Patristics – as Reflected in Georgian Spiritual and Intellectual History

Abstract

One can loosely say that Georgian ecclesiastical literature is a scion of eastern patristics. The history of its reception goes back to the early Byzantine period. Since that time the grand ‘eastern Christian miracle’ became an inherent part of Georgian cultural identity and, particularly, its literature. Two literary ways of adoption - translation and incorporation of Byzantine Christian thought in indigenous literature - were applied together. As far as the attitude towards Latin Christianity is concerned, it was ‘ambivalent’, varying according to cultural challenges. The present paper does not claim to provide a complete exposition of the subject. It only aims to show, by calling attention to the most illustrative evidence, how the Old Georgian literary processes resonated with Byzantine ecclesiastical literature. It concludes by offering a short account on the scholarly study of the Greek patristic legacy in Georgia.