Ketevan Bezarashvili

This paper is part of a more extensive study on the medieval Georgian writer and translator Ephrem Mtsire who continued the traditions with his works that gradually acquired clearly Hellenophile character, thus beginning the formation of Hellenophilism as a trend in Georgian literature. Hellenophilism is not considered in this paper only in its narrower linguo-literary aspect which meant attaining the formal equivalence to the original. Hellenophilism is regarded here in its wider sense of special interest of non-Greek scholars towards the thinking processes of Byzantine culture of different periods. The study of both aspects reveals the positive influence of Hellenophilism on Georgian literature. Hellenophilism as cultural orientation begins with Ephrem Mtsire‘s literary activities.

This paper analyzes techniques of translation from Greek into Georgian and methods of interpolation and compilation used by the renowned Georgian translator and theologian Euthymius the Athonite of the end of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh century, enlightener of Georgians, one of the leaders of the Athonite monastic center after Athanasius the Great, and founder of the Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos and of the Georgian theological school there. The paper discusses the corpus of translated works of Gregory the Theologian that was compiled by this Athonite monk. Two main methods of translation exploited by Euthymius the Athonite are analyzed in detail: a method of major compositional changes of the Greek original and a method of close adherence to the Greek text. Along with the analysis of Euthymius the Athonite’s conception of translation, Ketevan Bezarashvili comments the evidence in medieval Georgian manuscripts how his translation activities and production were viewed and evaluated by bookmen. In addition, she approaches the attitudes of this medieval author towards forms of medieval Christian exegesis and rhetoric written in Greek, towards the theology of Gregory of Nazianzus, secular education and knowledge.