The Adishi Gospels (Adishi

Four Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

) ( ka, ადიშის ოთხთავი) is an important early

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Gospel Book A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels (Greek: , ''Evangélion'') is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazareth ...

from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The oldest dated extant

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

of the Georgian version of the Gospels, it was created by

Mikaeli Mikaeli ( ka, მიქაელი) was a Georgian calligrapher of the 9th century.ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტომი 7, გვერდი 24, თბილისი, 1984 ''Georgian Sovie ...

at Shatberdi Monastery in the southwestern Georgian princedom of

Klarjeti Klarjeti ( ka, კლარჯეთი ) was a province of ancient and medieval Georgia, which is now part of Turkey's Artvin Province. Klarjeti, the neighboring province of Tao and several other smaller districts, constituted a larger region wi ...

(located now in northeastern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

) in AD 897, and later removed thence to be preserved in the remote village of Adishi in highland

Svaneti Svaneti or Svanetia (Suania in ancient sources; ka, სვანეთი ) is a historic province in the northwestern part of Georgia. It is inhabited by the Svans, an ethnic subgroup of Georgians. Geography Situated on the southern slop ...

. The first five folios (30 x 25 cm) of the manuscript are illuminated. The manuscript was first published, in 1916, by the prominent Georgian scholar

Ekvtime Takaishvili Ekvtime Takaishvili (also spelled Taqaishvili) () (January 5, 1862 – February 21, 1953) was a Georgian historian, archaeologist and public benefactor. Born in the village of Likhauri in the western Georgian province of Guria to a local noblema ...

. It has been extensively studied by both Georgian and international scholars (e.g.,

Robert Pierpont Blake Robert Pierpont Blake (November 1, 1886 – May 9, 1950) was an American Byzantinist and scholar of the Armenian and Georgian cultures. Robert P. Blake was born in San Francisco on November 1, 1886. As a John Harvard Traveling Fellow, he chi ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

). The manuscript is now preserved in the

Mestia Mestia ( ka, მესტია ) is a highland townlet ('' daba'') in northwest Georgia, at an elevation of in the Caucasus Mountains. General information Mestia is located in the Svaneti region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti province (''mkhare''), ...

Ethnographic Museum, Georgia.

Text

It lacks text of Christ's agony at Gethsemane (Luke 22:43–44), and pericope of the adulteress (John 7:53-8:11),

Longer Ending of Mark Mark 16 is the final chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It begins after the sabbath, with Mary Magdalene, Mary (mother of James the Less), Mary the mother of James, and Salome (disciple), Salome bringing ...

(Mark 16:9–20), the tradition of an angel who stirred the waters at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:4), necessity for praying to Jesus (John 14:14), parable of two men in the field (Luke 17:36), Jesus' remark about his listeners (Mark 7:16), Jesus' speech about cutting sinful feet (Mark 9:44, 46), and Jesus' advice to forgive sins to others (Mark 11:26), Jesus' remark about people who do not go without prayer or fasting (Matthew 17:21), and one of Jesus' condemnatory sentences towards Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:14); Thus providing the only (but earliest) Georgian witness for the omission of these passages. The gospel also has some interesting variants. For example, in both Matthew 19:24 and Mark 10:25 the text reads "rope" instead of traditional "camel".

References and further reading

*Blake, Robert P. The Old Georgian Version of the Gospel of Matthew from the Adysh Gospels with the Variants of the Opiza and Tbet` Gospels. Edited with a Latin Translation 933(patrologia orientalis, 24/1). Turnhout: Brepols, 1976, 167 p. *

David Marshall Lang David Marshall Lang (6 May 1924 – 20 March 1991), was a Professor of Caucasian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was one of the most productive British scholars who specialized in Georgian, Armenian and ...

, Recent Work on the Georgian New Testament. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 19, No. 1 (1957), pp. 82–93 *

Akaki Shanidze Akaki Shanidze ( ka, აკაკი შანიძე) (Born: 26 February 1887 in Nogha, Samtredia, Georgia – Died 29 March 1987 in Tbilisi, Georgia) was a Georgian linguist and philologist. He was one of the founders of the Tbilisi State Un ...

, Two Old Recensions of the Georgian Gospels according to Three Shatberd Manuscripts (AD 897, 936, and 973) n Georgian (Monuments of the Old Georgian Language, ii. Tbilisi: Academy of Sciences, 1945), p. 062.

External links

Georgian manuscripts

Text of the Gospels
Gospel Books Art of Georgia (country) 897 9th-century biblical manuscripts 9th century in Georgia (country) 9th-century illuminated manuscripts Georgian manuscripts

Text

See also

References and further reading

External links