medieval worlds • no. 10 • 2019
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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medieval worlds • no. 10 • 2019 ISSN 2412-3196 Online Edition ISBN 978-3-7001-8663-2 Online Edition
Emma Loosley Leeming
Creating an »Orthodox« Past: Georgian Hagiography and the Construction of a Denominational Identity ()
S. 61 - 71doi:10.1553/medievalworlds_no10_2019s61 Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften doi:10.1553/medievalworlds_no10_2019s61
Abstract: In the early Middle Ages, Georgia consisted of two kingdoms. The western part was called Egrisi by the local inhabitants, and Lazica by the Byzantines and to the east of the Likhi range of mountains was Kartli, known as Iberia to outsiders. Egrisi was ruled from Constantinople for much of this period with vassal overlords, but Kartli was harder to control and its leaders often played the Byzantine and Persian Empires off against each other in order to maintain some autonomy over their territories. Until the early seventh century Kartli was under the religious jurisdiction of the Armenian Catholicos and officially non-Chalcedonian (miaphysite), but at the Council of Dvin in 610 the Kartvelians rejected Armenian ecclesiastical authority and declared an autocephalous Georgian Church. This new Church joined the Chalcedonian fold and accepted the authority of the patriarch of Constantinople.One of the defining events of Georgian ecclesiastical history is the arrival of the Thirteen (As)Syrian Fathers in Kartli in the sixth century. The vitae of these shadowy figures and their origins and doctrinal beliefs are still rigorously disputed today. The information given (or deliberately obscured) in eighth and ninth century accounts of the (As)Syrian Fathers is crucial for our understanding of how Kartvelian confessional identity evolved and was conflated with ideas of Kartvelian nationhood. This paper will explore the construction of Kartvelian national identity through the lens of ecclesiastical history and examine how past events, in particular the narrative of the (As)Syrian Fathers, were deliberately obfuscated in the quest to create an »Orthodox‹ past. Keywords: Georgia; Egrisi/Lazica; Kartli/Iberia; Thirteen (As)Syrian Fathers; monophysite; miaphysite; dyophysite Published Online: 2019/11/28 19:57:17 Object Identifier: 0xc1aa5572 0x003b0d6e Rights: .
medieval worlds provides a forum for comparative, interdisciplinary and transcultural studies of the Middle Ages. Its aim is to overcome disciplinary boundaries, regional limits and national research traditions in Medieval Studies, to open up new spaces for discussion, and to help developing global perspectives. We focus on the period from c. 400 to 1500 CE but do not stick to rigid periodization.
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |