Work dossier · summary and historical context
The Old Georgian version of Andreas of Caesarea’s Greek commentary on Revelation is a witness to early Byzantine exegesis, transmitted in Georgian monastic circles. The Georgian text is preserved in several manuscripts, reflecting a complex transmission history with possible revisions from Greek sources. Andreas of Caesarea likely wrote in the late 6th or early 7th century; the Georgian translation is dated to the 10th–11th centuries based on manuscript evidence. This commentary was widely used in Byzantine and later Orthodox tradition, and its Georgian translation indicates its importance for Georgian ecclesiastical learning. The edition does not provide a critical apparatus for the Greek Vorlage; variants between Georgian and Greek are not systematically noted.
The Old Georgian Andreas commentary is a key witness to the transmission of Byzantine apocalyptic exegesis in the Caucasus. It demonstrates the integration of Greek patristic learning into Georgian ecclesiastical culture and provides evidence for the textual history of Revelation commentaries. Its survival in multiple manuscripts highlights its liturgical and scholarly use in Georgian monasteries.
Andreas of Caesarea, a bishop in Cappadocia, composed his Greek commentary on Revelation in the late 6th or early 7th century. The work was widely influential in Eastern Christianity, serving as a standard exegetical resource in Byzantine and later Orthodox tradition. The Old Georgian translation, likely produced in the 10th–11th centuries, reflects the active reception of Byzantine theological literature in Georgian monastic communities, particularly in the region of Tao-Klarjeti and on Mount Athos. The translation was made from a Greek manuscript, but the exact Vorlage is not identified. The Georgian text survives in multiple manuscripts, indicating a complex transmission with possible revisions. The commentary's preface, a common topos, frames the work as a response to a pastoral request. The text breaks off mid-sentence in some witnesses, suggesting lacunae.
Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded
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