The panel explores the nuances and contexts of the polyvalent and multifunctional veneration and representation of saints in medieval Georgia. Drawing on the expertise of historians, literary and art historians, as well as scholars of liturgy, the panel’s interdisciplinary approach aims to analyse the liturgical, social, political, and propagandistic roles of saints in medieval Georgian religious practices. On the one hand, the panel focuses on new findings regarding textual commemorations of the saints and their significance for the liturgical tradition. On the other hand, these findings are contextualized through the visual representations of the saints to enhance our understanding of their cultic functions. The representations of saints do not merely embellish or complement the decorative program in the sacred space, rather, they can be understood in relation to their liturgical position. In Georgia, like elsewhere in the Byzantine commonwealth, while reinforcing the universal idea of salvation, specific saints were deliberately chosen for propagandistic purposes. Their images were frequently associated with those of founders, reflecting the founders’ aspirations and conveying the social and political dimensions of the representation of the saints. The papers presented will analyse both textual and visual strategies used to conceptualize the cult of the saints as instruments of religious and political agendas. The panel will highlight distinctive features of the cult of saints in medieval Georgia while drawing comparisons to contemporary Byzantine practices and traditions.
The cult of the Holy Warriors always occupied a special place in Medieval Georgian culture. The country’s political geography – the bordering with three empires (Persian, Byzantine, and later the Arab Caliphate) undoubtedly played a significant role in the centrality of warrior saints in the Caucasus. St George is arguably one of the most popular…
This paper explores a specific aspect of the cult of saints in medieval Georgia: their role as markers of border regions. The adoption and establishment of the cult of saints in early medieval Caucasia were often shaped by contemporary political and military needs. While in some cases they were internalized by local culture (e.g. St….
This paper, forming part of a larger project on the comparative study of saints’ cults in Byzantium and medieval Georgia, explores the evolution of the cult of St. Demetrios of Thessalonike across two distinct historical and geographical contexts. It represents the first attempt to trace how a single saint’s cult was transmitted, transformed, and reinterpreted…
Some Georgian manuscripts containing the text of the Menaion, dated to the beginning of the 11th century, demonstrated their transitional character between Jerusalem and Constantinople practices and were identified as the first version (redaction) of the Menaion. Observing the Calendar of these manuscripts revealed that a part of the commemoration/feasts coincided with the Jerusalem practice,…
A new genre of Georgian miscellanies—the Gulans—primarily composed of texts with liturgical significance, emerged in the late Middle Ages. The Gulans are especially noteworthy for their volume and for combining materials from both very ancient and more recent liturgical traditions (Jerusalemite and Constantinopolitan). Unfortunately, they remain entirely unexplored: their unique characteristics—such as the commemoration of…