Tbilisi, October 10, 2024
Photo: sazu.ge Yesterday, October 9, a unique 10th-century manuscript arrived in Georgia and was taken to the Georgian Patriarchate.
The document, known as the Codex Sinaiticus Rescriptus, is a palimpsest, with a 5th–7th-century Palestinian Aramaic text underneath and an ecclesiastical Georgian text from 979, written by Ioane-Zosime, a Georgian monk who lived at St. Saba’s Monastery outside Jerusalem and later St. Catherine’s on Mt. Sinai, on top.
The Georgian text contains Gospel pericopes and two ascetical works—the Sayings of Abba Poemen, and the Letter of Arsenios. It was purchased from Christie’s auction house in London by the billionaire oligarch and philanthropist Bidzina Ivanishvili and will be donated to the National Museum.
The Locum Tenens of the Georgian Patriarchal Throne, His Eminence Metropolitan Shio of Senaki and Chkhorotsqu, expressed gratitude for the arrival of the manuscript in Georgia and held a prayer service (paraklesis) together with other bishops and clerics, reports the Georgian Patriarchate.
The service was attended by the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr. Irakli Kobakhidze, and members of the Cabinet of Ministers.
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