgians had adopted Christianity two centuries earlier. The very first spot that Ioane reaches upon his arrival in Mcxeta was the same where the same night, the reason for all our goods, our holy and blossoming mother Nino, stood in prayers and tears, and was imploring our mighty Christ, our God to offer help [to erect the Living Pillar] and immediately the captive one captivated all the powers of the king and the craftsmanship of his artisans. Through prayer she received the Living Pillar and hung it in the void of the air. 26

Thus Ioane's task to re-enlighten Georgia was validated. He was supposed both to re-enlighten and to remind. Despite various speculations over the number of the Fathers or the date of their arrival, I believe that

24

25 26

On Ioane Zedazneli, see Martin-Hisard, Peres, 141-146, 154-158. Martin-Hisard, Christianisme, 570-572. Vita!Z, 22-24: 8ou30 ~o8ouo ::JM3Q('.;'o ~'Clo6ol>o, [oovo36ol>o] (?O 8uv1 do('.;'Uo 8oe3ol>ol>o (?O l>o30('.;'t'l35ol>o b'C)Mt'l, bM~M ::JM3,'.)~5o "1:'.1V,'.JMO~ .\Mo.\5 voo5Ui> 80u (3l'.iM3,'.)~0).\U.\ ~.., vo500,'.) [:?8Mmou.\ obi>M,'.)b,'.)5.

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as constant reiteration. This is why, two hundred and even three hundred years after the arrival of St Nino, the Syrian Fathers, and the Emperor Heraclius are again credited with converting Georgia or cleansing the faith. 34 The period of Kyrion's rule rather inconveniently fell between and under the shadow of the rule of Vaxt'ang and the invasion of Heraclius. Kyrion's figure and the accompanying events faded away in the presence of Vaxt'ang's epic and Heraclius' tremendous apocalyptic image. 8.4. A Villainous Saint and a Saintly Villain There is yet another figure who deserves mentioning, and who has been lurking throughout the book and occasionally and rather surprisingly appearing in the Schism narrative - a certain Sargis or Sarkis, or the wellknown martyr Sergius. 35 The cult of St Sergius was appropriated in medieval and late medieval Armenian tradition as that of a 'national' saint. He was duly divorced from his identity and was gradually Armenicized. Sergius, better known in Armenian as St Sargis/Sarkis, is nowadays the most highly venerated saint in the Armenian communities. The remembrance of Sargis in medieval Armenian tradition experienced astonishing variance, where there is no consensus as to who this person was or when he lived. Sargis was subject to the most eager condemnation of the Georgian side, although the Georgians possessed no knowledge at all who this Sargis really was. 36 The name Sargis was so intimately associated with the Armenian 'heresy' that he was credited with all major deviations in the Armenian Christian tradition. As demonstrated earlier, Peter the Fuller and Sargis are referred to interchangeably as Armenian heresiarchs. Another polemical tradition, also known to the Slavonic tradition and to Mxit'ar Gos, claims that the poor dog Ala] belonged to this Sargis, with an inference that the Armenian fast Arajawork' is Sargis' innovation, who prescribed the observation of the 34 As the two Sinaitic redactions of the Conversion of Georgia have revealed, a single treatise entitled Conversion of Georgia was a rather late creation which united in itself different "books of the conversion of Georgia", including the narrative by Gregory the Deacon, the Chronicle of the Conversion of Iberia, The Book of Nino and the Lives of the Syrian Fathers. For a study of the Sinaitic redactions and the initial composition of the Conversion of Georgia, see Aleksidze, Versions of Nino, 132-137. 35 According to the tradition, St Sergius was persecuted by Julian the Apostate and went first to the Persian Shah Sapuh and then to the Armenian King Tiran. Eventually he was killed by King Sapuh. For the cult of Sergius or rather of several Sergiuses, see e.g. Fowden, Barbarian Plain, 101-130. 36 See Melikset-Bek, Arajawor, 109-111; Lalayanc', Surb Sargis, 350-353.

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fast in his dog's honour. 37 Mxit'ar commented on this and explained why the fast of Arajawork' was also known as the fast of St Sargis: 38 And they, because they are lovers of evil, deem it true that someone called Sargis, a weaver by profession, a sorcerer by heresy, Armenian by race, had a dog that would lead him everywhere he went. This is for them the fast of Arajawork' which for some of the storytellers will remain a story of dogs and wolves. And Sargis was a general in Constantine's days and he was terribly martyred together with his son, who was called Martyros, on 31 January ... The fast is of Arajawork', whereas the feast is of general Sargis, this is why they think the fast is of Sargis ... Just as in the first week of Great Lent, on Saturday, Theodosius is commemorated, the entire fast is called [after Theodosius]. Originally, the same week, [the feasts] of the Emperor Constantine and Trdat were observed, because of their five-day fast, later it was called St Sargis' fast because of this coincidence. 39

This fast is often taken as another symbol of the divergence of the Armenians and the Georgians. It was also known in other traditions as the Fast of Heraclius or Fast of Nineveh, and was kept for five days before Great Lent. 40 The nature, origin and explanation of this fast were forgotten in the Armenian tradition proper early on, but it was so involved in the narrative of the Schism that it became the symbol of Armenian 37 According to this version, someone called Sergi us, the teacher of the Armenian heresy, had a dog who was called Ardzivur. Sergius used the dog as a messenger to his students and accomplices in his evil heresy. Normally, when they saw the dog, they would all come out and greet their teacher. But once, when Sergius was on his usual mission, the dog was killed by wolves. The next day, Sergius went where the dog had been sent. When he found out what had happened to him, and when he realized from the bones that he was torn by wolves, Sergius gave an order that all Armenians keep a fast during a certain period of the year in order to commemorate the dog's death and he called this fast 'i\p,(r1~oupt0~. 38 This legend was well known in Byzantium and other Chalcedonian traditions. Nerses Snorhali was particularly outraged by the offensive nature of this story in his letters. Keshishian, Nerses, 105-106, 141-143. See also Auge, Rapports, 337-353; Grumel, Invectives, 174-194. 39 MG-AdGeo, 492-495: I:;, fm.[!W, 'll' uf,pnw cwpfa /;f,, 62Jwpfam qwpbtfi li'f,/;L, {Jl Uwp'fpu nJfi wpn,tumpL {.wLw6, W'[Wf,'1/IL qwfuwp11, W'l.'fWL 2wJ, 2nLfi n,fifp I, nLp tpfJwLf, ftwJlp' 2nLfif, JWnwJlp: CL WjU l fin9w wnwJwwpw9 ll(W{..f!f,, qnp (!f,'/ 2nLfiu /, {!f,'/ 'fWJ[U t1z/r9p p.wdff, wun'[w9fi: IJ.JL Uwp'fpu 'l.wLpwi[wpfi JWWLfU '1numwfi11fwfinup lp ... I:;, finpw cwnbwuwfi:J.f,' qftw1tw9 np11nqfi, np wfin,wHwL ftncP'P llwpmfapnu, 1wJubwfif, 1n,fiqwpfa np WLf LU. lp: ... ({Jw{..[!f, wnwJwwpw9 f I, mw,fif, Uwp'fup 'lwLpwqwpp I, qwufi w1fi ll(W{..[! Uwp'fpu qwpbtfi ... npll(lu 1wnwJpfi 2wp.w{Jfi JW'lndw9ufi wfin,wfitwL ll(W{..f!f, 2wp.w{Jfi w,pfi /o'ln11nup mw,fi l, tL 2wp.w{Jfi finpw wfin,wfip u1w{..[! {.wnwJw'lnJfi JWJf, 2wp.w{Jfi fJw'lwwpw9fi mw,fifff,' '1numwfi11fwfinup I, Sp11wmw1 qwufi l:;-w,ptwJ fin9w ll/w{.n9fi, I, 1tmn1 Uwp'fpu' qwufi wfi'I u1wmw{.bLn1fi wfin,wH9w,: 4 For discussion on the AraJawork', see Renoux, Samuel Kam,jajorec'i, 379-382; Scharf, Preliminary Fast, 649-672; Thomson, Constantine and Trdat, 283; van Esbroeck, Sahak, 351-352.

°

THREE HERETICAL MAN (AND A DOG)

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Christianity. 41 Neither did the Chalcedonian polemicists know exactly what it was, and created their own 'pious' version of the fast. Following the Byzantines, the Georgians also engaged in a number of attacks against the practice. AraJawork' is for example mentioned in The Heresy of the Armenians, which claims that the Armenians "adduced the fast of Ala3ori (sic) to other fasts, which the heretics gathered at the godless councils of Manazkert, Tarsun and Dwin had accepted" .42 The narrative on the legendary origins of the fast of Arajawork' ends by saying that "such was the law of Peter [the Fuller], cursed by the Apostles and condemned by the councils and everyone who fasts for Ala3 and for SurpSarkis [= St Sargis] be cursed". 43 It is obvious that neither the Armenians nor the Georgians had actual knowledge of the origins and meaning of this fast, although for both it became one of the cornerstones of orthodoxy and heterodoxy. 44 Although the fast itself, in different forms and various traditions is a canonical practice, the Armenian tradition held it as its own 41 Several anti-Armenian pamphlets titled Orations against the Armenians, erroneously attributed to a Chalcedonian Katholikos Sahak, who later allegedly became bishop of Nicaea, have survived against the AraJawork' and were also popular in Georgia. According to pseudo-Isaac, the Armenians did not remember exactly the origins of the fast and had elaborated various explanations for it: Some said that it was introduced in the memory of 'their teacher' Sargis, others identify it with the Fast of Nineveh, others connect it to the expulsion of Adam from Eden, while some others - to the conversion of the Armenians by Gregory the Illuminator and some even to the baptism of Constantine the Great by Pope Sylvester. See, for example, Grumel, Invectives, 174-194; Melikset-Bek, Pseudo-Isaac, 20822; Thomson, Defence of Orthodoxy, 337-340; van Esbroeck, Sahak, 323-454; see also PG, CXXXII, col. 1197-1204, 1233, 1234. 42 Armenian Heresy, 634: MM8o~ clo8o~ou b8o 506u806o~MOOO) Jo(?o&OO'CJ~O 8om

8ooM 8oMb'CJo o~ox_MMOUo, MM8o~o 8oo~ou '('.)~8MmMmo 8060UdOM~U ~oMU'('.)6 Jo~Juo (?3061.., OOdMOOO~O)O av'Oo~ooo~mo, oo~'CJ~6oo'CJ~08(3o oMoo6. 43 Melikset Bek, Arajawor, 90: ouo oMU UX.'C)~O 8M(30J'CJ~O)o 8ooM oo~'CJ~6oo'CJ~OUo .3o~MMUOUO (?O dMOOoO)o 8ooM 505&(?00'('.J~OUo, (?O 008(30-~'('.)~600'0~ oMU tJM30~0 880Mb30~0 o~ox_ou-m3u (?o U'C)M~uoM5ouou-m3u. 44 On the one hand, the Armenian tradition needed to argue that the fast of AraJawork' is a national Armenian phenomenon, as it could not be explained by any canonical means but on the other hand, it tried to argue that the fast was an oecumenical practice. For example, Mxit'ar Gos provides three different explanations for the emergence of this fast. First, he says that the fast was instituted by Gregory the Illuminator to commemorate the healing of King Trdat, then he claims that it was once again introduced by Gregory, when he was leaving for Rome and finally he justifies the fast by referring to Syrians, who also practice it. Nerses Snorhali, in his brilliant apology of the Armenian faith, also explained the provenance of this preliminary fast, stressing that the fast of AraJawork' and the feast of Saint Sargis were mere coincidences, hence their contamination. Keshishian, Saint Nerses, 132134. Earlier than Mxit'ar, pseudo-Y ovhannes Mamikonean gave an even more global explanation of the emergence of the fast, claiming that it used to be practiced even in Constantinople and associated it with the 'curing' of King Trdat. YM-Eng 73. For a discussion, see Melikset-Bek, Arajawor, 74.

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national observation, whilst the tradition's opponents took is as one of the symbols of the Armenian heresy. The fast coincided with the feast of Saint Sargis in the Armenian Church, which is the Saturday of the same week, hence the association of the two. 45 For this reason the fast was often also called the fast of Saint Sargis, hence the appearance of Sargis as a chairman at the Council of Dwin. In the eleventh-century Dispute of Ekvtime and Sostene he appears at the council of Dwin of 555, and is 'appointed' as Katholikos Nerses' oikonomos: 46 When you betrayed your king and the land of the Persians, and [then] separated from the Greeks and joined the Persians, in the days of Khosrow and his son Sabur [Shapur], and made a council in Dvin and scribbled the apostatised faith through the plotting of Abdiba [Abdiso] who was a vezir of the King of Persia and belonged to the heresy of Jacob Brt'aneli [sic]. For so he said to the Persian King, that if the king abandons fire worship, the Armenians will abandon the faith of the Greeks. Such was the will and intention of your Katholikos Nerses, who used to dye his beard in gold47 and of his ikonomos Sargis, who was possessed by the same heresy. And so you fulfilled the devil's will and in order to please common people, you allowed them to eat dairy on Saturdays and Sundays of the Lent and to take meat on cheese fare, and thus you joined the Persians. 48

This eleventh-century account is perhaps the most symptomatic in its mythological chronotope of the Schism. The Schism narrative easily transcends its historical time-space, and is presented as a perpetually selfreplicating event. Peter the Fuller, Katholikos Michael, King Vaxt'ang, Katholikos Kyrion, Bishop Peter, Katholikos Peter, Patriarch Peter, and 45 On the Armenian passion of St Sargis, see Peeters, Serge, 25-36; Ch. Renoux argues that the cult of St Sargis became known in Armenia after Nerses Snorhali's redaction of the Saint's Passion and that it was only since the thirteenth century that the week of Arafawor was also known as 'the week of Sargis'. Renoux, Samuel Kamrfajorec'i, 381, fn. 21. 46 DispES, 617. 47 Usually, it was said of Yovhannes Awjnec'i that he would sprinkle gold dust in his beard, not of Nerses. 48 See Zhordania, Chronicles, 125-128. DispES, 617: bM~M Mo1Jo8u 050 506oeom

80~0 md'CJ\'/60 (?O d'CJ\'/tjo6o.a u.3oMUO)o (?O 506U(?.'.JBOO) boMdo6mo (?O aooMmo6om u.3oMUmo, (?{'.!.'.)010 b'C)oUMMUO)o (?O douo 8ououo uob'C)MOUo (?O 8Q3Mdobom dM.'.)bo (?36u (?O (?OU~bobom 506(:?M.'.JdO~O UoMv8'CJ6Mobo 506'bMob3omo ob(?Obouomo, MM8.'.)~0 OtJM so'boMO u.3oMUO) 8o~ouo V'CJo~obouoe,06 OodMb bM~o6o~ouo, Mo8om'CJ .'.)UM.'.)01 o'bMobo u.3oMUO)o 8o~ouo, Momo (?O'C)~QMU (3.'.)(3b~u 8uob'C)M.'.)bo (?O UM8obmo (?O'C)~.'.)M6 3U:X:'C)~O boMdo6mo, Mo8om'CJ ouo od86oeo 506'bMob3mo (?O mo6o .'.)MO) 6obo d86omo dOO)O~OdMUOUO md'CJ\'/6ouo 6QMUQUOO)o, MM8.'.)~0 V3.'.JM01o O{'.!.'.Jb(?o MJMMO)o (?O OdM6M8MUOUO 8ououo U.'.)Me,ououomo, MM8.'.)~0 800130 V'CJo~obom 8o.3tJMMbo~ OtJM. (?O QUM.'.)01 O('.!OUM'CJ~om 6obo o88od0Uo (?O 8M80(?~.'.JbOuom3u .'.)MOUo 506'C)buo6om 8oMb'C)o01o 8obom d3M0odo6o v'CJ\'/~omo (?o ti'CJ\'/~ooMuo bMM(30 (?o .'.JUM.'.)m QMm od86o6om u.3oMumo mo6o.

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several St Sargises are all intermingled in the narratives of unity and separation. Is this a reflection of an action that survived as a shock in popular memory, or does it reflect the entire aggressive longue duree of alienation and mutual antagonism in early medieval Caucasia? The representation of Sargis in Armenian writing is almost invariably tied with polemicity, and his cult if often evoked with reference to the Armenians' Chalcedonian neighbours. The following story, incorporated in the Armenian Synaxary is perhaps the most effective summary of how the cult of saints worked in Armenian rhetoric: And great vardapet Mesrop arrived and collected the body [of Sargis] and too is with him. And he took one tooth from among the teeth of St Sargis and took it to the house of the Georgians, and placed it in a wooden cross. And he blessed the cross and erected on the summit of Gag hill, which is still called the cross of St Sargis of Gag. 49

The region and the protagonists of this short account are highly symbolic, and in a way encapsulate the entire Schism narrative illustrated in the previous chapters. The Gag mountain, with the famous Gag fortress, is located in Georgia's southern provinces in the immediate vicinity of the Armenian border and thus constitutes the liminal zone of the Armenian and Georgian realms. Mastoc' is once again evoked as the reminder of sorts of Georgia's dependency upon Armenia and all this is culminated in the relic of Sargis as the principal saint in the discourse of the ArmenoGeorgian relations. In consideration of the above, one could have suggested that the Armenian tradition tried to commemorate the Schism in its immediate aftermath. One would have expected an outburst of polemical literature from both the Armenian and Georgian sides, but in fact there is nothing at all until the tenth century, when a completely new era began in Armeno-Georgian relations. This was the era of a past re-enacted, a period of intensive polemic and mutual antagonism. It took centuries of co-existence of two ethnically and religiously heterogeneous groups, for the Schism narrative to shape and act as tool for the perpetual reinterpretation of the present. The Schism as we know it, was a construct of precisely those transformative centuries.

49 St Sargis is commemorated on 30 January in the Armenian Synaxary. See, Synax-Arm, 123: I, hqbwL J/;i) ,fwpmw"lbmfi lfhupn"f I, wnbwL qt1wpt1f,fif, mwpwL ... I, wnwbL wmwtlfi Jf, 1wmwt1wfig upp.njfi Uwp'fup I, mwpwL f, '{pwg mnLfi I, /;'1 f, JtJ Juw